"The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" (2006, Dir: Mamoru Hosoda)

Grade: A

Memo to Joe - you'll love this!

"Inland Empire" (2006, Dir: David Lynch)

Grade: B

"Secret Sunshine" (2007, Dir: Chang-dong Lee)

Why is this listed as a comedy/romance on IMDb? There are elements of both, but if I had to categorize this it'd be put squarely in the 'heavy drama' category.

In any case, the story is powerfully sincere and the lead actress Do-yeon Jeon (who won Best Actress at Cannes) is amazing. She's required to portray myriad changes in her character's world outlook and personality, and it is thanks to her that the central arc never feels choppy. Supporting actor Kang-ho Song is sweet but the way he plays his character leaves his encounters with other actors prone to a sort of emotional blocking. The film itself is earnest but a bit bloated, fat could have been trimmed (especially from the third act). Worth seeing.

Grade: B

"Seventeen Years" (1999,Dir: Yuan Zhang)

Grade: B-

"Holy Smoke" (1999, Dir: Jane Campion)

Grade: B-

"Mademoiselle" (1966, Dir: Tony Richardson)

Grade: A

"Still Life" (2006, Dir: Zhang Ke Jia)

Director Jia tries to reconcile pretentious art-house quirk (spaceships? wtf?) with a kind of lackadaisical navel gazing that he tries to pass off as "meditation" and "contemplation" in this soporific exercise. Trying to create an impression of emotional heft when there is really none to be found, Jia manages only to create an insular, sprawling bore of a film that, if it ever succeeds, does so on the credit of its stunning Yangtze River scenery and lead actress Tao Zhao's likeable performance (the nonpro supporting actors are atrocious). How did this win at Venice? And why did LAFCA join in the circle jerk? One of the few pluses in this film (aside from Zhao and the entrancing landscape sequences) is the abundance of muscular, shirtless Asian men. However, seeing them only reminded me of how I would rather be watching porn than a slow, boring, pointless film such as this one. Potentially interesting as a snapshot of the contemporary Chinese lower-class, but that's about it.

Grade: D

"Four Minutes" (2006, Dir: Chris Kraus)

Very, very well-acted, but awkwardly paced, incredibly derivative and filled with some of the most atrociously cliche situations and dialogue. Still, the stunning ending and the electric perf by Hannah Herzsprung - who makes every line of crummy dialogue sound real and spontaneous - makes this worth a look. The film as a whole is occasionally embarrassing (for sheer obvious cheesiness!) but entertaining thanks to the performances of Herzsprung and Monica Bleibtreu.

Grade: C-

"La Ceremonie" (1995, Dir: Claude Chabrol)

Grade: C+

"Lilya 4-Ever" (2002, Dir: Lukas Moodysson)

Harrowing, powerful and consistently compelling with magnificent performances, especially by the luminous Oksana Akinshina in the lead and the touching Artyom Bogucharsky in support. Films overall impact is blunted slightly by some late-in-the-film dream sequences that are obtrusive and incongruous. Ending could have left more to audience imagination than it already does. Still, a truly worthwhile watch.

Grade: A-