27th of January "Letting Go Movie" (US)

Letting Go Movie is a documentary about happiness and how Sodona method helps us to reach this state.
Here is an introduction to the movie by the movie makers:

Why We Made Letting Go Movie
You may be wondering why we even made this film. I sometimes wonder that myself because it’s been such a big project and it’s been so much has happened to allow this to come to fruition. But the bottom line is we made this film for you. We made this film so that people all over the world can start to benefit from letting go.
In just an hour and eight minutes, you can learn how to let go of the stress, the tension, the anxiety. All the things that have been holding you back from having, being, and doing whatever you want in life. And that’s just the beginning.

As you work with letting go, as you explore the Sedona Method, you’ll discover that everything opens up for you and it’s not just for you. What you’ll discover is as you watch the film, each time you watch it, you’ll get more out of it. Plus, as you watch the film, you want to share it with others just naturally because it’s really fun. It’s really fun to watch other people let go. It’s really fun to view the movie in a group. We’ve done that already, with just a few people and the benefits they got from watching it with their friends as opposed to just watching it by themselves have been astounding. That’s also why we do seminars.
So basically, the film is a mobile seminar that you can put on yourself to help everyone that you care about. So we created this film also for the very simple reason that the world right now really needs a way to let go of all this excess pressure that’s been building up inside of all of us, that’s causing all these chaos in the world. And we feel that if enough of us start to let go, we’ll start to take more constructive action and then the inner pressure, the inner chaos that’s causing all the external chaos will start to subside and we have a chance of really doing something really positive for each other in the planet. So I highly encourage you to go to www.lettinggo.tv and please comment below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpoTppJFULU

January 20th "Cafe Transit" [Border Cafe] (Iran, 2005)

"Cafe Transit" depicts an independent-minded widow who bucks tradition to run her dead husband's truck stop café.

Throughout the film you are traveling with her on her journey to try to get what for us would be her rightful place in life. She just wants to take care of her family and earn a living at what she loves to do. In her society she is suppose to move in with her brother in-law and allow him to take care of her but she doesn't like him and cannot live under the same roof with him and his family.

Director: Kambuzia Partovi
Writer: Kambuzia Partovi
Stars:Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy, Parviz Parastui and Nikos Papadopoulos
For more information click here.

January 13th "Happiness of the Katakuris" (2001, Japan)

After watching a master piece from Japan last month, we are going to screen another Japanese movie by Takashi Miike.

"Happiness of The Katakuris" is about a family hotel in Japan which accidently find four of its guests dead.
Story begins when a pioneer of a man convinces his family to take advantage of news of a road soon to be built through an area of the country that can be had for next to nothing. He, his aging, but wise father, his loving and loyal wife, along with a slow-to-persuade son and a divorced daughter with toddler in hand who also happens to be the narrator, bravely move out to this new space and open a bed and breakfast. They make the place everything anyone could want, as they have so much time to work on it, since no one is making reservations to stay there. Eventually, the customers come...but each one dies while in their room and the family is trying to get rid of the evidence a.s.a.p so as not to ruin their reputation before they even get up and running. One thing leads to another and the bodies have to be moved.

Director: Takashi Miike
Writers: Ai Kennedy (translation), Kikumi Yamagishi (screenplay)
Stars:Kenji Sawada, Keiko Matsuzaka and Shinji Takeda
 
For more information click here.

December 23rd "Rashomon" (Japan, 1950)

"Rashomon" is a master piece in the history of cinema, directed by the legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and awarded many prizes.  
The film depicts the rape of a woman and the murder of her samurai husband, through the widely differing accounts of four witnesses, including the bandit/rapist, the wife, the dead man speaking through a medium (Fumiko Honma), and lastly the narrator, the one witness that seems the most objective and least biased. While the stories are mutually contradictory only the final version is unmotivated by other factors. Accepting the final version as the truth (the now common technique of film and TV of only explaining the truth last was not a universal approach at that time) explains why in each other version "the truth" was worse than admitting to the killing, and it is precisely this assessment which gives the film its power, and this theme which is echoed in other works.

The story unfolds in flashback as the four characters—the bandit Tajōmaru (Toshirō Mifune), the samurai's wife (Machiko Kyō), the murdered samurai (Masayuki Mori), and the nameless woodcutter (Takashi Shimura)—recount the events of one afternoon in a grove. The first three versions are told by the priest (Minoru Chiaki), who was present at the trial as a witness, having bumped into the couple on the road just prior to the events. Each of these versions has a response of "lies" from the woodcutter. The final version comes direct from the woodcutter, as the only witness (but he did not admit this to the court). All versions are told to a ribald commoner (Kichijiro Ueda) as they wait out a rainstorm in a ruined gatehouse identified by a sign as Rashōmon.

Director: 

Akira Kurosawa

Writers: 

Ryûnosuke Akutagawa (stories), Akira Kurosawa

Stars:

 Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô and Masayuki Mori

December 16th "Monster's Ball" (US, 2001)

Unfortunately we were not able to screen "A Prophet", instead we screened "Monster's Ball" from United States.

After a family tragedy, a racist prison guard reexamines his attitudes while falling in love with the African American wife of the last prisoner he executed.

Director: 

Marc Forster

Writers: 

Milo Addica, Will Rokos

Stars:

 Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry and Taylor Simpson

for more see imdb.

We had a very fruitful discussion after the movie. The topics we have discussed are as follow:

• examples of humanity and brutality in the movie
• story of a man with a long life struggle and ignorance who finally achieved success
• three different generations in a single family and their attitudes towards black people
• death penalty and its impact on the society through the characters of the film

further question you can ask and discuss

• What significance does the line from the film 'it truly takes a human being to really see a human being' hold for the film in general?
•  Discuss the central themes (racial segregation, family relationships, self reflection and deep loss)

Thanks to Jen for suggesting this movie and providing us with these good questions.

December 9th 2010 "The Return" (Russia, 2003)

"The Return" happens in the remote Russian wilderness where two brothers face a range of new, conflicting emotions when their father--a man they only know through a single photograph--resurfaces.

Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev
Writers: Vladimir Moiseyenko, Aleksandr Novototsky
Stars:Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov and Konstantin Lavronenko
For more information click here.

December 2nd “Thirst” (2009, South Korea)

Thirst is the story of Sang-hyun, a priest working for a hospital, selflessly volunteers for a secret vaccine development project intended to eradicate a deadly virus. However, the virus eventually takes over the priest. He nearly dies, but makes a miraculous recovery by an accidental transfusion of vampire blood. He realizes his sole reason for living: the pleasures of the flesh.

Director: Chan-wook Park

Writers: Seo-Gyeong Jeong (screenplay), Chan-wook Park (screenplay)
Stars:Kang-ho Song, Ok-bin Kim and Hae-sook Kim
For more information click here.

Suggested and hosted by Roman

November 25th “LAS ESTRELLAS DE LA LÍNEA” (RAILROAD ALL-STARS) (2006, Spain/ Guatemala)

November 25th “LAS ESTRELLAS DE LA LÍNEA” (RAILROAD ALL-STARS) (2006, Spain/ Guatemala)

A documentary on Guatemalan sex workers who formed a soccer team in 2004 and joined their local five-a-side league. The league's organizer expelled them when their profession was revealed, bringing about a media frenzy.

Director: Chema Rodríguez
Writer: Chema Rodríguez
Stars:José Ramón de la Morena

November 18th “Milk” (2009, US)

Milk is the story of Harvey Milk, and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California's first openly gay elected official.


Using flashbacks from a statement recorded late in life and archival footage for atmosphere, this film traces Harvey Milk's career from his 40th birthday to his death. He leaves the closet and New York, opens a camera shop that becomes the salon for San Francisco's growing gay community, and organizes gays' purchasing power to build political alliances. He runs for office with lover Scott Smith as his campaign manager. Victory finally comes on the same day Dan White wins in the city's conservative district. The rest of the film sketches Milk's relationship with White and the 1978 fight against a statewide initiative to bar gays and their supporters from public school jobs. This film is a beautiful and stylish portrait of a leading light in the gay equality rights movement, both inspirational and moving it charts the real sacrifices that a few have made for many.

Milk received widespread acclaim from film critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 94% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on a sample of 209, with an average score of 8.0/10. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 84, based on 39 reviews.
Suggested and hosted by Jen

November 11th “Head-on” (Gegen die Wand) (2004, Germany)

German-born Turkish filmmaker Fatih Akin writes and directs the drama "Gegen die Wand" (Head-On). Set in a working-class Hamburg.

neighborhood, the story follows two Turkish immigrants who get together in a marriage of convenience. Cahit Tomruk is a heavy drinker and a fighter who crashes his car into a wall. While visiting his psychiatrist, he meets fellow patient Sibel Guner. She's desperate to get away from her restrictive family, so she asks Cahit to marry her. Wanting to change his life anyway, Cahit agrees to the arrangement. After their wedding, Sibel celebrates her freedom by drinking, dancing, and having one-night stands. Meanwhile, Cahit carries on an intimate relationship with hair stylist Maren. Eventually, Cahit and Sibel learn to care for one another after a climactic trip to Istanbul.

Suggested and hosted by Benny.