Cherrybomb (2009)

Two guys. 
One girl. 
Game on.

Malachy (Rupert Grint) is a straight A student with a part time job and a good family. Luke (Robert Sheehan) lives with his good-for-nothing father in a place rented to them by his brother, all of them dealing drugs. Playing off eachother, the guys stick together as best friends, until Michelle (Kimberley Nixon) moves back into town... A tease and a troublemaker, she is trying to make a life living with her father, but unfortunately the three are ticking off just the wrong reactions in eachother.

I really liked this movie! It is intense, fast-paced and smart, portraying British teenagers and their struggles with love, life and experimentation. Visually I particulartly liked the text messages, displayed very 'in-your-face' on the screen, giving a good idea of how we are sometimes miles away from our surroundings when texting. It is also a bit too indie at times, with lots of close-ups and cross-cutting, but all in all a great film.

Grint and Sheehan are both guilty pleasures; too young, too hot! And it's in Irish - lovely stuff! Though a teen flick, Cherrybomb is well made, well played, good entertainment.  A must-see for fans of British indie.

Runtime: 86 mins
Starring: Rupert Grint, Robert Sheehan, Kimberley Nixon

The Science of Sleep (2006)

Dreamy, multilingual, funny and completely wacked! Stéphane Miroux (Gael García Bernal) moves back to his mothers apartment in Paris after his father dies in Mexico. Completely absorbed in his own fantasy world, Stéphane has serious difficulties adapting to the real world and fit in with his new job.

The love story between Stéphane and Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), the two next door neighbours, is a journey through both fantasy and reality. As he can't figure out how to be close to Stéphanie in reality, he creates a relationship in his dreamworld, leaving Stéphanie confused and frustrated.

The childish innocence of this movie fascinated me, filling the movie with a warm humour, but still with a sharp undertone. As it gets more and more difficult to separate his dreams from reality, you really feel for both of the main characters. It's a well made, sweet movie with great actors, though a bit on the odd side.

Runtime: 105 mins
Starring: Gael García Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat, Miou-Miou

An Education (2009)

Where to begin... I'm thinking more about the heavy rain outside my window than the film I just saw...

An Education is about a hard working girl (Mulligan) in England in the 60s (or so), studying to be accepted into Oxford. She is both smart and pretty, straight A's, plays the cello... Pretty much got her whole life planned out. Until one day she meets David (Skarsgaard).

It's the classic 'girl meets boy - boy's no good'. But it's also about living, enjoying and appreciating life. The pictures are beautiful, and if you can get over the slightly pedophile relationship, it's actually a really cute movie. Because sometimes an education isn't by the book.

Runtime: 100 min
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Emma Thompson

The Visitor (2007)

There are many big words to describe this movie: Important. Sad. Real. Inspiring.

Walter (Jenkins) is a widowed university professor who has lived the same routines every day for 20 years, pretending. He lives in solitude, avoiding the world around him. Unwillingly sent to present a paper in New York, Walter finds a young couple living in his spare apartment, oblivious that it belongs to him.

Meeting Tarek and Zainab changes Walter's life, revitalizing it and opening it up to new impulses. Unfortunately, however good citizens, the two are illegal immigrants, and suddenly Tarek is taken in by the immigration department. Working to get Tarek out, and also getting to know his mother Mouna, Walter finds new meaning to his own existence.

It is slow paced and stout, but also deep. It's sad to think how many people might actually be in Walter's situation, stuck in the routines of their own lives. It is also sad how laws of immigration deport good, innocent people every day. This movie makes you think about your own life, and its connection, rhythm, balance, whatever you prefer... Am I really living my life?

Runtime: 104 min
Starring: Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Hiam Abbass

Nine (2009)

From the director of Chicago comes another fiery crossing between drama and musical, nominated to 5 Oscars.

Set in Rome, Italy in the 1960s, the movie portrays the famous movie director Guido Contini (Day-Lewis) who struggles to finish his newest screenplay. Massively distracted by beautiful women throwing themselves at him everywhere, not to mention delusional and out-of-control narcissism, Contini is heading towards breakdown.

I love musicals. I love musical adaptations to film as well, and I absolutely loved Chicago. This however... With a crew this impressive and a story about a passionate Italian surrounded by beautiful women, it's almost hard to understand how it all became so dull... All the time I was holding out for a great musical act, one that I would watch again and again on YouTube (like Cell Block Tango), but no such luck.

There are a few points of light; Judi Dench is fantastic. Costumes and sets are most of the time really good. Marion Cotillard, beautiful as ever, is good as Contini's wife, but unfortunately she can't dance or sing... Nicole Kidman is well cast, but her character is just too small to matter. Well... Mostly its just chaotic and disconnected. You really gotta love movie musicals to swallow this one.

Runtime: 118 mins
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Fergie, Sophia Lauren

Fish Tank (2009)

This British indie film is stripped of glamour and anything superfluous, and it hits hard. The repressed anger creates a tension that kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through, flipping from frustration, to worry, to empathy. It's a good movie, very real, and it left me with a great sense of sadness...

So, Mia is a 15 year old English girl with serious anger issues, and with good reason. She lives with her mother and younger sister, a family with too much yelling and booze, and too little care and boundaries. All her life keeping the world out, she has become introverted and temperamental. Now, with a serious crush on her mothers "latest catch", a possible break for her dancing and a nice guy with a car, life is suddenly breaking down her defences.

Runtime: 123 mins
Starring: Katie Jarvis, Michael Fassbender