Weekly Round-up (11/13/11 - 11/19/11)

Kinatay (Brillante Mendoza) ***1/2 - A shocking, horrifying film about a young criminology student/rookie cop/new father/new husband who takes an extra job for much needed extra pay but gets more than what he bargained for as he joins a group of corrupt cops doing unspeakable things to a hooker. I can see how Mendoza won Best Director at Cannes. It's a tense film. It singlehandedly turned familiar sights and sounds around Manila into a surreal nightmare of sorts as it builds to its inevitable conclusion. A bit heavyhanded here and there but nevertheless quite compelling and appropriately shattering.

A Matter of Size (Sharon Maymon/Erez Tadmor) ** - A group of overweight Jewish men in a town in Israel find their confidence and self-worth through sumo wrestling. After the novelty of seeing a different side of Israel (like who knew there were Japanese people there, much less Japanese people who know Hebrew!), this film is pretty much feels like a Full Monty knock-off (replace stripping with sumo wrestling) and I'm not a huge Full Monty fan. There are some amusing moments here and there but all in all, it's mediocre stuff.

I Saw The Devil (Kim Jee-woon) ***1/2 - (See review below)

Red State (Kevin Smith) **1/2 - (See review below)


Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) *** - (See review below)

Nightfishing (Chan-wook Park/Chan-kyong Park) *** -  (See review below)

This Is Not A Film (Jafar Panahi/Mojtaba Mirtahmasb) *** - (See review below)

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethkathul) ***1/2  - (See review below)

Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (Joann Sfar) **1/2 -  (See review below)