Paris Je T'aime: 18 Films in 2 Hours

Cinemanyak Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes Critic's Rating: 7.0/10
Critics' Tomatometer: 84% (Certified Fresh by Rotten Tomatoes)
What's your rating? Post a comment below.

Awards and Accomplishments:
Official Selection, 2006 Cannes Film Festival
Official Selection, 2006 Toronto Film Festival
In Exhibition, 2007 Cinemanila

18 stories. 18 acclaimed directors.
1 film.
1 theme... love in Paris.

I watched the film after seeing some directors involved in this ambitious project: Gus Van Sant and Christopher Doyle to mention a few. Seldom do you see acclaimed directors and Cannes winners together.

Given 5 minutes each. The directors gave their own interpretation of "love in Paris". Some were experimental, some were conventional. There were films about vampire couples, homosexuals, a Moslem and a Christian, 2 clowns, a divorced couple, a blind man and an actress, Asians trying to be French, and more. Very diverse. Truly interesting.

I was lukewarm to the idea at first. They may be acclaimed directors and known film makers, but how can they manage a "chopseuy" of stories? I was thinking then that things will be left hanging and unresolved at the end. But to my surprise, it didn't feel that way.

Yes, some things were left hanging...but the film gave a different feeling in the end: it made us miss all the characters terribly! Thanks to the perfect ending where they showed everyone in a montage and in 18 split frames, accompanied by a lovely song entitled "We're All In The Dance".

It's a good film. I would recommend it. (By the way, I watched it twice. In Cinemanila and during my flight from Manila to Singapore).

Below is the trailer. I'm also posting the ending of the film which made most of the people in the theater cry (it's a spoiler, so don't play the second video if you are planning to watch Paris Je T'aime) .

Irina Palm: The Best Hands in Town!

Cinemanyak Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
What's your rating? Post a comment below.

Awards & Achievements:
Winner - Reader Jury, Berlin Film Festival
In Competition - Berlin Film Festival
In Competition - Cinemanila Film Festival

IRINA PALM...boring title at first. But after watching the movie, I can't help it but smile everytime I hear "Irina Palm".

Irina Palm is a movie about a widowed grandmother, Maggie, who wants to save her grandson from cancer by sending him to Australia for treatment. The problem is they don't have much to pay for his airfare and hospital bills. Without any work experience, she walks around London to look for a job. After multiple rejections, she ended up in a Soho sex club. She then agreed to masturbate men through a hole for 800 pounds a week.

Now you know why "Irina Palm"...becasue she has the best palm in town!

A drama-comedy neatly directed by Sam Garbarski. This film competed in this year's Berlin Film Festival. Irina Palm's unconventional storyline will leave you awake for 2 hours, though there are some lags in the story telling that will make you wish you could fast track time.

Cinemanyak recommends this film for its unique plot and amusing humor. Aside from that, it is a so-so art film.

Persepolis: An Animated Feature Not For Kids

Cinemanyak Rating: 9.5/10
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes Critic's Rating: 7.4/10
Critic's Tomatometer: 100% (Fresh by Rotten Tomatoes)
What's your rating? Post a comment below.

Awards & Achievements:
In Competition - Cannes Film Festival
Winner - Cannes Jury Prize
Winner - Cinemanila Jury Prize

Quoting a post in IMDB, PERSEPOLIS is a film about humanity where humanity is illegal.

This film opened a window to the difficult, often unreasonable, Iranian society. But the best thing about Persepolis is that they have exposed the story unconventionally...in a funny, black and white, full length animation.

I think this is the most acclaimed animation feature since Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Persepolis won the Jury Prize in this year's Cinemanila, and was selected in this year's Berlin Film Festival.

The material is very powerful that it covers topics like: the fall of the Shah, Iraq's invasion of Iran and the ultra-conservatism of some of our Islam brothers. But these were perfectly balanced with humor by introducing: Jichael Mackson, Bruce Lee, the lead's gay boyfriend and more. Watch out for the "Eye of the Tiger" part in the middle...it's freakingly hilarious!

Through the eyes of an idealistic, westernized Iranian girl Marjan, Persepolis showed how people in Iran learned to live a life as dictated by their conservative society...yet still dream of becoming more free.

Persepolis is a must see!