Film Choices for review section of Grading


Film Review (from approved list of films) 5%
This is a chance to bolster your knowledge of some of our subjects and cultures and to write about a film text. A good review should rehearse some of the themes in the film and document some of the directorial strategies employed to give the film an artful air.

There will be additions to the list from time to time:
Ridicule. French about Versailles during Louis the XV.
The Return of Martin Guerre.
The Voyagers. Medieval Frenchmen meet modern times
(For the films written by Chekhov, I would suggest trying to locate themes that are common to the reading we have done in Chekhov).
Madam Bovary. Based on a Flaubert novel/
The Lady with the Small Dog. A Russian film of the story, available in FAC at VIDCASS 3448.
Vanya on 42nd St. Based on the Chekhov Play.
The Cherry Orchard. (Chekhov Play) DVD 2598.
Orlando. Based on a novel by Virginia Woolf.

For our section on Arab and North African literature.
About Baghdad. Documentary by Sinan Antoon.
Door on the Sky. Director and writer, Fari¯dah bin al-Ya¯zi¯d. A young woman struggles between her Morroccan heritage and adopted French culture. Social commentary on issues relating to the French and North African culture clash.
The Nouba of the Women of Mount Chenoua. Algerian Television ; written and directed by Assia Djebar. Story of an Algerian woman engineer who returns to Algeria after a long Western exile.
Four films can be found under the subject heading “feature films—egypt”
Twelve films can be found under the subject heading “feature films—iran”
Jafar Panahi (director of The Circle, has also directed Offside and The White Balloon.
Eight films can be found under the subject heading “feature films—israel”
Three films can be found under the subject heading “feature films—lebanon”
Two films under “feature films—palestine”
Including Paradise Now The story of what may be the last 48 hours in the lives of two Palestinian men who have been recruited as suicide bombers. When they are intercepted at the Israeli border, a young woman who discovers their plan causes them to reconsider their actions.
A Taste of Cherry, directed by Abbas Kiarostami


The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. The history of blacks in the South as seen through the eyes of a 110-year-old former slave. Based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines.
Quilombo. In 17th century Brazil groups of runaway black slaves escaped to mountainous jungle strongholds, where they formed self-governing communities known as quilombos. This film chronicles the most famous, the Palmares, and their legendary chieftain Ganga Zumba.

A film of The Yellow Wallpaper is available at the Undergraduate library.

In theaters now:
The Lives of Others, at the Dobie. Winner of Oscar for best foreign film. Surveillance and humanity in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Once is described as a modern day musical that is set in Dublin. Haven’t seen it but it sounds delightful.
Syndromes and a Century. A two-part film set in Thailand, with two central characters inspired by the filmmaker's parents in the years before they became lovers. The first part focuses on a woman doctor, and is set in a space reminiscent of the past. The second part focuses on a male doctor, and is set in a more contemporary space. Pearls of wisdom, descriptions of syndromes and fragments of time crystallize in luminous atmospheres and dot the modern architecture of the movie, creating a charming, quiet incantation. One of seven films commissioned for the Weiner Mozart New Crowned Hope Festival, Vienna 2006. Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Tropical Malady, Blissfully Yours).
Coming Soon.
I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone. Homeless on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Hsiao-kang (Lee Kang-sheng) is robbed, beaten and left for dead; he is found and nursed by Rawang (Norman Atun), an immigrant worker who lives in an abandoned building. Rawang's feelings for his patient may or may not be sexual, but there's definitely something like lust in the eyes of Chyi (Chen Shiang-chyi), a waitress in a run-down coffee shop. Simultaneously erotic and comical, writer/director Tsai Ming-liang's (Goodbye, Dragon Inn) deadpan allegory is one of seven films commissioned for the Weiner Mozart New Crowned Hope Festival, Vienna 2006.
Ten Canoes. Set centuries ago and in mythical times, writer/director Rolf de Heer's (The Quiet Room, Bad Boy Bubby) surreal tragi-comedy is the first feature film to be shot entirely in an indigenous Aboriginal language (predominantly Ganalbingu). In the remote Arafura Swamp region of northern Australia—before the coming of white people—Dayindi (Jamie Gulpilil) covets one of the wives of his older brother. To teach him the proper way, he is told a story from long ago—a cautionary tale of love, lust and revenge gone wrong. With English narration by the great David Gulpilil (Walkabout).