Berlin Film Festival

Cowboys live again in this 20th century Western about two World War II veterans living on the lush, open New Mexico countryside. Based on the classic American novel by Max Evans about those struggling to continue living the Old West lifestyle in the early Cold War days, the film stars Woody Harrelson and Billy Crudup as two lifelong friends who fall for the same woman. Returning from war is Peter (Crudup), a cattleman who just wants a simple life on the farm, and Big Boy Matson (Harrelson), a big-drinking hellraiser always looking for a fight. Enter married Mona (Patricia Arquette), who turns both their heads and forces these two cowboys to put their friendship to the ultimate test. The film, like Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, is about freedom in wide-open spaces, so British director Stephen Frears is really out of his element in tackling this type of material. But he focuses the film on the relationships rather than the action, asking questions like "Is the girl more important than their friendship?" In the end, this film is more love story than Western. ~ Arthur Borman, Rovi

The fact that there isn't a single likeable character in Cul de Sac does not diminish its artistic value in the least. Ageing, furtively kinky Donald Pleasence is married to sexy young Francoise Dorleac. The couple's hermitlike tranquility is shattered when wounded gangsters Jack MacGowan and Lionel Stander invade their home and hold them hostage. As Dorleac urges her tremulous husband to do something, the two criminals begin behaving in a fashion that can only inadequately be described as eccentric. Drawing upon two of Polanski's favorite themes-isolation and latent insanity--Cul de Sac actually improves upon each viewing, assuming that the viewer has the intestinal fortitude to sit through it once. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

"If the First Amendment will protect a scumbag like me, then it'll protect all of you -- 'cause I'm the worst," declares Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt (as played by Woody Harrelson) in the midst of one of his many court cases. Milos Forman's film follows Flynt from his childhood in Kentucky, where he made extra money for his dirt-poor family by selling the moonshine his father brewed, into adulthood as he manages a strip club in Cincinnati. While the club does middling business, the experience changes Flynt's life in two ways: he meets Althea (Courtney Love), an exotic dancer who becomes the love of his life, and he gets the bright idea of starting a magazine to promote the club. Marketed as a crasser, less pretentious alternative to Playboy or Penthouse, Hustler becomes a huge success after Flynt runs a photo series of Jacqueline Onassis sunbathing nude. However, while plenty of people are buying Hustler, there are also plenty of people who don't care for it, including Charles Keating (James Cromwell), leader of a watchdog group called Citizens For Decent Literature. Keating spearheads the first of many legal attacks on the magazine, one of which reaches the Supreme Court as Alan Isaacman (Edward Norton), Flynt's lawyer, debates the finer legal points of bad taste with the justices of the highest court in the land. Meanwhile, Flynt makes a fortune, loses the use of his legs after an attack by a sniper, embraces and than abandons Christianity, and eventually loses Althea, who succumbs to AIDS after a long addiction to drugs. Woody Harrelson's brother Brett Harrelson is well cast as Larry Flynt's brother Jimmy; Larry Flynt appears briefly as a judge who hands down a judgment against Larry Flynt. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

An impoverished young man from Sicily travels to Wolfsburg, West Germany to find work. He takes a job in the Volkswagen factory after he travels through Northern Italy by train. The young man is arrested after he kills two Germans with his knife when they question his honor. The third part of the film follows his subsequent trial and deals with justice denied and the attitude of many Germans who resent the influx of foreign labor. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Based on a true story, this uneven but engaging musical drama sweeps through a turbulent 40 years in popular singer Marika Ninou's (Sotiria Leonardou) life -- and in the history of Greece -- starting with the singer's birth in Smyrna, Turkey in 1917. Ninou was deported to Greece along with all the other Greeks in Smyrna when she was only seven years old, and a few years later, her parents started a career as a musician and a singer in a nightclub/bar. In the short space of one decade, Ninou witnesses her father murder her mother, runs away from home, has a baby, and comes back to the nightclub to sing in an act with a childhood friend and a bouzouki player, Babis. Success finally comes big-time, but then Ninou's childhood friend is exiled for political reasons, and she and Babis leave for other venues. Although Ninou carries a torch for Babis, their relationship never seems to work out, and after many years and World War II go by, she sends her daughter away to a convent school and goes on a tour in America. At last, her fame may spread beyond the boundaries of Greece -- or so it seems. Sotiria Leonardou won the prize for "Best Actress" at the 1983 Thessaloniki Film Festival, for her portrayal of Ninou, and the film itself tied for "Best Picture," and won three other awards as well (two "Best Supporting Actor" prizes, and one for music). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In general, one could say that Tel Aviv is where worldly Israelis go to play, and Jerusalem is where religious ones go to pray. In this tragic drama, the characters are all denizens of Tel Aviv's nightlife, and the action centers around an all-night bar owned by two women with difficult romantic relationships. The first owner is Dalia (Gila Almagor), who is the mistress of a film producer in ill health. The second owner is Leora (Irit Frank), whose policeman boyfriend Benny (Shuli Rand) can't stop tomcatting around. The bar is currently populated by the owners, some well-lubricated soldiers, Leora's boyfriend Frank, Riki (a mentally fragile woman who is "under doctor's orders" never to allow herself to be alone), a singer, some drug dealers, and the Arabs who work in the kitchen. Benny plays the hero at first by rescuing Riki (Avital Dicker) from the soldiers, but then he seduces her, with tragic results. More tragedy follows, as the crows of truth come home to roost. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Pauline Kael once characterized the French adventure film Fanfan the Tulip as a "Louis XV western". This is a pretty broad interpretation, though it is true that the film never stops moving--an excellent method of sustaining audience attention and plugging up the plot holes. Gerard Philipe plays Fanfan, a handsome, athletic and self-impressed young peasant soldier. Fanfan is as adept in the boudoir as on the battlefield; it has been prophesied that he will wed the king's daughter, thus he wants to get as much practice as possible. Fanfan's many conquests include Gina Lollobridgida and Genevieve Page, which may be why this film did so well in the States. Fanfan the Tulip is available in several shorter versions, one of which has been redubbed Soldier in Love. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A reserved Mongolian bride diagnosed with a debilitating back injury enters into an unusual agreement with her disabled husband in Lunar Eclipse director Wang Quan'an's Golden Berlin Bear-winning entry into the 2006 Berlin International Film Festival. Peasant Tuya (Yu Nan) is a happily married mother of two whose husband Bater is permanently disabled. One day, after hard-working Tuya collapses in the fields while straining to perform her rigorous duties, the local doctor diagnoses her with a lumbar dislocation. Subsequently unable to care for her invalid husband, Tuya and Bater agree to divorce so that the ailing woman can wed a husband capable of caring for both of them. Though several suitors throw their hat into the ring upon hearing that Tuya is available, each is immediately put off upon learning that Bater is part of the deal as well. The only man who seems willing to consider caring for both is divorced oil tycoon Baolier, who, as a smitten young schoolboy, was once good friends with the kindly Tuya. When a sudden tragedy strikes, threatening Bater's life, however, Baolier's true intentions open the door for Tuya's cuckolded neighbor Sen'ge to step in and save the day. At first simply thankful for the benevolent intervention of the shy but likable Sen'ge, Tuya slowly begins to realize just how deep the lovelorn Sen'ge's feelings for her truly run. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Emma has moved to Budapest from the countryside with her good friend Böbe, and both of them have taken jobs as schoolteachers. However, their wages are pitifully small, and all they can afford in the way of housing is a shared room in a boarding house near the airport. The two women have settled into their lives, but it isn't easy: Emma's sexual affair with the school's married principal is not emotionally satisfying, and Böbe's penchant for picking up foreigners and bringing them back to their room for sex creates unpleasant situations, to say the least. At school, it used to be clear what the quickest route to success was, but now that the communists are no longer in power, a lot of the senior people are floundering in uncertainty. Eventually, Emma gains the courage to strike out on her own. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Frank D. Gilroy's adaptation of Paula Fox's novel Desperate Characters stars Shirley MacLaine as Sophie, a freelance book translator who leads a comfortable life in Brooklyn with her lawyer husband Otto (Kenneth Mars). Because of their crumbling marriage and the threatening presence of urban dangers like crime and vandalism, the couple are living a paranoid, scared existence. The film chronicles their emotional and psychological state through a series of interactions with each other and like-minded friends. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Director Zero Chou's entry into the 2007 San Francisco LGBT Film Festival tells the tale of a teenage webcam tease who decides that a tattoo will make her more appealing, and the memories that meeting the alluring artist arouses. Jade (Taiwanese singer Rainie Yang) is a cute, young webcam performer who thinks that getting a tattoo will enhance her sexy performance skills. Upon venturing out to the tattoo parlor owned by half-Japanese ink-slinger Takeko (Isabella Leong), Jade recalls a crush she harbored ten years ago. Subsequently entering into a surreal cyberspace seduction that emerges through computer images, flashbacks, and lavish costumes highlighted by lime-green wigs, Takeko finds the lines between reality and fantasy blurring as Jade's teasing slowly chips away at her fragile facade. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director Eytan Fox bursts the idyllic bubble of cosmopolitan Tel Aviv with this thought-provoking meditation on cultural relations concerning a brooding Israeli reserve soldier who enters into a passionate same-sex affair with an intense Palestinian man. Noam (Ohad Knoller) shares his posh Tel Aviv apartment with progressive-minded twentysomething Lulu (Daniela Wircer) and flamboyant café owner Yali (Alon Friedman). It was during checkpoint duty that Noam first made the acquaintance of intense and handsome Palestinian Ashraf (Yousef "Joe" Sweid). Though their initial meeting was someone harried as Ashraf struggled to aid a woman who was forced to give birth at the roadside, a connection was formed and Ashraf soon comes knocking on Noam's door. In the weeks that follow, the pair embark on an intense love affair and the amiable Ashraf forms a fast bond with Lulu and Yali. But life in Tel Aviv couldn't be more different from life in nearby occupied Palestine, and as the reality of the violence that surrounds them slowly envelopes them, Noam and Ashraf find that their heated affair was doomed from the moment they locked eyes. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A woman sees her own traumatic past reflected in the actions of her teenage daughter in this drama from first-time writer and director Jasmila Zbanic. Esma (Mirjana Karanovic) is a single mother trying to raise her teenage daughter, Sara (Luna Mijovic), in Sarajevo in the wake of war. While Esma works as a barmaid at a nightclub run by Saran (Bogdan Diklic), a man on the wrong side of the law, she has trouble making ends meet, and receives occasional benefits payments from a support group for women who have been affected by the war. Esma has little interest in talking about the loss of her husband, whom she claims was a hero fighting for Bosnia, and can become hyper-emotional with little provocation. As Pelda (Leon Lucev), one of Esma's co-workers at the club, attempts to interest her in romance, Esma notices that Sara has caught the eye of Samir (Kenan Catic), a rebellious young man who is one of her classmates. As Esma tries to discourage Sara from becoming involved with Samir, she finds fate has forced her to tell her daughter the truth about her father. Grbavica received its world premiere at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi