BROKEN EMBRACES (SPAIN 2009, 125 MINS, 0-16SNL, SUBTITLES)
Penelope Cruz, Lluis Homar, Blanca Portillo & others in a film written & directed by Pedro Almodóvar (recently of Talk to Her, Bad Education & Volver acclaim).  Music by Alberto Iglesias.
“Broken Embraces, in addition to a dense, labyrinthine narrative that jumps across time periods, also features some fiercely contested, complex relationships.  At the centre of this affecting feature sits a blind screenwriter & former director who has abandoned his real name for a pseudonym, the first sign of the double life he leads.  His current reality conceals a fascinating past.  The plot is propelled by the arrival of a brash young man, & the simmering Lena who turned both of their worlds inside out.  Almodóvar skillfully & effortlessly uncovers the secrets of everyone’s various pasts in this steamy, scheming & oh-so-
romantic melodrama.  Penélope Cruz continues to broaden her palette as a dramatic & comedic actress, turning the coquettish Lena into a fully rounded & completely sympathetic schemer.  Almodóvar’s witty, well-written screenplay provides the intricate canvas on which this very Spanish dance of life & death is played out.”
TORONTO INT. FILM FEST
“One of Almodóvar’s richest reflections on the interaction of film & life.” FILM FINESSE

YOUTH IN REVOLT (USA 2009, 112 MINS, 0-16DLNS)
Michael Cera (of Juno fame), Ray Liotta, Justin Long, Jean Smart, Steve Buscemi & others in a comedy, based on the cult hit novel by C.D. Payne, & directed by Miguel Arteta (of Ugly Betty, Six Feet Under & Freaks & Geeks acclaim).
“A hysterically twisted coming-of-age tale chronicling the awkward tribulations of a Camus-spouting, Godard-loving teenaged boy who is cursed with trailer-trash parents & a terminal case of virginity, Youth inRevolt is a wickedly ironic treat.  It is as smart as it is funny.” TORONTO INT. FILM FEST.
Fans of indie comedies will be thrilled … well-penned script, dark humour in incredibly fresh story … quirky folk soundtrack.”
CAPE ARGUS 
“It’s very funny.  Recommended.” MAIL & GUARDIAN

WARD NO. 6 (RUSSIA 2009, 83 MINS, 0-13M, SUBTITLES)
Russia’s Official Entry for the 82nd Academy Awards!
Australian Film Critics Award for Best Film!
Winner Best Actor Award at the Moscow IFF 2009!
Official Selection at Pusan, Hamburg, Helsinki, Jerusalem, Montreal, Sao Paolo & other International Film Festivals, 2009!
Vladimir Ilyin, Alexey Vertkov & others in a film, updated from a story by Anton Chekhov, & directed by Karen Shakhnazarov.
The film is a screen version of the mysterious, paradoxical & disturbing story by Chekhov.  It is based on a real life incident & centres around the head doctor of an asylum who winds up as an asylum patient.  Lonely & estranged, Doctor Ragin is one of the focal characters in the work of Chekhov.  The screenplay is an adaptation of Chekhov’s story.  Preserving the story-line the screenwriters, Alexander Borodyansky & Karen Shakhnazarov, deliberately move the action into the present.  Shooting of the film was done in a real asylum, in a novel semi-documentary manner.
“The director’s most iconoclastic film yet … he deconstructs Chekhov to dazzling effect.” VARIETY, USA
"Absorbing ... well worth seeing." Cape Argus

A SERIOUS MAN (USA 2009, 103 MINS, 0-16LPSVD)
Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick & others in a film written & directed by Joel & Ethan Coen.  Cinematography by Roger Deakins, with music by Carter Burwell.
“Hot on the heels of No Country for Old Men & Burn After Reading, the Coen brothers have switched gears again to deliver a pitch-perfect comic drama that takes them back to their roots in Minnesota.  Dry, hilarious & gloriously absurd, A Serious Man takes them all the way back home.  Sharp, precise & superbly structured.  But  above all, this is a philosophical cry to the heavens, told in a sophisticated schtick.” TORONTO INT. FILM FEST.

“A small film about being Jewish in a Midwestern suburb in 1967.” VARIETY, USA
“The whole story is told with a wicked sense of humour.  At its centre is Larry Gropnick, whose wife wants a divorce, daughter wants a nose job & son wants to be a pop star.  The film is eccentric, from the mini-Yiddish movie that starts the film to its dangerous final scene.  It can’t easily be described, but it can be enjoyed as a gem from the two of the oddest but entertaining directors in Hollywood, Joel & Ethan Coen.” BARRY RONGE