The following list of films will stand comparison with any other list of top films for 2014.
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| Tia Morice and Paul Mercurio in Strictly Ballroom |
Strictly Ballroom: This
film from Australia by famed director Baz Lurhmann is a charming romantic
comedy about a championship ballroom dancer and his ugly duckling partner. The
film stars Paul Mercurio and Tia Morice with a great supporting cast. Here's a link to a brief video clip, or see video box below.
Les Comperes: Renowned French stars Pierre Richard and Gerard
Depardieu play two confirmed bachelors in search of a runaway teenager that
they both believe to be their son by a youthful liason. The result is mayhem
with a very touching ending.
Incantato: Director Pupi Avati won the Italian best director award
for this Poignant comedy set in
the Rome and Bologna in the 1920s. Neri Marcore plays a shy and clumsy man
devoted to the academic world. His lack of interest in women has become an
increasing source of anxiety to his womanizing father (Giancarlo Giannini), a
tailor for the Pope. He sends his son to teach in a high school in Bologna with
the hopes that he will find a wife.
A Foreign Field: Two British war vets meet an American vet when all
three return to Normandy on the 50th anniversary of D-Day. This disparate band
of survivors eventually finds common ground in the memory of what they lost on
that fateful day in 1944. This British film has an acclaimed international cast
including Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, Jeanne Moreau, Loren Bacall, John
Randolph, and Geraldine Chaplin.
The Captain’s Paradise: This delightful British comedy stars Alec
Guinness in one of his great comedy roles as a sea captain who finds the key to
perfect happiness with a woman in each port. The film also stars Celia Johnson,
a fine British actress best known for her role in “Brief Encounter,” and Yvonne
De Carlo before she gained fame as Mrs. Herman Munster.
Dersu Uzala: An eccentric Mongolian frontiersman is taken on as a guide by a Russian
surveying crew in the early twentieth century. While the soldiers at first
perceive Dersu as a naïve and comical relic of an uncivilized age, he quickly
proves himself otherwise with displays of ingenuity and bravery. This Russian
film made by acclaimed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa was the result of an
arduous two year film making expedition into the far reaches of Siberia. It won
the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film in 1975.
The Twilight Samurai: Renowned Japanese film director Yoji Yamada’s
film is set in a changing Japan of the late nineteenth century. It takes a
modern look at the traditional Japanese Samurai story. Hiroyuki Sanada, one of
Japan’s leading film stars, plays a low ranking, poverty stricken samurai
trying to support his family. However, he is caught in the shifting turmoil of
the times and ordered to confront and kill a renowned renegade warrior. Made in
2002, “The Twilight Samurai” won twelve Japanese Film Academy Awards, including
Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress.
Shall We Dance: A middle-aged workaholic’s dull life takes a funny
turn when he signs up for a ballroom dance class just to meet the beautiful
dance teacher. Bur when he finally muscles up the nerve for lessons, he winds
up with a different instructor and her colorfully eccentric class of beginners.
Now he’ll have to step lightly if he expects to keep his dancing (considered socially improper for a
Japanese man) from his family and friends. This film should not be confused
with the Hollywood remake starring Richard Gere and Jenifer Lopez. ###
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