Mandar's SF International Film Festival's Most Wanted


124 movies. Will you give your Netflix a rest? Here's my selection of 10 movies (+ 1 bonus) to watch.


You'll notice a definite bias towards Latin-American and Asian movies in my list. It's true.


A Peck on the Cheek and A Tale of a Naughty Girl. I'll probably go see them, but including them on the list would be commiting "duh". "Drowned Out" escapes that fate because I just don't think it's going to see the support that we think it will. Also, S mentioned Infernal Affairs and Jet Lag. P suggested The Man Without a Past.


But still, why these and not the others? I was really tempted to put The Good Old Naughty Days (French "hardcore" porn ensemble from the 1920s) on the list, but that would make 11. I wanted to find a good balance of fun, interesting, odd, weird, quirky, cheesy, new, poignant, depressing etc. That's the 124, I know. No Afghanistan, no Iraq. And like Ken Burns -- jeez, it's my collection!


Here's why some of the movies made my list.

Swing: because it's the same guy who made Latcho Drom -- another movie I haven't seen -- and because of my recent interest in Goran Bregovic and all-things Gypsy.


So Close: because it's the quintessential "babes who kick ass" Hong Kong action flick.


Nada +: because it's from Cuba, and the lines went around the block at the Havana Film festival. And it sounds like a Mario Vargas Llosa story.


Comandante: because it's Oliver Stone meets Fidel Castro. Literally.


Blissfully Yours: because it sounds really kinky.


[Bonus] Music for Weddings & Funerals: because they messed up Goran Bregovic's name in the description (Gregor, they said) and because P pointed it out to me.

Without further ado. The list:

• All Hell Let Loose
  Iranian-born director and actress Susan Taslimi deftly balances humor and sadness in this Swedish-set story of an immigrant family thrown into turmoil by the return of a prodigal daughter.
  
  4/20 KAB 9:45; 4/27 KAB 12:00
  
  
• The Best of Times
  Best friends Wei and Jie are aimless teens with dreams of the good life. When they go looking for it, though, all they find is trouble. A gritty and gorgeous tale from one of Taiwan’s best new filmmakers.
  
  4/26 KAB 10:00; 4/30 KAB 6:45
  
  
• Blissfully Yours
  This uniquely sensual film turns a trip to the movies into a daylong picnic in the jungle; reel time becomes real time. Set in the frontier area between Thailand and Burma, its languidly deceptive vision has global resonance.
  
  4/20 KAB 6:15
  
  
• Comandante
  Oliver Stone, Fidel Castro: together at last, in one of the year’s liveliest, compulsively watchable documentaries. Stone follows Castro through Havana, quizzing him on politics, revolution, movies and sex, as the Cuban lets down his defenses.
  
  4/30 KAB 9:30; 5/1 KAB 5:00
  
  
• Cortos Mexicanos
  This collection of ten recent shorts, including two by Carlos Cuarón (screenwriter of Y Tu Mamá También), shows that filmic creativity flourishes in Mexico today. All films were produced by the Mexican Film Institute, IMCINE.
  
  4/19 KAB 4:30
  
  
• Drowned Out
  In rich human detail, Franny Armstrong documents the fight against India’s Narmada River dam and unravels the question “Progress for whom?” Clear-eyed native villagers inspire as they reach out and fight for their lives and homes. With short, A Love Supreme.
  
  4/28 KAB 6:45; 4/30 KAB 1:00
  
  
• Goodbye South, Goodbye
  Manny Farber is one of our greatest—and most notorious—film critics. He joins us for an onstage discussion, followed by a screening of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s gorgeously downbeat 1996 film, Goodbye South, Goodbye, about Taiwan’s small-time gangsters and bar girls.
  
  4/21 KAB 5:30
  
  
• Nada +
  A melancholy, romantic female postal worker rewrites the letters she steals to assuage hurt feelings and reunite quarreling lovers and feuding relatives. This first feature signals a new direction for Cuban film and a playful new approach to storytelling.
  
  4/25 KAB 6:45; 4/30 KAB 10:00
  
  
• So Close
  Welcome to the world of babes who kick ass! Shu Qui, Karen Mok and Zhao Wei team up with famed Jet Li action director Corey Yuen for this kick-drunk spectacular of deadly female assassins and the beautiful cop on their trail.
  
  4/18 KAB 12MID; 4/21 KAB 4:15
  
  
• Swing
  Enamored of Gypsy jazz, ten-year-old Max convinces guitar virtuoso Miraldo to give him lessons. He also falls for Gypsy girl Swing, and plunges into manouche (Gypsy) life, in a film bursting with wild musical energy.
  
  4/20 CAS 12:00; 4/22 KAB 10:00 AM
  
  
• [Bonus] Music for Weddings & Funerals
  Grieving the death of her young son, Sara, a renowned novelist in Norway, brings life into her mausoleum-like home by taking in a Serbian musician, Bogdan. Her architect ex-husband, Peter, disapproves, but his Nordic reserve is no match for Bogdan’s Slavic passion.
  
  4/18 KAB 9:30; 4/21 KAB 7:00