Best of 2011

A Separation , Elite Squad : The Enemy Within , Once upon a time in Anatolia ....

Simon (Netherlands, 2004)

Ratings - IMDB – 7.9
Release Year - 2004
Country - Netherlands
Genres – Comedy | Drama

Synopsis: 
Enterprising liberal Jew Simon Cohen is the lawless lord of an Amsterdam neighborhood, running a 'coffee' shop' (legal soft drugs sale). As soon as they bump into each-other, Simon fascinates gay, up to then conventionalist Jewish dentistry student Camiel Vrolijk and draws him into his libertine world, even all the way to Thailand for B-movie making. Hvaing seduced Simon's whorish girl, embarrassed Simon leaves quietly. Ten years later, the dentist, now settled with a gay partner, lawyer Bram, meets the new cancer-terminal but affluent Simon again.
Tagline -  Hij verandert je leven (He will change your life)
Awards & Lists - 7 wins



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Tonari no Totoro aka My Neighbor Totoro (Japan , 1988)

Ratings - IMDB – 8.2
Release Year -1988
Country - Japan
Genres – Animation | Adventure | Family

Synopsis: 
Two young girls, Satsuke and her younger sister Mei, move into a house in the country with their father to be closer to their hospitalized mother. Satsuke and Mei discover that the nearby forest is inhabited by magical creatures called Totoros. They soon befriend these Totoros, and have several magical adventures.
Awards & Lists - IMDb Top 250 #183 | Another 5 wins
Special Mention - Rated by more than 42k users on IMDb







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Tasogare Seibei aka The Twilight Samurai (Japan , 2002)

Ratings - IMDB – 8.1 | Metascore - 82
Release Year - 2002
Country - Japan
Genres – Drama | Romance

Synopsis: 
Seibei Iguchi, a low-ranking samurai, leads a life without glory as a bureaucrat in the mid-XIX century Japan. A widower, he has charge of two daughters (whom he adores) and a senile mother; he must therefore work in the fields and accept piecework to make ends meet. New prospects seem to open up when Tomoe, his long-time love, divorces a brutal husband. However, even as the Japanese feudal system is unraveling, Seibei remains bound by the code of honour of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedences. The consequences are cruel.
Awards & Lists - Nominated for Oscar. Another 37 wins
 
 
 
 
 
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Krótki film o milosci aka A Short Film About Love (Poland , 1988)

Ratings - IMDB – 8.3
Release Year - 1988
Country - Poland
Genres – Drama | Romance

Synopsis: 
19-year-old Tomek whiles away his lonely life by spying on his opposite neighbour Magda through binoculars. She's an artist in her mid-thirties, and appears to have everything - not least a constant stream of men at her beck and call. But when the two finally meet, they discover that they have a lot more in common than appeared at first sight...



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Idi i smotri aka Come and See (Russia , 1985)

Ratings - IMDB – 8.2
Release Year - 1985
Country - Russia
Genres – Drama | War

Synopsis: 
During WWII, a Belorussian boy is thrust into the atrocities of war, fighting with a hopelessly unequipped Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces. Witnessing scenes of abject terror and surviving horrifying situations, he loses his innocence and then his mind

Special Mention – Rated by more than 11k users on IMDb


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Nostalghia (Russia , 1983)

Ratings - IMDB – 8.0

Release Year - 1983
Country - Russia
Genres – Drama

Synopsis: 
The Russian poet Gortchakov, accompanied by guide and translator Eugenia, is traveling through Italy researching the life of an 18th century Russian composer. In a ancient spa town, he meets the lunatic Domenico, who years earlier had imprisoned his own family in a barn to save them from the evils of the world. As Eugenia seeks to tempt Gortchakov into infidelity, he, seeing some deep truth in Domenico's act, becomes drawn to the lunatic. In a series of dreams, the poet's nostalgia for his homeland and his longing for his wife, his ambivalent feelings for Eugenia and her Italy, and his sense of kinship with Domenico become intertwined..

Awards & Lists – 3 wins
 
 
 
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Le notti di Cabiria aka Nights of Cabiria (Italy , 1957)

Ratings - IMDB – 8.2
Release Year - 1957
Country - Italy
Genres – Drama | Romance


"A Cinematic Masterpiece" - Janet Maslin , New York Times 
Synopsis: 
A waifish prostitute wanders the streets of Rome looking for true love but finds only heartbreak.



Cabiria is a wide-eyed waif, a streetwalker living in a poor section of Rome where she owns her little house, has a bank account, and dreams of a miracle. We follow her nights (and days): a boyfriend steals 40,000 lire from her and nearly drowns her, a movie star on the Via Veneto takes her home with him, at a local shrine she seeks the Madonna's intercession, then she meets an accountant who's seen her, hypnotized on a vaudeville stage, acting out her heart's longings. He courts her. Is it fate that led to their meeting? Is this finally a man who appreciates her for who she is?

Awards

  • Won Oscar - Best Foreign Language film
  • Cannes Film Festival: Best Actress , OCIC Award - Special Mention, Federico Fellini
  • David di Donatello Awards, Italy: Best Director, Best Production
  • Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain: CEC Award, Best Foreign Film

Lists - IMDB Top 250 #220

Special Mention

  • Rotten Tomatoes reported that 97% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on thirty-six reviews
  • Rated by more than 14k users on IMDB 

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