Ballet Russes (2005)

This film is pure documentary genius. Filmmakers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine pieced together a little gem about the famous Ballet Russes, using interviews with surviving members like Alicia Markova, Frederic Franklin, George Zoritch and Nina Novak. Cleverly mixing precious archive footages and new interviews, the film tracks the ups and downs of the dancers who counted great creators of this century like Nijinsky, Balanchine, Picasso, Matisse and Stravinsky as collaborators.

Lilja 4-ever (2002)

The kind of film every angsty 20 year old must watch. Along with Dream Life of Angels.

It's all youth and energy in the first quarter, set against a grim Russian reality. That optimism then starts to spiral very quickly downwards. Into a unescapable abyss.

At the end, you end up willing Lilja to stay alive, to fight back. To right all the wrongs that others have done to her in her life.

It's not the sort of film for a Friday night in, unless you're in the mood for something quite depressing.

Bande a Part

French art house films remind me of my early twenties. A lot of time was spent at French Film Festivals, sometimes catching two films in one evening. It's time to take out a membership with the local video shop again.