Antique

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For those who don’t know it, Ghent (my hometown) has its own Film Festival.
It’s nothing big like Cannes (meaning we don’t attract busloads of international celebrities) but we still get some coming over to present their movie, or do a one-night-only event, sit in the jury and stuff like that. Biggest names of recent years are Sandra Bullock, Brad Pitt, Catherine Deneuve, Viggo Mortensen, Kathleen Turner, Juliette Binoche, Morgan Freeman and (this year) Andy Garcia and Kevin Costner.

Over the years, the general focus of the Festival has moved to the musical aspect of movies, and during the Festival there are always several concerts you can go to.
Together with that, the unique feature of presenting the World Soundtrack Awards makes this Festival stand out amongst the dozens of similar events all over the world.
Well enough, even, to make established US magazines and papers report about it in the following way:

” Variety placed the festival in its top 50 must attend festivals of the world because of this focus on (film)music. “
” The Wall Street Journal called the festival one of the five European Film Festivals with character! “
(source)

Besides the general focus on music, each edition has its own theme, and this year that was Asia. As a result, all the sections of the Festival have a more than average amount of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Middle Eastern and South-East Asian movies, including a retrospective of the famous Studio Ghibli animated movies (Spirited Away, Ponyo, Howl’s Moving Caslte, etc).
On top of all this, an exhibit called Anime! High Art – Pop Art will open during the festival (it lasts 3 months, so I plan to visit this in November, when there’s less crowd).

I try to go to each year, and as always it has been a real struggle to make up my mind on which movies to select.
But I managed to sift out 3 that really interested me

A Korean movie based on a popular Japanese manga, that also became a short anime series.
The story in a nutshell is about 4 men in a pastry shop, and how each of them has something to do with the cakes they create, serve and sell.

This was the first movie I had selected, since it was about guys, pastries and was listed in the World Cinema section (where movies are shown that would never make it into Belgian theatres or get available on DVD here), so I knew that this would be my one chance to see this movie.
Personally I think this was the best movie of the ones I had selected. It was fun to watch, had a good firm story, had enough background shown in the movie (something Hollywood easily lacks imho) and the actors played their parts well (and they were  just as yummy looking as the pastries they served, I’m not gonna deny that was a factor too).
I gave it a 5 (out of 5) for the Viewers Choice Awards.

Krabat

A German movie based on a youth book, where a teenage boy is lured onto the path of Dark Magic, and the price at which that (eventually) comes. In short, this movie is a mix between a “coming of age” movie and an adventure movie, entangled with (a bit of) the occult of Dark Magic and morals.

I didn’t know this was originally a book, and apparently a quite popular one (I learned 2 friends and 1 colleague at work have read it in their teens).
This movie may have turned out into something completely different from what I was first expecting to see, but nevertheless is was a nice one to watch.
I gave it a 4 (out of 5)  for the Viewers Choice Awards.

A Frozen Flower

A very controversial movie about a Royal family of the Korean Goryeo Dynasty, based on a true story.
A tale about captivating love, an impossible question with results that tear you apart, desire, devotion and (a little bit of) politics…
Mix all of this together and the result is a painfully intense movie.

When this movie was over, I had so many feelings about it that they kept me awake till almost 1 AM… well 3 hours after I had left the theatre.
It’s a great movie, I definately will try to find it somewhere on DVD, but if you ask me this is more than your average melodrama… it comes very close to a Tragedy in the true style of an Ancient Greek play.
The tragic climax of the story (and several things that leads to it) is so intense that it leaves a deep impression that lingers inside you for quite a bit. Long enough, even, to make the attempt of creating a happy twist in the last 30 seconds of the movie doesn’t comfort you… no matter how sweet they may have recorded it.
At least, those 30 seconds didn’t do to me what I think they were supposed to do…
Despite all that, this movie was still a powerful emotional rollercoaster, had a great story and was a visual pleasure, so I gave it a 5 for the Viewers Choice Awards too.