Best of 2000 - now

Bin Jip (Empty House in Korean) is a timeless classic and certainly amongst the best movies ever made. Kim Ki Duk again uses a spiritual theme, this time Metaphysics. The movie can be interpreted in multiple ways. Is it a daydream, if so of which character or did it really happen or is it part dream / part reality? Apart from the unique story, the acting is amazing (the actors never speak but yet carry so much emotion) and the photography eye dropping. Add to that a wonderful soundtrack of Natasha Atlas and you have a highlight in cinematic history. Apart from a very philosophical film, this is one of the most touching love stories ever made.

Words can't describe how much I adore Shunji Iwai's masterwork. Never have I seen a movie depict the lif of teenagers with more realism. The movie also handles the theme of pop idol adoration and features one of the best soundtracks ever (yes with music from Lily Chou Chou who is a real artist, in fact Tarantino was so imressed by this movie that he asked Lily Chou Chou to make a soundtrack for Kill Bill). One of the loveliest movies ever made.

Takeshi Kitano is one of the most important contemporary directors, this is by far his best movie and one of the finest ever made. It's a Minimal love tale in 3 parts , visually stunning, emotional and filled with symbolic colours and symbols. Kitano also uses seasonal change during the 3 stories as a metaphor (a relationship starting in spring and ending in the wintersnow). This perfect work of art is a must see for anyone who loves cinema.

Kim Ki Duk's Bad Guy is a brilliant study of vanity, sexual obsession and moral. It tells the story of a pimp (Han-Ki) who forces a girl into prostitution out of revenge. Bad guy is dark, extremely emotional, violent and forces us to think. Many parts of the movie can be interpreted as a dreamlike, wish-fulfillment fantasy from the viewpoint of Han-Ki. The movie leaves many questions. Why does the pimp never speak? Why the voyeurism? Are Han-Ki's emotions hate or love and pain? What do the torn photo's mean? And the girl dressed in red, is it the heroine in the future (Karma) or is it someone from the past (Han-Ki's ex?)? There is always more under the surface than it seems with Kim Ki Duk's movies, this movie demands multiple views to understand how brilliant it is. Watching Bad Guy is like entering an emotional roller coaster. It challenges all conventional ideas we have about love. Watch it with an open mind and U will have a very powerful experience.

Taiwan's Hou Hsiao-Hsien's minimal masterpiece. Qi Shu and Chen Chang play 3 different roles in 3 tales about love. Very little dialog, virtually no plot and marvelous long shots, this is cinema in it's purest form, this is art, this is Hsien. Elected as best movie of 2006 by Belgian film critics, I couldn't agree more.

A brave film that manages to capture the inner world of an autistic person. This is mixed with some documentary style flashback interviews. The plot avoids all clichés. It's a film that can disturb some people though, the scenes where the main character is bullied are quite rough. Won the main prize, ecumanial jury and the public prize at the 2007 Montréal Film Festival.

After a 40 year civil war the government anounces that all war criminals are amnestied. Atim receives orders from his grandfather to kill Nassara, the murderer of his father, a man who now owns a bakery. Atim offers his services to him and Nassara hires him, not knowing that he killed his dad in the civil war. Slowly a dad-son relationship develops between Atim and Nassara. Atim struggles with his conscious and finds it hard to carry out the orders of his grandfather. The movie focuses on the inner thoughts of the main characters and in doing so shows the consequences of a civil war. Not much happens but stil there always is a high tension as U can feel Atim doubting when to kill Nassara. Brilliant Afican movie from Mahamet-Saleh Haroun, a director from Chad!

One of the revelations of the 2008 Rotterdam Film festival was Russian director Larisa Sadilova who already won a Golden Tiger there in 2003. Nothing Personal is about a private detective who is commissioned to spy on an apartment but he makes the mistake to get personally involved and falls in love with the woman he spies on, in the meantime his own marriage is breaking apart. Then suddenly the news comes that he is spying on the wrong apartment. The film keeps the attention of the viewer from start till the end, pushing us in a voyeuristic seat but the movie is above all a look into the psychology of men and a criticism on the role of women and their lack of self-esteem in Russian society, where 50% of women can't find a man due to demographic reasons. Winner of the Fipresci (int. press prize) in Moscow.

Impressive images in this movie from Sri-Lanka that won best debut prize at Cannes. It shows the consequences of civil war. Not an easy movie though, the style reminds me much of the Neo-Realism films that Italian director Roberto Rosselini made in the '40s-'50s era. I saw this at the Cinema Novo Festival '06 in Brugge.

Decent documentary on the life of socialist Salvador Allende, who was elected president of Chile in 1970 and died during a coup financed by the USA in 1973. After his death a 17 year long Junta by General Pinochet followed with severe consequences for the population.

This one is part of the Romanian new wave by young talented directors that is currently taking place. It was very well received on the 2007 Rotterdam film festival and gets a staggering 8.5/10 on imdb! We follow a pantser unit of internal affairs during the night that Ceaucescu flees his pallace at the Romanian Revolution in december 1989. The soldiers are captured between their hope that the revolution will succeed and their duty to defend the regime. One of the soldiers deserts and participated in the revolution but he gets caught up in the chaos. The story is filled with black ironic Eastern-European humor. Overall I was bit disappointed because of all the hype on this film but I'm sure it will appeal to many.

Very dark psychological horror thriller with occult and witchcraft themes. Considering the extremely low budget that it was shot on it was a decent try and the ending was certainly not stereotypical. The lead actress performed well for a debut. It probably lacked a bit of pace to be truly exciting though, still I enjoyed watching it.

This Brazilian film caught my attention at The 2007 Rotterdam F. Festival since it's directed by Karim Ainouz, who wrote the scenario Abril Despeçado, Cidade Baixa and Cinema, Aspirines & Vultures. We follow 21 year old Hermilia, who moved back to her boring village because of money problems. She dreams of moving back to Sao Paulo or another big city and in doing so decided to organize a lottery, a night with her is the main prize. She uses the cover name Suely for the lottery. Ainouz basically criticizes the position of women in society. He uses many extreme close-ups. Acting and atmosphere are more important than the plot here. A decent movie but nothing special.

Overall dissapointing, Romeo & Julia adaptation that started well but suffered from a poorly written scenario, the last 30 minutes of the film was full of cliche's, the ending was very unoriginal. The editing was excellent though and I appreciated the hand camera shots (which was also used a lot in Narajno's previous effort that I liked more: 'Drama/Mex') but the direction really could have been better.