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[/amazon_link]- The Double Hour (“La Doppia Ora” – Italian with subtitles) – Hotel maid Sonia encounters one tragedy after another, and she cannot find peace and love in any relationship she’s been in. And lately she’s begun to imagine things . . . This is a superb thriller spun so expertly that each twist comes as fresh surprise. I cannot recommend this enough.
– Reindeer Games : A rather good, if old thriller starring Ben Afleck as Rudy, a man newly out of prison, hooking up with beautiful Ashley (Charlize Theron), and unwittingly getting pulled into more trouble than he would have bargained for. If you didn’t see it in 2000 when it released, now would be a good time.
– Monsieur Lazhar (French with subtitles) : This Canadian film is of a Montreal public school, in which a teacher commits suicide while at work in the classroom. An Algerian immigrant is hired as a replacement, and as he helps his traumatized students, we get to know a little more about this reticent, quiet man. A sombre, moving film.
– Arjun The Warrior Prince (Hindi, animated) : This is a well-made UTV/Disney production, and a surprisingly good animated film, considering that there are few quality animated films (for kids) coming out of India. It tells the story of Arjuna, so it’s part of the Mahabharata, but not quite. The only drawback with this one is that it is not subtitled, so if your kids have sketchy Hindi, like mine do, be prepared to chip in with translations and a little primer on Indian mythology.
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[/amazon_link]- Shades of Ray : This turned out to be a surprisingly good film, considering that I had low expectations of it. I started it thinking that I would shut it off (Ah! the beauty of Netflix!) if it descended into the emotional, desi drama genre, but it never came to that.
Rehman has a Pakistani father and a Caucasian American mother. Growing up in America, he has always had cultural duality thrust upon him, although he has soundly rejected his non-American roots. He’s now found the girl of his dreams – Nicole, but his overbearing father insists that Ray can find happiness only with a “nice, Pakistani girl”.
A smart humorous film, this.
