Great Films You've Probably Missed
By Daniel Rojay

“DANDILION”, American, Director-Mark Milgard
This is a truly beautiful film and one of the best of 2005. The film is set in a small Midwestern town and focuses on a troubled teenage boy who often fantasizes about suicide; but when a truly traumatic event occurs he learns the value of life.

“5x2”, French, Director- Francois Ozon
The story of a couple’s turbulent relationship told backwards. The film starts with their divorce and ends with the story of how they met. Director Ozon is best known for his English language movie Swimming Pool. This film has great beauty often unparalleled in modern movies.

“Mysterious Skin”, American, Director- Greg Araki
This film is guaranteed to make most people uncomfortable; to understand the movie you must understand 3 characters. 1. A young man who experienced blackouts as a boy and is convinced that he was abducted by aliens. 2. Another young man (the same age), who is a gay hustler with an attraction for older men. 3. A rather corrupt and perverse little league coach.

“Red Lights”, French, Director- Cedric Kahn
An unhappy married couple take a night time drive from Paris to the countryside with the purpose of picking their kids up from summer camp. During the night they hear of a prisoner who has escaped from the local penitentiary. Through out the night the husband stops at bars along the way, drinks and drives very erratically. At one point after stopping at a bar the husband returns to the car and finds his wife gone. He sets out to look for his wife and picks up a mysterious hitchhiker along the way. This film is actually quite creepy and very well directed.

“3- Iron”, Korean, Director- Ki-duk Kim
This film follows a young man with a rather strange hobby; he breaks into houses but not for the purpose of burglary. This guy actually cleans, waters the plants and fixes broken appliances in these houses.
One night he enters the house of an attractive young girl whom he finds is abused by her husband. The two runaway together and become fugitives from the law.

“Crystal”, American, Director- Ray McKinnon
Billy Bob Thorton stars in this tale of redemption set in the backwoods of Arkansas. The film has an eerie atmosphere and includes ghosts, drug dealers and a great traditional folk music soundtrack.

“Vodka Lemon”, Armenian, Director- Hiner Saleem
This tragi-comedy takes place during the freezing cold winter in a small, poor, Armenian village. The residents often wonder if they’re better off now than they were under the Soviets? One of the villagers states that even though the people are impoverished they do at least have freedom. However one could in turn ask the question, are the poor really free in a capitalist society?
Most of this is actually quite odd and rather humorous, the frequent appearances of LT. Kije riding swiftly on his horse are an allusion to eastern European folklore.

“Tale Of Two Sisters”, Korean, Director- Ji-Woon Kim
Asian horror films have been all the rage recently provoking quite a few American remakes. Tale of Two Sisters has not yet been remade and is certainly not the most popular of these Asian horror flicks but it is without a doubt my favorite.
This is the story of two sisters staying in a country house with their father and cruel stepmother. During this period a rather creepy ghost haunts the girls and their stepmother. The movie also has an unexpected twist at the end.

“Songs From the Second Floor”, Swedish, Director- Roy Anderson
I had to mention this movie even though it is a few years old now; it’s one of the strangest films I’ve ever seen. This is a surreal and philosophical movie, set in a time right before the world comes to an end. The film is hard to explain in such a small space but I would surely recommend it.

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