Little Odessa (1994)

Little Odessa is a dark film centering on the consequences of one's actions and the inevitable entanglements that come with relationships.

Returning to a Jewish-Russian enclave on Coney Island, hitman Joshua tries to avoid reconnecting with his estranged family as he plans for another job. His little brother, his mother, his ex-girlfriend can't stay away and he ends up deep in family drama and deep in conflict with a local gang.

The film pays off with its gifted acting and explosive ending, though it does drag on for the first hour.

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Darwin's Nightmare (2004)

This brilliantly edited and investigated documentary comes to us from a European filmmaker telling the hellish story of Tanzanians.

From the shores of Lake Victoria, on of the greatest fresh water lakes in the world, we receive the account of those languishing from the fishing trade as thousands of crates of frozen Nile perch are flown north to Europe every day. We get the angles on ecology, arms dealing, AIDS, street kids, prostitution, unemployment, famine, violence, etc. All of this from what should be one of the most prosperous areas in Africa.

The film is shot in digital video, but no matter. The content is powerful and the emotion desperate.

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Lord of War (2005)

I didn't expect this to be based on a real life, but I'm grateful that it was. From the little that I knew about gunrunning, I assumed that there would be enough true stuff out there to make a film about rather than going all XXX on the subject.

The protagonist is a naturalized American from Ukraine who comes into the business of trading arms somewhat by accident. We follow his rise to riches, concern for secrecy, and amoral transactions primarily in west Africa. There is little to suggest that he feels bad for what he does and we hear again and again his excuses for doing what he does: equipping warlords with effective killing tools.

The effects and locations were quite awe-inspiring, particularly the timelapse where a jet is taken completely apart over night. Though most of the film was certainly shot on sets, they did a great job of outside locations making us believe that we were in Lebanon, Ukraine, Liberia, or the Atlantic Ocean.

There is plenty of gratuitous nudity and violence, which I presume the film makers believed would bring more of an audience to this film (of such an important subject). I thought the nudity could have been tamed down substantially as it wasn't core to communicating the story.

I truly appreciated that there was no moralising. It is an obviously black and white issue (at least to me): we should stop manufacturing so many weapons and we should track the ones that exist. The film focuses more on the mechanics of the trade rather than telling us how bad it is. It's a smart film.

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Everything is Illuminated (2005)

This quirky film about a young Jewish collector researching his grandfather's story in Ukraine is quite a joy to watch.

I wasn't completely keen on seeing Elijah Wood. Something about him throws me off guard, like he knows that I know that he's acting. But this film really changed my mind. The two central Ukrainian actors (I'm guessing their nationality here) are really inspiring. Their gruffness juxtaposed with their tenderness is beautiful.

This film is actually very funny. Example: the "seeing-eye-bitch" for the grandfather who pretends that he's blind is labelled demented, but really is quite normal for a dog, which makes the family more demented than the dog. The dialogue perfectly and hilariously defines the characters, who are refreshingly original.

The swirling themes of memory and family and heritage and journey are poignantly depicted among sweeping Ukrainian fields (though it was all shot in Czech Republic) and a stuffy car.

The ending is pleasantly surreal and eases us from some of the sorrow we witnessed.

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