25 September,2011 11:30 AM IST | | SMD Team
Tired of South Indian remakes masquerading as Bollywood's nouveau cinema or some equally trite Hollywood fare? Rejoice, because this week you have some options that include an iconic film about a lonely woman's road trip, Masud' Matir Moina, a German film festival, and one marking a decade since 9/11
Im Winter ein Jahr
In Caroline Link's 2008 German film, A year ago in winter, interior designer Eliane Richter commissions Max Hollander to paint a picture of her two children.
Her daughter Lilli is not keen on the idea, because her brother Alexander committed suicide and the portrait of the two would be nothing more than a decorative illusion. As Hollander struggles to perfect his portrait, the stormy interaction between artist and subjects brings forth the intense psychological state of a complex family.
At: 6.30pm, Sept 26, Goethe Hall, Max Mueller Bhavan
Entry: Free
Call: 22027542
Je, tu, il, elle
In her provocative first French feature film Je, tu, il, elle (I, you, he, she), director Chantal Akerman stars as an aimless and lonely young woman who lives isolated in a bare room before setting out on a road trip.
The trip leads to love affairs with a male truck driver and a former girlfriend. With some much talked about carnal encounters and daring minimalism, Je tu il elle is Akerman's most sexually audacious film.
At: 5.30 pm, Sept 25, Majlis Cultural Centre, Flat 1, Christina Apartments, opposite Samrat Electronics, Santa Cruz
Entry: Free
Call: 26182771
Hande weg von Mississippi
An adaptation of a well-known German children's novel by Cornelia Funke, in this 2007 film translating to Hands off Mississippi, 10 year-old Emma visits her grandmother in the countryside, to realise that a mare named Mississippi is being sold to a butcher.
Emma saves the horse, but has to deal with Mississippi's former employer. Can Emma and her friends outsmart the scoundrel?
At: 6.30 pm, Sept 27, Goethe Hall, Max Mueller Bhavan, K Dubash Marg, Kalaghoda
Entry: Free
Call: 22027542
Matir Moina
The International Critics' Prize winner at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, Matir Moina (The Clay Bird), is being screened in the city to pay homage to Tareque Masud, the prolific Bangladeshi director who died in a road accident in August.
Set against the backdrop of the turbulent 1960s, which led to the formation of Bangladesh, the film tells the story of a family torn apart by religion and war. Touching upon themes of religious tolerance, cultural diversity, and the complexity of Islam, the film has universal relevance in a crisis-ridden world.
At: 7 pm, Sept 26, Prithvi House, opposite Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu Church Road
Entry: Free
Email: vikalp.prithvi@gmail.com
L'armee des ombres
To mark the first decade since the 9/11 terror attacks, Enlighten Film Society is organising a number of screenings related to the issues of war. Among other films will be screened L'arm ufffde des ombres (Army of Shadows), the iconic 1969 French film by Jean-Pierre Melville.
In this adaptation of Joseph Kessel's 1943 book of the same name, the film follows a small group of French Resistance fighters as they move between safe houses, work with Allied militaries, kill informers, and attempt to evade the capture and execution that they know is their most likely fate. While the characters are heroic, the film presents a bleak, unromantic view of the Resistance.
At: 12 pm, Sept 25, Cinemax Versova, Infinity Mall, 3rd Floor, New Link Road, Versova, Andheri (W)
Entry: Free
Call: 42141414
