Pieta is a dark drama by famous director Kim Ki Duk that has been chosen to represent South Korea at the 2013 Academy Awards.

The story is quickly told. A lonesome guy works for a brutal loan shark and destroys the existence of those who aren't able to pay their debts. One day, an old woman enters his life and claims to be his mother. In the beginning, he refuses to talk to that stranger but as the brutal man in his early thirties has been abandoned as a child, he starts having some serious doubts about the identity of that mysterious woman that does everything to get closer to him. Soon, they share their apartment together and develop a more profound relationship. The brutal gangster starts reconsidering his violent lifestyle and is doing his job with less conviction than before before he ultimately loses it. One day, the old woman disappears and he goes on a journey through his bleak past by facing his demons to find that woman who has given a new sens to his life.

The strongest point of the movie is without a doubt its negative atmosphere. The director creates many haunting images and still lifes that portray the desperate situation of the brutal main character. One can see animal carcasses as well as cold, grey and industrial garages all around his apartment. Many scenes show how he tortures people, masturbates or tries to rape a woman. These moments are very intense and show the desolate state of mind and soul that this lonesome guy lives with. That's why it's so interesting to see his slow change of mind and how he discovers emotions he has never had before after meeting that strange old woman that claims to be his mother. That's where this movie gets challenging, profound and even philosophical. That being said, the acting of the two main characters is rather credible and very good which keeps the attention high until the end of the movie.

The biggest flaw of this film is though definitely its predictable story line and the lack of surprises in the movie. Another letdown is the last quarter of the film where the acting and script gets less credible and where the main actor starts acting more and more stupid. The last scenes of the movie feel therefor quite surreal and break with the cold realism that has dominated the first three quarters of the film. The final moments are really a letdown in my opinion. With a better ending, this flick would have deserved one or even two points more even though the story is rather thin at some points but you should make up your own mind about this controversial and questionable ending.

In the end, fans of South Korean cinema and of challenging dark dramas shouldn't miss this movie and will surely enjoy it. For anybody else, this movie might be entertaining thanks to a good acting but definitely not impressive at all. I'm glad I saw the film but I wouldn't recommend a purchase and I probably wouldn't watch it again anytime soon.

"L'affaire Dumont" is a French Canadian drama movie that is inspired by true events where a poor and shy guy gets accused for a rape he doesn't seem to have committed.

The movie completely focuses on the portrait of the desperate suburbs and their inhabitants during the nineties and in particular the life of the main character who goes through hell and heaven and back again. He had a very tough childhood with an brutal and abusive father and an ignorant mother, has no permanent job and struggles to have enough money to live a comfortable life, lives a very difficult separation from his ignorant ex-wife and his beloved children that are not very well treated by their mother's new boyfriend, gets to know that those who seemed to be his friends don't do anything to get him out of trouble, faces a corrupt trial of justice and many issues with his untalented lawyer and goes through a rough time in prison including abuse and hatred committed against him. During all this time, he claims to be innocent and finds one person days before the start of his prison sentence that will never stop fighting for him and becomes the love of his life. Their relation grows and the never give up the idea of a brighter future.

The movie completely puts aside any action scenes, special effects or spectacular moments. The flick concentrates on the excellent actors incarnating very profound and credible characters. The movie is filled with cold images thanks to a few light effects and inflexible camera angles which add a desperate atmosphere to the already quite uneasy story. The film includes a big load of dialogues but sometimes they take some time to pull off and are interrupted by moments of uneasy silence, little emotional breakouts or hesitating stuttering. These lengths are a wanted effect by the production team as they add even more authenticity to the film that almost feels like a documentary where we witness real life people and not simple actors. This is a big prove for the excellent acting.

This kind of movie might not be a highlight for everybody but anybody who adores slow paced dramas with authentic characters and true emotions should try anything to watch this movie. I'm usually not all too much into this kind of movies but the gripping story and the outstanding acting really touched me. It's because this movie is different from popular flicks that it really stands out as one of the very best films I have seen so far this year. If I had to chose a candidate for the foreign language category of the next Academy Awards, I would without a doubt pick this little gem from Quebec, the province where the best Canadian movies happen to be done for quite a while now. If you get the chance to watch it, take it and pick it up.

This is not only the best movie of the year but easily one of the best war movies ever done in history of cinema until today and beats most modern Hollywood productions.

This movie simply incarnates everything war is about and it perfectly shows the madness of the Korean war and even its impact on modern life in Korea. The film is about being separated from family, saving someone you love at all costs, getting used and abused by political propaganda, going through changes and identity crisis, fighting for your life on a blood-red battlefield, seeking for peace and vengeance, meandering between madness and relief.

The acting of this movie is absolutely outstanding from the two gripping and profound main characters over their desperate family members to the cynical politicians and soldiers. Don't even try to find one, there is no bad actor in here and every actor or actress delivers one if not the best job of his or her career on here.

The movie is perfectly filmed and features impressive fighting scenes with realistic special effects, stunning landscapes and outstanding choreographies with dark or vivid colour and light effects. The scene with the slayed bodies in an abandoned North Korean village, the fighting scenes between prisoners in a bloody and inhuman game, the assassination of the so-called traitors, the arrival of the hordes of Chinese soldiers on the battlefield and the final battle of the movie are only a few breathtaking examples for the high quality filming.

The story is as hectic, twisted and unbelievable as the whole madness of war and features many ups and downs, many gripping changes and a few little twists. Some people might find this aspect a little bit exaggerated but I think the opposite as it perfectly portrays the extreme feelings everybody is going through in wartime.

At the end, this movie is also highly emotional. In the end of the film, I just couldn't help and was about to cry because the whole story is an emotional drama of a rare high quality. The final scenes where you see one of the characters as an old man who learns the truth about the past is one of the most touching movie scenes I have seen in quite a while.

If you care about war movies, this one has to be your new bible and you should watch this at all costs as it easily beats all modern Western war movie productions that appear pathetic, repetitive and superficial next to this masterpiece. This film should get more international recognition and should be used in any school of the world to show children the true madness of war. This is a work for the ages, so don't hesitate to check this out. I might watch this movie at least once a year and will probably never get tired of it which speaks volumes for the movie's impact on me and many people seem to feel exactly the same. Trust the highly favorable ratings by critics and fans and don't miss the chance to watch this film.

This is one of the more interesting movies about the infamous rape of Nanking during the Japanese invasion. In comparison to many other contemporary Chinese history flicks, this one is gladly not so much overloaded with patriotic propaganda aspects apart of a lonesome Chinese solider who easily kills dozens of Japanese soldiers in one scene.

The movie focuses much more on stunning costumes, epic graphics and a great camera work. Zhang Yimou is definitely one of the best directors world wide in this category and just this aspect is worth experiencing this film.

The film also has a very strong character development. Christian Bale really shines in his role as alcoholic mortician and goes through quite some changes. Another amazing acting comes from the young and highly talented Ni Ni who is not only one of the most beautiful women in modern cinema but also a convincing actress in her role as a tough prostitute with a breakable heart. The acting of Huang Tianyuan as desperate but energizing assistant and protégé of the deceased head father of the convent is also stunning and I hope to see more movies with him in the future.

The characters all get some depth and have a quite good chemistry that grows over the movie and makes the heroic sacrifice of the prostitutes for the convent schoolgirls credible in the end. This is where the drama gets really human and touching and you may have a little tear in your eyes by watching the final moments of this film. Despite the dark and desperate historic context and many tension filled moments, this film also some humorous moments that light up the atmosphere and where Christian Bale really shines. Let's also mention that some of the Japanese and especially Colonel Hasegawa who is portrayed by the strong Atsuro Watabe get some depth through this film and are not only represented as brutal killing machines but as cultivated and intellectual characters with a slightly sadistic core which makes them more realistic.

Even though this movie has a few lengths, it's strong enough to convince thanks to a very great acting with true emotions. The ending is a little bit too open in my humble opinion and I would have liked something more concrete but this only shows how much one gets to adore all these characters in a little bit less than two hours and a half of running time. Any fan of contemporary Chinese cinema should definitely check this very detailed, passionate and visual movie out.

"Lawless" is a rather boring gangster movie concerning the weak story line that is saved by some beautiful images of Western landscapes and a credible acting.

Let's mention the young and naive characters of Jack Bondurant who is portrayed by a surprisingly good Shia LaBeouf, the silent and tough character of Forrest Bondurant played by a stunning Tom Hardy and a brutal and pitiless police officer incarnated by the great Guy Pearce. Some supporting actors such as the charming and innocent Mia Wasikowska who plays the daughter of a severe priest, the young and until then unknown to me Dane DeHaan who plays a naive acolyte of Jack Bondurant and the well known Gary Oldman who portrays a charismatic gangster boss. The acting and the relations between the characters are really the basis that holds this movie together and this concept works even though a lot of things are quite predictable.

The film takes quite some time to kick off and after twenty minutes or so I was almost about to leave as nothing intriguing happened at all but then the movie got progressively better and towards the end, it was actually a good film. The first twenty or thirty minutes are though way too long and can't be justified as useful for the introduction of the characters or their development. The movie makers should have known that this kind of movie must start with a bang to grab the attention of the viewers from the first moments on and addict them to the characters that are then shown in a more profound way.

Another negative point I must mention is the image of good and evil in this movie. Now, I'm not a conservative and not a friend of religious fanatics or brutal police squads but the image they get in this movie is simply filled with too many stereotypes. The movie wants you to believe that the police officer from Chicago is a pitiless and arrogant slayer but the older Bondurant brothers who are torturing people and cut off their testicles are shown and described as heroes and local legends which is simply biased. The local priest is shown as a severe and stubborn guy who controls his daughter but the man who simply wants to protect his daughter from a gang of local criminals that are battling with police forces isn't taken into consideration. The movie should have shown both police officers or priests and the criminals as negative and even sinful characters instead of creating a too superficial contrast of good and evil. This simplistic approach flawed the movie a little bit for me and remains quite subjective.

What convinces in this movie among the actors and the beautiful images are many vintage gimmicks such as old cars and weapons that are shown throughout the film. One also gets a lot of dry humour that works quite well in some scenes. Some viewers might describe it as a little bit tasteless but it fits to the characters and has some sort of rude charm. This movie also includes gallons of blood and gore and some quite well done action sequences after half of the movie has passed. These scenes essentially help to raise the pace of this film that kicks off with a low as I wrote earlier.

In the end, I didn't regret watching this movie after all but I wouldn't purchase it or watch it again anytime soon. There were are lot of flaws but in the end the positive elements were slightly superior to the negative ones. This film is definitely not a good gangster movie but an interesting character of family study despite the biased image of good and evil that mixes emotional with brutal moments. If you like the actors casted for this flick, you can go and watch it but if you happen to not know or like them, there is not much else this flick has to offer.