Beyond the woods

There’s more to movies than Hollywood or Bollywood. Pick up the best of world cinema. Take our recco...

Jean Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows
France, social drama
Moserbaer, Rs 399

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Army of Shadows is a 1969 French film, which is an adaptation of Joseph Kessel’s 1943 book of the same name. It blends Kessel’s own experiences as a member of the French Resistance with fictionalised versions of real Resistance members who fought against the Nazi occupation of France during World War II.

Andrew Jarecki’s Capturing The Friedmans
USA, documentary
Moserbaer, Rs 399

The film, directed by Andrew Jarecki, was nominated for the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 2003. It focuses on the 1980s investigation of Arnold Freidman for child molestation, after a large collection of child pornography was found in his house.

Akira Kurosawa’s Ran
Japan, jidageki (Japanese period drama)
Shemraoo, Rs 349

This 1985 film depicts the fall of Hidetora Ichimoniji, an ageing warlord who decides to abdicate as ruler in favour of his three sons. The story is based on legends of the Mori Motonari and King Lear. The film was hailed for its use of colour — costume designer Emi Wada won an Academy Award for her work on Ran.

Olivier Assayas’s Les Destinees Sentimentales
France, dramedy
Shemaro, Rs 349
This epic period drama is a love story during King Louis XIV’s era. In the late 19th century, Protestant minister Jean Barnery causes disquiet when he separates from his obsessive wife — and more talk when he decides to take her back. Poignant and mournful, Assayas portrays how lovers are torn apart in a socially conscious France.

Yella is a young woman caught between an uncertain future and a past which won’t go away. As her dilemma unfolds, award-winning director Christian Petzold engages the audience in a world of claustrophobic menace and sudden events, underscored by subtle performances and a nostalgic musical soundtrack.