Wolfram Tichy Movies

A man and a boy, both of whom have been victimized by war, are brought together by the same conflict that threatens them both in this drama. In 1995, Bosnia is being torn apart by war, and nine-year-old Vlado (Sergiusz Zymelka) is one of thousands of children caught in the middle of the conflict. Vlado's parents are dead, and the boy has been left to fend for himself; when the misery around him becomes too much do deal with, Vlado drifts into a fantasy world where he's transported to Norway, and frolics with friendly Eskimos. In the course of his travels, Vlado meets Sharkey (Bob Hoskins), a rough-hewn Englishman who claims to be a caseworker for UNICEF. Actually, Sharkey is rounding up children for a black market adoption ring in Poland. Sharkey persuades Vlado to join him, assuming the boy would fetch a fair price, and Vlado, unaware of Sharkey's true intentions, says yes. Sharkey and Vlado soon become unlikely friends, but Sharkey soon learns getting Vlado out of the country may not be so simple; Sharkey is working in cahoots with a corrupt military officer (Krzysztof Majchrzak) who is convinced that a gang of preteen hoodlums are responsible for the death of his daughter -- a gang that claims Vlado as a member. Where Eskimos Live received its American premier at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Filmmaker, author, and political activist Michael Moore trains his satirical eye on America's obsession with guns and violence in his third feature-length documentary, which gets its title from a pair of loosely related incidents. On April 20, 1999, shortly before they began their infamous killing spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold attended their favorite class, a no-credit bowling course held at a bowling alley near the school, the same bowling alley which would become the scene of a robbery and triple homicide two years later. While pondering these events, Moore humorously considers the link between random violence and the game of ten pins; along the way, Moore calls on the Michigan Militia (and gets to know some of the models for their "Militia Babes" calendar); spends some time with James Nichols, brother of Oklahoma City bombing accomplice Terry Nichols; visits K-Mart's corporate offices with two teenagers injured in the Columbine massacre as they ask the retail chain to stop selling bullets for handguns; investigates the media's role in the American climate of fear and anger; compares crime statistics in the United States with those of Canada (which, despite higher unemployment and a larger number of guns per capita, manages to rack up a small fraction of the homicides committed in the United States), and questions actor and National Rifle Association president Charlton Heston regarding his appearance at a pro-gun rally held in Littleton a few days after the Columbine massacre, and a similar rally in Flint, MI, after a six-year-old boy killed a classmate with a gun he took from his uncle's house. Bowling for Columbine received its first public screening at the 2002 Ann Arbor Film Festival; the film's official premiere took place a few months later at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

On a remote island in Nova Scotia, teenaged Claire (Julia Brendler) slowly befriends Celia (Lynn Redgrave), an eccentric novelist who is working on a manuscript. The manuscript, which is set a half-century ago, tells the story of Silly (Kirsten Dunst), a young woman who tried to leave the island with the son (Trent Ford) of a WWII naval officer. Deeply cuts between past and present, contrasting the lives of the characters in the manuscript with those of Claire and Celia. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

A biographical drama about the life of great Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein), Eisenstein stars Simon McBurney as its eponymous protagonist. Beginning in 1922, when the young Eisenstein, a former Red Army engineer, became the protégé of avant-garde theatre director Meyerhold (Jonathan Hyde), the film covers Eisenstein's life, work, and political struggles through three decades, set in such disparate locales as the Ukraine and Mexico. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Lukas, a piano teacher in his mid-twenties, is hoping to meet the love of his life. One day, he meets the woman of his dreams, but promptly loses her telephone number. What he knows about her very limited: her name is Nathalie, she travels about the world working as a DJ, and has just bought herself a guide book for Normandy in a mall at the other end of the state. Lukas meets all sorts of people who offer to help him, including a butcher who asks him to work in the butcher shop -- after all, most of his customers are women. Then there is Alice, who is not so easy to get rid off. Just as he is getting ready to go to the beach at Trouville with Alice, Nathalie appears. Der Strand von Trouville is a light comedy about the affairs of the heart and was screened as part of the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

In order to solve a family mystery, John, a stonemason from Zimbabwe, travels to Berlin to search for 1928 footage of a tightrope walker at Niagara Falls. While there, he becomes romantically obsessed with Miriam, a French rock musician in an all-girl band. Unfortunately, Miriam is totally in love with her boyfriend Pierre, a talented scientist. Running parallel to the main plot is that of Jacob, a Jewish tailor who in the film's early scenes is caught shoplifting, an act that will have troubling ramifications for John, who gets caught in the middle of Jacob's attempt to flee the crime scene. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Desire, the fleeting pleasures of casual sex, and the difficulty involved with keeping passion alive are the focus of this unusual Canadian drama. The film, which was shot alternately in black and white, and color, is set in modern Toronto days before a solar eclipse is to occur. For his high school project, Angelo is filming a documentary on eclipse fever. His work is presented in color as he interviews people about the eclipse. Interspersed between Angelo's film is a series of sexual scenes, shot in black and white, involving gay and straight encounters between 10 friends, lovers, and acquaintances. What makes the film unique is that a connected progression occurs as one character from a preceding sexual encounter always appears in the subsequent one. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi