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DIONNE

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DIONNE

When I'm not here at MovieBamba, I'm working as an actress and freelance writer. My hometown is Allen, TX, just outside of Good ol' Dallas. Yes, I do say "Y'all!". Some things I enjoy almost as much as movies are: playing piano, cooking, art travel, snowboarding and skiing.

LUSTFUL

ANTARES

Gotz Spielmann
Petra Morze, Andreas Patton

2004. Austria. Subtitled. 105 mins. (Lustful, Slice Of Life-ish, Passionate) Three films, all within the same austere apartment complex, all about loneliness and anonymity of modern life. Each film is related to the next, and each focuses on passion and emptiness. The sexual heat of the first story is brilliantly directed and should be watched again and again. In all the stories, love is the driving force behind the emotionally wrought experiences.

COMEDIC

BREAD & TULIPS

Silvio Soldini
Licia Maglietta, Bruno Ganz, Giuseppe Battiston

2000. Italy. Subtitled. 114 mins. (Comedic, Romantic) When the tour bus with her husband and family takes off without her from a highway rest stop, a woman decides to have her own adventure with life--since nobody cared enough to see if she was on the bus before she left. She goes to Venice, meets a waiter whom she finds more romantic than her husband, and fights his efforts to get her back

ROMANTIC

GIGANTIC

Matt Aselton
Paul Dano, Zooey Deshanel, Ed Asner, Jane Alexander

2008. United States. 98 mins. (Romantic, Growin-upish) Goofy Paul Dano meets the girl with the biggest eyes in the western world: Zooey Deschanel. He's a mattress salesman, she's a wanna be chef who never seems to cook. They both are not quite sure who they are, so it is impossible to know who the other one is. But he's good hearted and wants to adopt a baby. She's needing someone to care for, but doesn't know it yet. How can you not like a film that begins with a girl falling asleep while testing mattresses in a sleep store?

TEARFUL

I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG

Phillippe Claudel
Kristin Scott Thomas, Elsa Zylberstein

2008. France. Subtitled. 117 mins. (Tearful, Slice Of Life-ish) Younger sister Lea invites Juliette into her home when she is released from prison. Both sisters search for the key to opening up emotions between them long dormant. When the moment of release comes, Juliette lets her emotions flow for the first time since she went to prison, revealing the secret she has kept all these years.

ROMANTIC

JIN ROH:THE WOLF BRIGADE

Hiroyuki Okiura
Yoshikatsu Fujiki, Sumi Mutoh (voices)

1998. Japan. Subtitled. 102 mins. (Romantic, Growin-upish, Tragic, Tearful, Political-ish) Set amid brutal clashes between students and Japanese police, this is the exception to most anime films because it tells a complex story with characters who exude real emotions. A police officer trained as part of the special Wolf Pack begins to doubt his conditioning and seeks out the friend of a girl he killed in an attempt to find his own soul. (Although the DVD includes an English language track, we recommend watching it with subtitles with the original Japanese language--the dubbing is putrid).

EPIC

MONGOL (PART 1)

Sergei Bodrov
Tadanobu Asano, Honglei Sun

2007. Kazakhstan. Subtitled. 126 mins. (Epic, Actionistic, Political-ish, Passionate) Part one of a projected three-part series of spectacular films detailing the life of Genghis Kahn, the Mongol warrior who conquered Asia.(this one is: The Rise of Genghis Kahn). Everything about this film is exceptional, from the native cast to the sweeping vistas. Many epics fail for great battle scenes but never descending to the human scale of emotions. This one truly succeeds.

ROMANTIC

OUTSOURCED

John Jeffcoat
Josh Hamilton, Ayesha Dharker

2006. United States. 95 mins. (Romantic, Comedic, Fanciful) Todd goes to India to supervise an outsourced call center for his sales company. His goal: to train the Indian telephone sales force to take orders so efficiently he can replace himself. At first all he wants to do is complete his job and leave. But gradually, through his relationship with Asha, one of the employees, he gains a love of country and of her.

COMEDIC

THE CHATEAU

Jesse Peretz
Paul Rudd, Romany Malco

2001. United States. 91 mins. (Comedic, Romantic) Two brothers (one adopted) inherit a French chateau complete with a staff of servants including Isabelle (Sylvie Testud). They don't want to stay, the staff doesn't want to leave, and nobody can figure out what to do with the place. A perfect situation for straight-faced comedy.

COMEDIC

THE DARWIN AWARDS

Finn Taylor
Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder

2006. United States. 93 mins. (Comedic, Romantic) Down on his luck detective begs for a job with an insurance investigation firm, claiming his special knowledge of the stupid ways people manage to kill themselves makes him particularly well suited (basis of the annual Darwin Awards, www.darwinawards.com). Winona joins him as the cynical investigator who slowly sees there is a little truth, a lot of quirky, and a measure of cute in his methods.

SLICE OF LIFE-ISH

THE GIRL FROM PARIS

Christian Carion
Michel Serrault, Mathilde Seigner

2001. France. Subtitled. 103 mins. (Slice Of Life-ish, Growin-upish, Eco-greenist, Adventurous) A city girl in her thirties is tired of the life she leads and decides to take a course in farming that will lead to her being placed on a French farm. Her adaption to the rigors of country life and her struggle for co-existence with the old farmer who owns the land is a journey in green living, clean living, and harsh realities of life beyond the boulevard.

SUSPENSEFUL

THE TERRORIST

Santosh Sivan
Ayesha Dhanker

1999. India. Subtitled. 95 mins. (Suspenseful, Political-ish) Sri Lankan woman, Mali, sees her brother die in an attack by soldiers and vows to take his place among the ranks of those fighting the government. She is chosen for a one important, final mission: wearing a suicide belt and pushing the button as she bows in tribute to a government official. Before the mission, she learns she is pregnant. This small Indian film is a fine examination of honor, vulnerability, courage and fear in the mind of someone who must balance their one life and the life of one yet to be born. If you want to find out more on IMDB.com. only the Indian title is used there: Theeviravaathi

FANTASTICAL

THEY CAME BACK

Robin Campillo
Geraldine Pailhas, Jonathan Zaccai

2004. France. Subtitled. 102 mins. (Fantastical, Scary, Suspenseful, Tearful) The cemetery suddenly empties in a small french town as the dead become walking zombies. But these zombies have no desire other than to resume their normal lives alongside their families and lovers. The town approaches this as a logical, bureaucratic problem to be solved. But the mysteries of memory, of passion, and ultimately of what the undead want is the story that unfolds in this very original movie.

TRAGIC

TURTLES CAN FLY

Bahman Ghobadi
Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif

2004. Iran. Subtitled. 98 mins. (Tragic, Growin-upish, Tearful, Political-ish) Set Iraqi Kurdistan just before the US invasion, the 13 year old boy nicknamed Satellite( because he can fix TV antennae), has used his survival skills to become the leader of the pack of hapless children in the refugee camp. The children absorb all the desperation, depression, and glimpses of hope that fly wildly about in their world, as they try to make a life for themselves in a place no one could call home.

COMEDIC

VOLVER

Pedro Almodovar
Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Duenas

2006. Spain. Subtitled. 121 mins. (Comedic, Slice Of Life-ish) Penelope Cruz is Raimunda, the working class woman with a figure any truck driver would admire (she wore a prostatic behind for the movie to enlarge her own). Together with her daughter and her sister she journeys to the town where they were raised and begins to understand very strange things about her dead mother (or is she dead?). Volver means to "return," and this film is about opening up closed doors in the sisters' lives.

ESCAPIST

WASABI

Gerard Krawczyk
Jean Reno, Ryoko Hirosue

2001. France. 94 mins. (Escapist) Jean Reno is always a cop, but here he's got a Japanese daughter. Seems like the tough French cop had a girlfriend in Tokyo many years before who has suddenly died and he must go settle her will. Then there's the daughter he never knew about. Then there is the crime syndicate that's waiting for him. And from there on it's as fun to watch like any Luc Besson creation.

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