"Norwegian Wood"

"Norwegian Wood" by Tran Anh Hung, based on the novel by Haruki Murakami.

This is the first time, one of the Murakami's books became film. It was already released in Japan in Dec 2010 and it is going to be released in France in May. I can't wait to see it though we will not be able to see it in the US probably until the end of the year.

The actor who plays the main character, Ken'ichi Matsuyama, is a very talented young actor. He became known for playing the character 'L' in the movie "Death Note". I am really looking forward to see how he transformed himself into the character this time. Not to mention, the director is Vietnamese French. He directed this movie using translator and some broken English... That must have been very difficult to do.

I loved 2 of his films, "The Scent of Green Papaya" (1993) and "Vertical Ray of the Sun" (2000). I did not like "I Come with the Rain" (2008). So I am really looking forward to see if he is back to his style.

"The Best of Youth"

5 Potatoes out of 5

I was just thinking of this film the other day... 

"The Best of Youth" - la Meglio Gioventù (2003) by 

Marco Tullio Giordana. 

it has been any movie like this that truly touched my heart lately sadly to say but it is true... Originally planned as a 4-part TV mini-series, it was presented and awarded the prestigious "Un Certain Regard" award at the Cannes Film Festival 2003. The story follows the lives of two brothers Matteo and Nicola from 1966 through 2003. The movie is well written and well edited, of course, well directed that you would forget that it is almost 6 hours long. DVD available. Highly Recommended. 

"Incendies" by Denis Villeneuve

3.5 Potatoes out of 5

The film "Incendies" from Canada was one of the Foreign Language Nominees for this year's Oscar. It was finally released in Los Angeles last Friday and I rushed to the theater to see it.


This film is very different, it is a bit hard to follow at the beginning as the mother character and the daughter character look very much alike. Anyway, the main subject of the movie is very unusual and it took me sometime to digest the thought at the end.


After all, it was well done. Unusual story telling and unexpected ending. Maybe a bit too long...


Synopsis: When notary Lebel (Rémy Girard) sits down with Jeanne and Simon Marwan (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette) to read them their mother’s will Nawal (Lubna Azabal), the twins are stunned to receive a pair of envelopes – one for the father they thought was dead and another for a brother they didn’t know existed... (read more)