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Karlovy Vary International Film Festival · 2013

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2013

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Programme

29 films · 12 reviews

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36

Review preview for 36

This photographic formula may sound as restrictive as it is perscriptive but Thamrongrattanarit has a light approach to his ideas of memory and recollection, weaving moments of comedy and poignancy into his sweet if slight drama.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A location scout who loses her digital library discovers she has also lost her memory of a young man she met one of her trips.

(Country: Thailand; Year: 2012; Director: Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit; Writer: Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit; Stars: Koramit Vajrasthira, Wanlop Rrungkamjad)

Full review

Celestial Wives Of The Meadow Mari (Nebesnye Ženy Lugovykh Mari)

Review preview for Celestial Wives Of The Meadow Mari

All of it is so beautifully observed it is as waking from a childhood fever to demolish half a volume of Grimm before hallucinatory somnambulance washes once more over.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
An introduction to the customs and rituals of the Volga-Finnic people in Northern Russia.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2013; Director: Alexsey Fedorchenko; Stars: Julia Aug, Yana Esipovich, Vasiliy Domrachev, Daria Ekamasova, Olga Dobrina, Yana Troyanova, Olga Degtyarova, Alexandr Ivashkevich, Yana Sexte)

Full review

The Cleaner (El Limpiador)

A crime-scene cleaner takes charge of a child orphaned during an epidemic breakout in Lima.

(Country: Peru; Year: 2012; Director: Adrian Saba; Writer: Adrian Saba; Stars: Víctor Prada)

Concussion

Review preview for Concussion

A brilliant central performance from Robin Weigert.

David Graham · 3.5 out of 5
A frustrated woman secretly becomes a lesbian escort.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Stacie Passon; Writer: Stacie Passon; Stars: Robin Weigert, Maggie Siff, Johnathan Tchaikovsky, Julie Fain Lawrence, Emily Kinney, Laila Robins)

Full review

The Dead Man And Being Happy (El muerto y ser feliz)

Review preview for The Dead Man And Being Happy

Rebollo, reinvents the Road Movie, just as Leos Carax does in Holy Motors.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
An ageing hitman goes on a darkly comic journey to nowhere.

(Country: Spain, France, Argentina; Year: 2012; Director: Javier Rebollo; Writer: Lola Mayo, Javier Rebollo, Salvador Roselli; Stars: José Sacristán, Valeria Alonso, Vicky Peña, Fermí Reixach, Roxana Blanco, Jorge Jellinek, Lisa Caligaris, Carlos Lecuona)

Full review See: Javier Rebollo interview about The Dead Man And Being Happy

Le Démantèlment

A father sells his beloved farm to help his daughter, in the city, avoid homelessness.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2013; Director: Sébastien Pilote; Stars: Gabriel Arcand, Sophie Desmarais, Gilles Renaud, Lucie Laurier, Johanne-Marie Tremblay, Dominique Leduc)

El Condor Pasa (Con-dor-eun Nal-ah-gan-da )

Tragedy enters the life of a Catholic priest and he feels responsible.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2012; Director: Jeon Soo-il)

For Those In Peril

Review preview for For Those In Peril

Falls just shy of a state of perfection.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
The lone survivor of a shipwreck, blamed for it for superstitious reasons, refuses to believe his fellow sailors are dead and sets out to find them.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Paul Wright; Writer: Paul Wright; Stars: George MacKay, Kate Dickie, Brian McCardie, Conor McCarron)

Full review

The Golden Dream (La Jaula De Oro)

Review preview for The Golden Dream

A flowing, lyrical film, at times startlingly beautiful, The Golden Dream hypnotises the viewer with its constant movement, its unceasing rhythm.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A group of Guatemalan teenagers tries to make it to the US.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2013; Director: Diego Quemada-Diez; Writer: Diego Quemada-Diez, Lucia Carreras, Gibrán Portela; Stars: Carlos Chajon, Rodolfo Domínguez, Brandon López, Karen Martínez)

Full review

Halley

Alberto is dead and can no longer hide it. Before surrendering to his living death, he forms an unusual friendship with Luly, the manager of the 24-hour gym where he works as a night guard.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2013; Director: Sebastian Hofmann; Writer: Sebastian Hofmann, Julio Chavezmontes; Stars: Alberto Trujillo, Lourdes Trueba, Hugo Albores)

A Hijacking (Kapringen)

Review preview for A Hijacking

Stark, beautifully observed, genuinely captivating, A Hijacking grabs its audience and does not let go.

Andrew Robertson · 5 out of 5
A brutal drama about a ship hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean and the subsequent struggles for survival and freedom.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2012; Director: Tobias Lindholm; Writer: Tobias Lindholm; Stars: Pilou Asbæk, Søren Malling, Dar Salim)

Full review

I'm Going To Change My Name (Alaverdy)

Poetry and traditional Armenian folk songs provide a route into the inner life of a 14 year old girl.

(Country: Armenia, Russia, Denmark, Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Maria Saakyan; Writer: Maria Saakyan; Stars: Evgeny Tsyganov, Arina Adju, Maria Atlas-Popova)

The Interval (L'Intervallo)

A captive girl and the boy who is guarding her in an abandoned building gradually overcome mistrust and form a tentative bond.

(Country: Italy, Switzerland; Year: 2012; Director: Leonardo di Costanzo; Writer: Leonardo di Costanzo, Mariangela Barbanente, Maurizio Braucci; Stars: Francesca Riso, Alessio Gallo, Carmine Paternoster)

It's All So Quiet (Boven Is Het Stil)

A Dutch farmer opens up about his emotional distance as he anticipates the impending death of his father.

(Country: Netherlands, Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Nanouk Leopold; Stars: Jeroen Willems, Henri Garcin, Wim Opbrouck, Martijn Lakemeier)

Joy

Review preview for Joy

The film shows how easily an individual can be domestically, emotionally, politically and legally marginalised.

Michael Pattison · 3.5 out of 5
A woman takes home a baby from hospital, devotedly caring for it. But she is not its mother - she is a kidnapper.

(Country: Greece; Year: 2012; Director: Ilias Giannakakis; Writer: Ilias Giannakakis ; Stars: Amalia Moutousi, Giorgos Symeonidis, Lyda Protopsalti, Stefania Goulioti)

Full review

Karaoke Girl (Sao Karaoke)

Blurring the line between documentary and drama, this visually powerful movie relates the story of Sa, a Thai village girl who works in the Bangkok sex trade in order to support her family back home.

(Country: Thailand; Year: 2013; Director: Visra Vichit-Vadakan)

The King (Su Re)

This retelling of the classic biblical story of the Crucifixion of Christ on Golgotha stands out not only for its raw narrative style, but also for its moving aesthetic and provocative shift in meaning.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2012; Director: Giovanni Columbu)

Norte, The End Of History (Norte, Hangganan Ng Kasaysayan)

The commission of a crime changes three lives forever.

(Country: Phillipines; Year: 2013; Director: Lav Diaz)

Northwest (Nordvest)

Review preview for Northwest

A well-shot and occasionally sweaty run around the same old block.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A teenager gets sucked into a turf war.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2013; Director: Michael Noer; Writer: Rasmus Heisterberg, Michael Noer; Stars: Dulfi Al-Jabouri, Hamza Al.Jaburi, Oliver Altman, Kevin Andersen, Irina V Babenko, Jelena Bundalovic, Lene Maria Christensen, Sandra El-Hussein, Nick Philip Engel, Monika Paula Fasula, Gustav Dyekjær Giese, Oscar Dyekjær Giese, Jacob Wagner Guldager, Carsten Hartmann, Nicholas Westwood Kidd)

Full review

Nothing Bad Can Happen

Young Tore, a member of a Christian sect called the Jesus Freaks, is taken in by the family of outwardly kindhearted, yet inwardly aggressive Benno.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Katrin Gebbe)

Omar

Three childhood friends and a young woman find their relaonships destroyed by the pressures of the Palestinian struggle.

(Year: 2013; Director: Hany Abu-Assad; Stars: Waleed Zuaiter, Adam Bakri, Samer Bisharat, Eyad Hourani, Leem Lubany)

The Selfish Giant

Review preview for The Selfish Giant

Apart from Mike Eley's lustrous, lyrical cinematography, The Selfish Giant is also elevated by the central performances of Chapman and Thomas.

Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
Roughly based on the Oscar Wilde parable, this is a tale of jealousy between two boys vying for the favour of a scrap merchant.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Clio Barnard; Writer: Clio Barnard, based on the short story by Oscar Wilde; Stars: Conner Chapman, Shaun Thomas, Sean Gilder, Steve Evets, Lorraine Ashbourne, Siobhan Finneran, Rebecca Manley, Elliott Tittensor)

Full review

Stop The Pounding Heart

A home schooled youngster calls her lifestyle into question after meeting a young man at a rodeo.

(Year: 2013; Director: Roberto Minervini)

Tenderness (La Tendresse)

15 years after their divorce, Frans and Lisa set off for an Alpine ski resort to look after their adult son who has broken his leg.

(Country: Belgium, France, Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Marion Hänsel)

This is Martin Bonner

Review preview for This is Martin Bonner

This Is Martin Bonner is undoubtedly a small film but it is finely crafted and has a big heart.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Two men embark on an unlikely friendship.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Chad Hartigan; Writer: Chad Hartigan; Stars: Paul Eenhoorn, Richmond Arquette, Sam Buchanan, Robert Longstreet, Demetrius Gross)

Full review See: Chad Hartigan and Richmond Arquette in conversation about This Is Martin Bonner , Paul Eenhoorn interview about This Is Martin Bonner

Wadjda

Review preview for Wadjda

A cracking film by a born filmmaker and I can’t wait to see what all involved in it do next.

Jeff Robson · 4 out of 5
A young Saudi girl who will stop at nothing to earn enough money to buy the bicycle she craves.

(Country: Saudi Arabia, Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour; Writer: Haifaa Al-Mansour; Stars: Reem Abdullah, Waad Mohammed, Abdullrahman Al Gohani, Ahd, Sultan Al Assaf, Dana Abdullilah, Rehab Ahmed, Rafa Al Sanea, Mohammed Albahry, Mariam Alghamdi, Ali Algorbani, Sara Aljaber, Mohammed Alkhozain, Maram Alkohzaim, Mariam Alkohzaim)

Full review

What They Don't Talk About When They Talk About Love

The odds of love and deception among the blind, the deaf and the unlucky sighted people at a high school for the visually impaired.

(Country: Indonesia; Year: 2013; Director: Mouly Surya; Writer: Mouly Surya; Stars: Nicholas Saputra, Ayushita Nugraha, Karina Salim, Anggun Priambodo, Lupita Jennifer)

Youth

Two men trying to be good sons and save their families from ruin become violent kidnappers.

(Country: Israel, Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Tom Shoval; Stars: Eitan Cunio, David Cunio, Moshe Ivgy, Gita Amely, Shirili Deshe)

You Are God (Jestes Bogiem)

The rise and fall of the legendary hip-hop band Paktofonika.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2012; Director: Leszek Dawid; Writer: Maciej Pisuk; Stars: Marcin Kowalczyk, Dawid Ogrodnik, Tomasz Schuchardt, Arkadiusz Jakubik, Marcin Dorocinski, Przemyslaw Bluszcz, Halina Bednarz, Magdalena Kacprzak, Elzbieta Karkoszka, Miroslaw Neinert, Piotr Nowak, Katarzyna Wajda, Malgorzata Zajaczkowska, Bartlomiej Blaszczynski, Jerzy Glybin)