Polytechnique (2009)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Denis Villeneuve
	Actors: Maxim Gaudette, Sébastien Huberdeau, Karine Vanasse
	Country: CND
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 22.03.2013, City46, OV
Synopsis: A dramatization of the Montreal Massacre of 1989 where several female engineering students were murdered by an unstable misogynist.
Review: After Elephant it is not easy to make a movie about mass killing at school. Well, here it is a university. This time, the drama is shown from the perspective of the killer and of several victims. The movie is more focused on how these people feel and their experience and the very short term consequences. The movie is very impressive and the playing very convincing, in particular Sébastien Huberdeau. There is also a small focus on the misogynism, without explaination how this came. The movie shows the fact that women are more successful in the studies and that for plenty of reasons: loveliness, goal-orientation, women should be valued.
Rating: 7 /10

The best offer (2013)

	Also Known As: La migliore offerta
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Guiseppe Tornatore
	Actors: Geoffrey Rush, Sylvia Hoeks, Donald Sutherland
	Country: I
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 18.03.2013, Schauburg
Synopsis: An eccentric art auctioneer, obsessed by pictures of women, gets involved in a Amour courtois story, in which he is a bit lost.
Review: A bit like in The Spanish prisoner, the auctioneer as the viewer is brought slowly into a betrayal story. The movie makes the characters appear quite attaching. We feel compassion for them also. All this with a simple scenery but a very fine story, with plenty of details that end to be critical and plenty of magnificent master pieces, that make the story speak even more to the heart. The acting of Geoffrey Rush is also great.
Rating: 6 /10

Jackie Brown (1997)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1997
	Director: Quentin Tarantino
	Actors: Pam Grier, Samuel Jackson, Robert Forster
	Country: USA
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 14.03.2013, DVD
Synopsis: A female flight attendant becomes a key figure in a plot between the police and an arms dealer.
Review: I have been really disappointed by this movie. I expected something à la Tarentino, with good music, cool scenes and dialogues, because many friends talking good about it. And finally, nothing of this all. The basic story is good but the acting and the directing were lacking of rythm. I did not fell asleep, but I was not so far. Or maybe it was a bad day.
Rating: 3 /10

Report on the BIFFF2013

JoRafCinema has just spent 6 days at the Bruxelles International Fantastic Film Festival 2013, and here is a report of our impressions.
All reviews and articles related to the BIFFF2013 an be found under this link.

Director Martin Villeneuve presents his movie Mars et Avril, accompanied with production designer and comic books author François Schuiten.

Les Saveurs du Palais (2012)

	Also Known As: Haute Cuisine
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Christian Vincent
	Actors: Catherine Frot (Le Diner de Cons), Arthur Dupont, Jean d'Ormesson
	Country: F
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 25.04.2013, Air France inflight entertainment system
Synopsis: Hortense Laborie (Frot) is hired as the exclusive cook for the president of the French republic (d'Ormesson).
Review: The movie is based on the true story of the cook of Francois Mitterand, whose character couldn't let her keep the job. The life of this person is well shown, always in the shadow although preparing meals for very important guests that she never sees. Her reverence and admiration for the president is also well shown and the moments when she meets him are very touching, helped by the great play of Jean d'Ormesson. It is funny that this relationship is told via food, as only a french movie could do! To contradict myself, I would also say that the relationship of people to food reminds me of Ratatouille! Indeed the best in this movie is the passion for cooking that transpires from Hortense, and I can tell you that seeing all those delicious dishes immediately made my mouth water, an especially cruel torture when stuck for ten more hours in an airplane above the Atlantic ocean.
Rating: 6 /10

!NO! (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Pablo Larraín
	Actors: Gabriel García Bernal
	Country: RCH, F, USA
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 13.03.2013, Schauburg, OV
Synopsis: An ad executive comes up with a campaign to defeat Augusto Pinochet in Chile's 1988 referendum.
Review: From the historical point of view the movie is very interesting. On top of it, it is good to have books and movies to work on such a burdening history. The rythm of the story is good and the viewer is involved emotionally into the private life of René Saavedra and into the fight for freedom of the his customers. The acting of García Bernal is very good and so the other actors. I do not like the graphical concept, the light and the camera movement, which makes the movie sometimes heavy to watch. The scenery is very realistic and this pays in particular in a couple of scenes where the police goes on to the masses of partying people.
Rating: 5 /10

Night train to Lisbon (2013)

	Also Known As: Nachtzug nach Lissabon
	Year of first release: 2013
	Director: Bille August
	Actors: Jeremy Irons, Martina Gedeck, Jack Huston, Mélanie Laurent, August Diehl
	Country: D, CH, P
	Genre: Thriller, Romance
	Conditions of visioning: 10.03.2013, Schauburg, OV
Synopsis: An aging Swiss professor of classical languages who, after a chance encounter with a Portuguese woman, quits his job and travels to Lisbon in the hope of discovering the fate of a certain author, a doctor and poet who fought against Portuguese dictator Antonio de Oliveira Salazar.
Review: I like a lot the plot. A guy moved by a book decides to change his life to know more about it. It is like falling in love. And then, the history of Portugal is shown in the feelings of its people. The veterans still afraid of speaking about what they have seen. The rebels also moved by their love feelings. This reminds me the story of my parents. It is also the first time that the Portuguese history is shown on screen also. Or I may have missed something. This is usefull for the people to work on the rememberance and on the justice, in order to move on with real freedom. My rating may be therefore high. The alternance of scenes on Portuguese dictature time and on current time is well cut, so that something remains open everytime and holds the breath of the viewer. The acting of Martina Gedeck, Jack Huston, August Diehl and Mélanie Laurent are great. Mélanie Laurent is barely to recognize. I did not read the book before, but this makes me wanting to read it, even if I heard a lot of bad about it.
Rating: 8 /10

Blind (2011)

	Also Known As: Beul-la-in-deu
	Year of first release: 2011
	Director: Sang-Hoon Ahn
	Actors: Ha-neul Kim, Hie-bong Jo
	Country: KOR
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 09.03.2013, City46, OV
Synopsis: A missing person case involving a female university student and the victim in a hit and run case appears to be the same person. Detectives look for a witness. A witness, Min Soo-Ah appears, but she is blind and thus not believed. She used to be a promising student at the police academy. With her acute senses, Min Soo-Ah is able to reveal important clues on the hit and run case. Another witness, Kwon Gi-Seob then appears, who witnessed the case with his own eyes, gives contradictory statements to Min Soo-Ah.
Review: Before the movie, there has been an explaination on the methods used to make movies sensable to blind people. Audiodescription and subtitles. The first scene of the movie has been shown in the different ways. This was really interesting as well as the comments of blind people explaining which way they prefer and how they sense a movie.  The story is great and the way some proof is given that the blind perceive a lot via the other senses is also funny. The referee being the police. The story works well against the stereotpyes. From the film point of view, the movie starts with a fast pace and then slows down until the half of the movie. In these quite 30 minutes, the stereotypes are broken and then we can focus again on the suspense story, following the killer with a vicious camera angle. The couple built by the witness and the inspector makes also very funny scenes.
Rating: 6 /10

Song for Marion (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Paul Andrew Williams
	Actors: Gemma Arterton, Vanessa Redgrave, Terence Stamp
	Country: GB, D
	Genre: Drama, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 04.03.2013, Schauburg, OV
Synopsis: The shy, grumpy pensioner Arthur is reluctantly inspired by his beloved wife Marion to join a highly unconventional local choir. At odds with his son James, it is left to charismatic choir director Elizabeth to try and persuade Arthur that he can learn to embrace life. Arthur must confront the undercurrents of his own grumbling personality.
Review: Pleasant dramatic comedy with a couple of good actors. The activism and charism of the choir director contrasts with her loneliness at home. Genna Arterton shows a good acting even in front of experienced Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp. Some flaws in the story line cut the rythm and the atmosphere of the movie, in particular the way the last song is introduced.
Rating: 5 /10

The Liability (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Craig Viveiros
	Actors: Tim Roth (The Incredible Hulk) , Jack O'Connell, Peter Mullan
	Country: GB
	Genre: Action, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 06.04.2013, Centre des Beaux Arts, BIFFF2013
Synopsis: When 19-year-old Adam agrees to do a day's driving for his mum's gangster boyfriend Peter, it takes him on a 24-hour journey into a nightmarish world of murder, sex trafficking and revenge, in the company of aging hit man Roy.
Review: Actually, the background story of woman trade and the foreground story of old hit man gave great expectations. The acting of Tim Roth and Jack O'Connell was good, and therefore could have been even more challenged with a slightly modified story giving an emotional link to the characters. The compassion toward the traded women, the hate against the mum's "boyfriend" are emotions that are not reached at all. Maybe the intention of the director was anyway different. I think, it is a pity to have a good rough story, a good actor like Tim Roth and not make more out of this. Some funny moments with good British humour with properly scene à la "catch with the red hand".
Rating: 4 /10