An Unreasonable Man (2006)

Ralph Nader's independent presidential runs in 2000 and 2004 are regarded by many as having given George W. Bush the elections in both those years because he drew Democrat votes away from the Gore, then Kerry.

This documentary handily lays out the controversies that surround Nader's unwillingness to compromise and support those he shares some values with.

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Deep Water (2006)

Deep Water is such a compassionate account of a cornered man who disgraces himself. This documentary follows a competitor in a solo yacht circumnavigation of the globe back in 1968. It is a gripping story told with passion and balance. Highly recommended.

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Hors de prix (2006)

Audrey Tautou portrays a skillful gold digger on the French Riviera in Priceless. After a misunderstanding which leads to a tryst with a bartender, she makes it clear that she is not interested in pursuing a relationship that doesn't produce pricy gifts and extravagant holidays.

The bartender is willing to bet his entire savings and credit on winning her over though and so goes the tale. The film does a great job of making you suffer with the poor man's weakness in spending money so to win over his cruel muse.

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Summer Love (2006)

Definitely the worst film I've watched all year. Incoherent. Unintelligible (a bunch of polish actors pretending to be in the wild west). Ridiculous.

Beware. The film goes by two names: Summer Love and Dead Man's Bounty.

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Congorama (2006)

I was really pleased with this funny collaboration between Belgium and Canada. A Belgian man discovers that he was adopted from Québec and as he faces joblessness and irrelevance, he seeks out his origin in the farmlands of eastern Canada. Belgian Congo works its way into the story too.

While taking a break from pitching an invention, Michel has a providential encounter with people in a town where he was apparently given up to some nuns and then given away at Expo '67 in Montreal. He is given the key to success, but not without compromise.

One scene in the film impressed me in particular because I had lower expectations for a Canadian film.

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Everything's Gone Green (2006)

I'm a big fan of Vancouver author Douglas Coupland and so I was tickled when Amber brought this film home. Coupland debuts his screenwriting abilities in Everything's Gone Green.

In an age when everything is commoditized, protagonist Ryan discovers that everyone around him can be bought too - worse! even he can be bought. Money rules in his family, friends, relationships, and even in his job as a lottery winners newsletter photographer. He must make difficult moral choices in the end, just to be true to himself.

I really enjoyed the film. Coupland bejewels this tale of caution with quirky characters, Canadian flavour, and super value.

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Scoop (2006)

Woody Allen presents another crime centred comedy set in Britain, this time with a supernatural twist.

A nubile journalist hopeful stumbles upon a tremendous scoop delivered to her from beyond the grave. She is set on the trail of a serial killer whom she seduces as she snoops around to amass evidence about his crimes. Her sidekick, a bumbling, neurotic magician (you can guess who plays him!) does most of the digging for evidence while she does most of the seducing.

It's a playful comedy that doesn't cause much of a stir in the viewer. It is funny though.

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Goya's Ghosts (2006)

Stacked with very fine actors and a compelling story, this film ultimately doesn't satisfy because of the multi-layered melodramatic threads in the fictional tale.

Francisco Goya, the famed political artist, is witness to the horrors of both the Catholic Inquisition and the invasion by Napoleonic forces into Spain. Caught in the midst of the worst kind of injustice is the daughter of one of Goya's patrons.

The film is not horrible, it just fails to bring much hope nor does it make the hopelessness palpable.

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Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)

Known for her stark photographs of outsiders and her ability to show their humanity, beauty, Diane Arbus is featured in a made up fantasy story of her enchantment with the fringe. As she assists her photographer husband in their studio, a mysterious man moves in upstairs. It isn't long before Diane meets him and the develop a relationship. The stranger has a condition that causes hair to cover his entire body (think Chewbacca). Her journey into the world of freaks culminates with her embracing the odd and surpassing her husband as a photographer.

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The History Boys (2006)

This is quite a smart film that does much more than The Emperor's Club and other prep school dramas about inspiring teachers and their disciples. The History Boys emphasizes the dark parts of the education system and of humanity - particularly their English and History profs.

A group of academically gifted boys give a small and not very prestigious British school some hope of legitimacy if they can pass their exams and enter some of the top universities in the country. As a young teacher is hired to prep them, the joy of learning begins to die as they pursue marks instead of knowledge.

Some great acting and writing (inevitable when it's based on a play).

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The Hawk is Dying (2006)

Paul Giamatti plays a single, middle aged man who cares for his abandoned sister and her autistic son. His character obsesses with taming a wild hawk by starving himself until the hawk eats from his hand.

The film is categorically independent in style and has a ethereal, morbid feel to it, but this only adds to the urgency and poignancy of the plot. He feels his manhood and his recovery from grief are tied to this act of taming to such an extent that it seems like a latent rite of passage.

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Right at Your Door (2006)

The twist at the end did very little to redeem this film. The preview showed promise and I think it could have been great. It wasn't.

A dirty biological bomb goes off in L.A. setting the entire metropolitan area under a cloud of a contagious disease. Brad seals himself inside his house after finding that it will be impossible to locate and get to his girlfriend, Lexy, who is downtown. He is faced with a dilemma when Lexy shows up at his house, coughing and asking to come in.

Some scenes drag on and on and while the opening sequence is pretty gripping, the last 3/4 of it lack depth and intensity.

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Half Nelson (2006)

Another film about school, except it's a more real, dimensional and broken teacher than what we are usually treated to.

Teacher Dan takes curriculum into his own hands at the urban junior high he is placed in. While offering his students college fare rather than what his principal wants him to teach, Dan has a dark addiction to cocaine and crack. He begins to build a relationship with Drey, a student and basketball player on the team he coaches. Drey also has a connection to Dan's coke dealer.

The performances are raw and honest making the message of redemption and grace all the more powerful.

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Breaking and Entering (2006)

Jude law assumes a familiar role in Breaking and Entering - that of husband/boyfriend with a roving eye.

Urban designer Will is experiencing repeated break-ins at his office at the same time his common-law relationship with Swedish hottie Liv is breaking down. His stakeout pays off one night and he finds himself making a personal connection with the young thief's mother. Lacking in emotional contact with Liv, Will begins to fall for Amira. Tensions mount as trust is pressed.

I enjoyed the genuineness of Will's struggle as it was more than just physical attraction that drew him into his extramarital (?) affair. The parallel with theft brought little to the whole concept for me, but the story worked on a forgiveness level.

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Nacho Libre (2006)

Jack Black becomes a man of the cloth and a luchador of the ring in this zany collaboration with Mike White.

Ignacio (Nacho for short), a junior monk in Mexico is faced with either finding a way to earn big money fast or continuing to feed slop to the orphans in his care. Finding some inspiration from a new and hot nun, Nacho teams up with a violent vagrant to become a local masked wrestler. He faces some moral compromises along the way.

The film is elegant and understated from the costumes to the music allowing Black to truly shine as a stout hearted athlete.

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The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)

Ireland is raked over the coals of internal strife after they drive the British from their shores.

Young Dr. Damien is recruited as a freedom fighter against a brutal and unforgiving British occupying army. Damien fights alongside his neighbours and his brother in an informal military force that must discipline itself to the point of executing traitors - their own friends and brothers. When victory is achieved, the nation is plunged even further division because of a disagreement of the terms of truce. More blood is shed.

There is no pleasure in watching this film aside from the sheer power and anguish expressed. The Wind that Shakes the Barely belongs on the shelf with other tragic classics.

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Requiem (2006)

I had seen The Exorcism of Emily Rose, an American production based on the same true events and thought I would complete the story by watching this German-made film about Anneliese Michel, the real life woman who was given multiple exorcisms when medical treatment failed.

Michaela begins attending university in a nearby German town after missing high school years because of seizures. She promises to faithfully take her medication, but soon begins drinking and having a relationship with one of her school mates. Her strong Catholic faith causes her to feel guilty and when her seizures return, she believes them to be expressions of demon possession.

The film is set in the 1970's and is truly remarkable in its melancholy and the fact that it doesn't play the horror card when it easily could have. It emphasizes the fact that she was mentally ill and that medicine was a far better result than the exorcisms which ended tragically.

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Wordplay (2006)

Banking on the success of documentaries that surround contests (Spellbound, Mad Hot Ballroom and Murderball are a few), Wordplay carries viewers into an annual crossword puzzle contest. Who will win? The frequent winner? The one who almost won a few times? Or who would be the youngest crossword champ ever?

More than just the competition, which is fun to behold, we are taken behind the scenes of the New York Times Crossword Puzzle. Famous fans of the NYT puzzle (Bill Clinton, John Stewart and the Indigo Girls are among the most elite) also make their pitches for their favorite puzzle.

Overall, the flick isn't really affecting, just a glimpse into a niche of nerds.

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The Namesake (2006)

The Namesake is based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri and it shows because it isn't a traditional formulaic film, but rather one with several layers of tone and fabric and generations.

Young Gogol receives his name as an interim one from his Indian born parents. The name becomes his bane, just as he views his Indian heritage as he lives in the only country he really knows - the United States. The story begins with his parents marriage in India and rapid move to the States to start a new life. The focus later becomes Gogol as he grows up with a dual identity.

The story is powerful as it weaves heritage and adaptation into a rich tale of love and loss.

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Lady Chatterley (2006)

The French offer their take on one of D.H. Lawrence's most scandalous novels.

Lady Chatterley lives with her paraplegic mine owning husband in the English countryside. Her ventures into the nearby woods bring her closer to nature and to the gameskeeper. Her affair with the muscular and nature loving man develops into a loving relationship as her status becomes more distasteful to her.

The film is superb with little cliché. There is quite a lot of gratuitous nudity, but the story and character development remain the focus.

While the book achieved much controversy and subsequent film interpretations garnered the same, it does provoke some excellent questions regarding socially imposed expectations, commitment, love, and instinct. I am certain that my conclusions would differ with Mr. Lawrence, but I do appreciate his take on justice.

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