Elise Jalladeau Movies

Argentinean filmmaker Eliseo Subiela directed this idiosyncratic drama that uses sex and love as a springboard for an exploration of bold philosophical ideas. Twenty-something Eloy (Leandro Stivelman) has a gift for walking on stilts that her inherited from his father, but while Dad tried to use this talent for creative purposes, Eloy has made a career out of his skill, wandering the city dressed as a high-rise sandwich to promote a diner. One day, a stumble causes Eloy to crash through a ceiling window into the bedroom of Elvira (Antonella Costa), an attractive older woman. Both Elvira and her mother (Maria Elena Ruaz) are convinced that a greater destiny has brought Eloy into her life, and she takes the young man under her wing. Eloy loves women and is delighted when Elvira expresses a powerfully sexual interest in him, but she's a student of tantric sex techniques, and as she opens his eyes to the possibilities of lovemaking, he's introduced to new worlds of eroticism that allow him to leave his body and travel through time and space. No Mires Para Abajo (aka Don't Look Down) received its North American premiere at the 2008 Guadalajara Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Martin Rejtman's downbeat comedy Los Guantes Mágicos (The Magic Gloves) follows a large cast of characters as they attempt to get out of their poor circumstances. Alejandro (Gabriel Fernandez Capello) hires himself out as a driver. He chauffeurs Sergio (Fabian Arenillas), who incorrectly believes Alejandro knows his brother Luis (Diego Olivera), an actor in pornographic films. Sergio invites Alejandro to move into Luis' apartment. Alejandro breaks up with his girlfriend Cecilia (Cecilia Biagini), but Cecilia strikes up a friendship with Sergio's wife Susana (Susana Pampin). Susana arranges a trip for Cecilia to a vacation spa, where Cecilia becomes acquainted with a stewardess who begins dating Alejandro. Soon the two men and Luis pool their meager monies and invest in a supply of "magic gloves" that are supposed to fit anyone -- but are rumored to grant their owner special powers. This film was screened in competition at the Locarno Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Hamro (Maruf Pulodzoda) is a thug--an irresponsible lowlife ex-con who seems to care for nothing but his own fleeting satisfaction. He lives in Moscow, but when he hears that his elderly mother, Halima (Uktamoi Miyasarova), is sick, he returns to his hometown of Asht in Tajikistan. He's not greeted with any joy. The townspeople remember him too well, and he owes money to too many of them. The doctor gives him the bad news. Halima will be dead in a few days. Savri (Malkqat Maqsumova), his mother's pretty nurse, tells Hamro that Halima's dying wish is that he fix up her ramshackle home, and replace her narrow door with a double door, so that her casket will fit through. As Hamro works on getting Halima's house in order, and on seducing Savri, his creditors come calling. His abandoned young son, Yatim (Kova Tilavpur), is brought to him by the family of the boy's mother, who forcefully demand that Hamro take him in. After spending a good deal of money to get the house fixed up, in anticipation of selling it after his mother dies, Hamro learns that Halima was faking her illness. As he struggles to find a way to address his many problems, Hamro surprisingly begins to take an interest in his son's well being. Director Jamshed Usmonov, who also wrote and co-directed the festival hit Flight of the Bee and starred as a filmmaker in Darezhan Omirbaev's The Road, set Angel on the Right in his own hometown, and cast his own mother (Miyasarova) and brother (Pulodzoda) in the lead roles. The film was selected for Un Certain Regard at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and the 2003 installment of New Directors/New Films. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

The political and social changes that swept China during the 1980s are reflected in the lives of a troupe of musicians in this drama from acclaimed Chinese director Jia Zhang-ke. In 1979, China is beginning to reinvent itself in the wake of the Cultural Revolution, and change is slowly but surely coming to Fenyang, a small town in the Shanxi province. The influences of the West (pop music, longer hair for men, television, privatization) and the adoption of more modern social conventions (birth control, co-habitation, the abandonment of the arranged marriage) begin to slowly manifest themselves in Fenyang, and two young people, Minliang (Wang Hong-wei) and Chang Jun (Liang Jing-dong), find their own lives beginning to change. Chang Jun becomes involved with Zhong Pin (Yang Tian-yi), and they decide to move in together, which is still against the law and earns them the enmity of their parents. Minliang, meanwhile, openly declares his affections to Ruijuan (Zhao Tao), who finds her own feelings about him carrying greater weight than her father's stern objections. The times also change for the musical group , as they shift from the state-sanctioned political material that had been their staple to Westernized pop music, but they find themselves in a no-man's-land, as there is little audience for either their old repertoire or their new material. Zhantai received its world premiere at the 2000 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide