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Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival · 2013

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2013

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20 films · 7 reviews

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Alienation (Otchuzjdenie)

A Greek man heads to Bulgaria... to buy a newborn baby.

(Country: Bulgaria; Year: 2013; Director: Milko Lazarov; Writer: Milko Lazarov, Georgi Tenev, Kitodar Todorov; Stars: Christos Stergioglou, Mariana Zhikich, Ovanes Torosian, Kitodar Todorov)

Belated (Deshora)

Things change for a couple in a troubled marriage when a young man arrives on the scene.

(Country: Argentina, Colombia, Norway; Year: 2013; Director: Bárbara Sarasola-Day; Stars: Luís Ziembrowski, Alejandro Buitrago, María Ucedo)

Coast Of Death (Costa da Morte)

Review preview for Coast Of Death

A complex, multi-faceted portrait of the director's home region of Galicia, in north-west Spain, with imagery that is awe-inspiring in the proper sense of the term.

Rebecca Naughten · 5 out of 5
Documentary about an area of Galicia considered to be the end of the world by the Romans.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2013; Director: Lois Patiño)

Full review

The Dance Of Reality (La Danza De La Realidad)

Review preview for The Dance Of Reality

Brontis really does steal the show, offering a multi-layered, sensitive performance that begs the question why we haven't seen more of him over the years.

David Graham · 4 out of 5
The director looks back at his childhood in Chile.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2013; Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky; Writer: Alejandro Jodorowsky; Stars: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Brontis Jodorowsky, Axel Jodorowsky, Adan Jodorowsky)

Full review

The Eternal Return Of Antonis Paraskevas (I Aionia Epistrofi Tou Antoni Paraskeua)

A faded TV celebrity desperate for attention fakes his own kidnapping and hides out in an abandoned luxury hotel.

(Country: Greece; Year: 2013; Director: Elina Psykou; Stars: Christos Stergioglou, Syllas Tzoumerkas, Theodora Tzimou)

Historic Centre (Centro Histórico)

Review preview for Historic Centre

Though each filmmaker provides typical servings of his own respective style in responding to the brief at hand, this portmanteau piece is predictably uneven.

Michael Pattison · 2.5 out of 5
Four stories about life in Guimarães, Portugal.

(Country: Portugal; Year: 2012; Director: Aki Kaurismäki, Pedro Costa, Víctor Erice, Manoel de Oliveira; Writer: Aki Kaurismäki, Pedro Costa, Víctor Erice, Manoel de Oliveira; Stars: Ilkka Koivula, Ventura, António Santos, Manuel 'Tito' Furtado, Valdemar Santos, Amândio Martins, Henriqueta Oliveira, Ricardo Trêpa)

Full review

Ida

Review preview for Ida

A still, painterly vision in silvery monochrome - capturing the quiet contemplation of the two women and simultaneously encouraging the same on the part of the viewer.

Rebecca Naughten · 4.5 out of 5
A novice nun comes face-to-face with her family’s past in 1960s Poland.

(Country: Poland, Denmark; Year: 2013; Director: Pawel Pawlikowski; Writer: Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Pawel Pawlikowski; Stars: Agata Kulesza, Joanna Kulig, Dawid Ogrodnik, Adam Szyszkowski, Agata Trzebuchowska)

Full review See: Pawel Pawlikowski in conversation on Ida

Ilo Ilo

Review preview for Ilo Ilo

Ilo Ilo is a quietly assured first feature that marks the director out as a bright new talent.

Owen Van Spall · 4.5 out of 5
A family struggles to deal with the impact of the financial crisis.

(Country: Singapore; Year: 2013; Director: Anthony Chen; Stars: Yeo Yann Yann, Chen Tianwen, Angeli Bayani, Koh Jia Ler)

Full review

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)

Lifelong (Hayatboyu)

A tale of lost love and the increasing alienation that blights a middle class couple's relationship.

(Country: Turkey, Germany, Netherlands; Year: 2013; Director: Asli Özge; Stars: Defne Halman, Hakan Cimenser)

Miracle (Zázrak)

Story of a 15-year-old who is sent to a detention centre because of an affair with a much older man.

(Country: Slovakia, Czech Republic; Year: 2013; Director: Juraj Lehotsky; Writer: Juraj Lehotsky, Marek Lescák; Stars: Michaela Bendulova, Michaela Bendulová, Michaela Bendulová, Katarina Feldekova, Katarína Feldeková, Ela Lehotská, Robert Roth, Robo Roth)

Miss Zombie

A high society family in rural Japan receives a post package with a new housemaid, who is… somewhat different.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2013; Director: Hiroyuki Tanaka; Writer: Hiroyuki Tanaka; Stars: Ayaka Komatsu, Makoto Togashi, Toru Tezuka, Okito Serizawa, Tarô Suruga, Riku Ohnishi, Takaya Yamauchi)

Morning Star

Drama set within the confines of a circus.

(Country: France; Year: 2012; Director: Sophie Blondy; Writer: Philippe Benkemoun, Sophie Blondy; Stars: Denis Lavant, Iggy Pop, Tchéky Karyo, Béatrice Dalle, Natacha Régnier, Bruno Putzulu, Laura Favali, Roland Menou, Zimsky, Sissi Duparc, Hervé Chenais, Dominique Rocher, Michel Adam de Villiers, Patrick Mimoun, Erland Malmberg)

Our Heroes Died Tonight (Nos héros sont morts ce soir)

Black and white drama about two downbeat wrestlers.

(Country: France; Year: 2013; Director: David Perrault; Writer: David Perrault; Stars: Denis Ménochet, Jean-Pierre Martins, Constance Dollé, Pascal Demolon, Alice Barnole, Yann Collette, Pablo Nicomedes, Philippe Nahon)

The Police Officer's Wife (Die Frau des Polizisten)

Study of the effects of domestic abuse on a young family.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Philip Gröning; Writer: Philip Gröning; Stars: Alexandra Finder, David Zimmerschied, Pia Kleemann, Chiara Kleemann, Horst Rehberg, Katharina Susewind, Lars Rudolph, Fabian Stromberger)

Ship Of Theseus

A documentary style drama, set in contemporary Mumbai, about three separate philosophical stories, which converge at a single point of illumination.

(Country: India; Year: 2012; Director: Anand Gandhi; Writer: Anand Gandhi, Anand Gandhi, Pankaj Kumar, Khushboo Ranka; Stars: Aida El-Kashef, Sohum Shah, Neeraj Kabi, Vinay Shukla, Sameer Khurana, Manoj Shah, Faraz Khan, Vipul Binjola, Ramnik Parekh, Sunip Sen)

The Strange Colour Of Your Body's Tears (L'étrange Couleur Des Larmes De Ton Corps, The Strange Color Of Your Body's Tears)

Review preview for The Strange Colour Of Your Body's Tears

For all that its often said "they don't make them like they used to" this is very, very close.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
A woman's disappearance forms the central mystery in this visually stylish neo-giallo.

(Country: Belgium, France, Luxembourg; Year: 2013; Director: Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani; Writer: Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani; Stars: Klaus Tange, Jean-Michel Vovk, Sylvia Camarda, Sam Louwyck, Anna D'annunzio, Manon Beuchot)

Full review

Story Of My Death (Historia De La Meva Mort)

(Country: Spain, France; Year: 2013; Director: Albert Serra; Stars: Vincenc Altaio Morral, Lluis Massanellas Serrat, Clara Visa, Noelia Rodenas, Jordi Pau Costa)

This is Sanlitun

A westerner heads to Beijing... and gets more than he bargained for.

(Country: China, Iceland, Australia, Ireland; Year: 2013; Director: Róbert I Douglas; Writer: Róbert I Douglas, Carlos Ottery, Christopher Loton, Róbert I. Douglas, Peter Walters; Stars: Carlos Ottery, Christopher Loton, Ai Wan, Cromwell Cheung, David Kenneth Vaughan, Hugo Catonné, Daniel Douglas-Li, Hu Gaoxiang, Hui Ting Kang, Yi Xin Kuang, Leonardo Lee, Greg Lepkoff, Gerry Mattios, Anastasia Nobobranova, Efraim Smits)

You And The Night (Les Rencontres D'Après Minuit)

Review preview for You And The Night

It's bold, impetuous and willing to bite off far more than it can chew. One doesn't see enough of this sort of thing these days.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A couple prepare to welcome guests for the evening but the atmosphere is tense.

(Country: France; Year: 2013; Director: Yann Gonzalez; Writer: Yann Gonzalez; Stars: Kate Moran, Niels Schneider, Nicolas Maury, Eric Cantona, Fabienne Babe, Alain Delon Jr.)

Full review See: Interview with Yann Gonzlez about You And The Night