The help. (USA, 2011) 146´ 29/03/2012

Directed by Tate Taylor and set in Mississippi during 1960´s, the film tells the story of Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (Emma Stone), a young white women who moves back home after graduating from the university. There she gets fed up with the racist attitude of her circle of acquaintace, specially when one of them wants to present a proposed bill to provide separate bathrooms for black people. This incident encourages her to write a book about black maids who serve the white rich families.
In this aim, Skeeter has the support of Aibileen Clarck (Viola Davis), the black woman who brought up her when she was a child.

The film won several awards including The Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer).
"Airbrushed fairytale it may be, but The Help's account of the push for racial equality in 1960s Mississippi is rousingly effective" Xan Brooks. The Guardian. 27/10/2011.
Trailer:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbuKgzgeUIU

Take my eyes. (Spain, 2003) 107´ 22/03/2012.

This Thursday, the film is going to be hosted by Shakti Women´s Aid. This organisation was founded in 1986 and tries to help minority ethnic women, children and young people who are experiencing or fleeing domestic abuse.
Take my eyes tells the story of Pilar (Laia Marull), who one night, fleeing her violent husband Antonio (Luis Tosar), leaves home with just a suitcase and her young son. Taking refuge in her sister's flat, she wavers in the face of her son's desire to see his father and the fact that she still loves her husband.


It won seven Goyas Awards, including Best Film.
"Victimising Pilar for the sake of tension, the thriller elements threaten to overturn the drama. Fortunately, Bollain realises that this gripping film is intense enough without resorting to too many cheap tricks. Building on an electric performance from Marull and a terrifying turn from Toscar (whose raging eyes and too-taut facial muscles suggest a man who's capable of exploding at any moment), Take My Eyes hints at the inescapable complexities of loving an abuser." Jamie Russell. BBC Movies. 14/11/2004.
Read the full review in http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2004/11/09/take_my_eyes_2004_review.shtml
More information about Shakti Women´s Aid: http://www.shaktiedinburgh.co.uk/index.html

The man who wasn´t there. (USA, 2001) 116´ 15/03/2012

It is a neo-noir film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Set it in and around Santa Rosa, California 1949, the movie follows Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton), a suburban barber, married to Doris (Frances Macdormand) a bookkeeper with a drinking problem. Doris' boss at Nirdlinger's, the local department store, is "Big Dave" Brewster (James Gandolfini)  a loud, boisterous man, who constantly brags about his combat adventures in the Pacific during the Second World War. Ed suspects that Doris and Big Dave are having an affair.
 
"The ever astonishing Coen brothers say their film was inspired by the spirit of James M. Cain's novels about ill-fated dopes. But the Coens transcend Cain. If this were not such great American-vernacular moviemaking--hilarious yet hypnotic--one would be tempted to see something Greek in the tragedy that Ed never comprehends." Richard Shickel. TIME Magazine. (13/10/2009)
See the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htxvLcSnOU0

Bandit queen (India, 1994) 120´. 08/03/2012

Directed by Shekhar Kapur, the film is based in the true story of legendary female warrior Phoolan Devi (rol played by Seema Biswas). Devi is married at age 11, abandoned by her husband when she resists his advances, and turned into a social outcast who, at one point, is gang-raped by the upper-caste men of one village. She later leads a band.

It won different prizes in India, including Best Actress in the National Film Award.
"An exciting movie that brings Devi's story to life with passion but without passing judgment." Richard Corliss. TIME Magazine. 01/01/2000.
See the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66uIVFb6ATA