THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS. 1974. USA

Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Goldie Hawn, William Atherton,
Release date: 1974
Genre: Action/Drama
Length: 110 mins
IMDb

Spielberg's 1st 'made for cinema' film & 33 years later it still holds up as one of his best.

GREECE: To Kako (Evil)

Director: Yorgos Noussias
Stars: Meletis Georgiadis, Pepi Moschovakou, Argyris Thanassoulas
Release date: March 16th 2006/DVD August 2006
Genre: Horror
Length: 83 mins

Yay. The Greeks get in on the zombie highway. Looks pretty eerie for a lowbudget genre flick shot on HD DV. The language difference might make it more effective & believable. Er, if the actors are convincing enough of course. That is the zombies & potential dinner victims.

Synopsis...
A plague of the walking dead rise in Athens, Greece where a group of random strangers including a wise-cracking cab driver, a teenaged girl who just lost her parents, a tough-guy soldier, an even tougher young woman, must band together to combat the flesh-eating hordes.

• Website.

JAPAN: Tôkyô zonbi aka Tokyo Zombies

Director: Sakichi Sato
Stars: Tadanobu Asano, Sho Aikawa
Release date: 10 Dec 2005/DVD release June 2006
Genre: Horror/Comedy
Length: 103 mins

This piece of insanity finally hits DVD in July. Still no sign of English subs, but Yes Asia & CDJapan have it for pre-order. Looks even more rioteous than the English flick Shaun of the Dead.

From Philadelphia Film Festival.
The feature directing debut of Sakichi Sato, a writer (he penned the Miike films Ichi the Killer and Gozu) and actor (he was the “Charlie Brown” waiter in Kill Bill Vol. 1), Tokyo Zombie is simply a wild widescreen funhouse ride of slapstick humor, genre parody, gore gags, and general horror-comedy anarchy. It’s pretty irresistible. Japanese genre film favorites Tadanobu Asano (Survive Style 5+) and Sho Aikawa (the Dead or Alive trilogy) – both saddled with haircuts that will provoke giggling anyway – star as two blue-collar laborers with dreams of being jujitsu champions, a shared goal sidelined by the sudden invasion of a zombie army storming Tokyo, descending from “Mt. Dark Fuji.” The duo are separated by fate (but can one become a zombie if you’re bitten by someone with false teeth?), but reunited years later – just when you think the film can’t get any more outrageous, Sato throws you a Kill Bill-styled anime exposition transition, and then a parody of Romero’s Land of the Dead, with wealthy survivors enjoying the spectacle of zombie wrestling. A laugh-out-loud blast from start to finish,

• Website. Windows Media trailer included.

FINLAND: Paha Maa (Frozen Land). 2005

Director: Aku Louhimies
Stars: Jasper Pääkkönen, Mikko Leppilampi, Pamela Tola, Petteri Summanen.
Release date: Finland - 14 Jan 2005
Genre: Drama
Length: 130 mins

It just won 8 awards out of 10 nominations at the Finnish version of the Oscars, the Jussis.

I seriously thought we would have had this at the Sydney Film International Festival last year. How wrong I was. Those bastards at the Melbourne film fest had it a month later. So there's no way they will have it on this year. The trailer looks fantastic. Even if I did see it a year ago. Been on my top 10 list all that time. DVD here I come.

Synopsis
Tuomas is a young computer hacker who wishes to accomplish something significant and useful to the society. Tuomas's best friend Niko has more of a rock mentality than him, leading a more hedonistic life in the world of drugs and alcohol. About 20 years old, Elina is a brave and intelligent young activist studying history and political science at the university. Elina and Tuomas have had a happy relationship for over a year and are planning to get married. A chain reaction of events starts after Niko forges a 500 euro note. In the film's other plot, the attack planned by Tuomas and Elina on an information network has grave consequences.

Frozen Land is an intense, fast-paced and realistic depiction of today´s Finland. It contains several dramatic and tragic events and plenty of action, but also warmth. The film has an episodic structure, where the stories are not always linked to each other in a chronological order.

• Trailer 19MBs. Downloadable QT.

CHILE: Kiltro. 2006

Director: Ernesto Díaz Espinoza
Stars: Marko Zaror, Caterina Jadresic, Miguel Angel De Luca, Daniela Lhorente
Release date: 2006
Genre: Martial Arts/Romance
Length: ?

Crazy. The Swedes, The Dutch, the Germans, the Finns & now the Chileans. All unexpected places to find a martial art film, yet here is the South American one. One look at the trailer & it looks like they had the skills & then decided, 'Hey, let's make a kick arse kung-fu film'. Storywise it doesn't look like much, but Zaror, who is renowed as The Rock's stunt double, has the obvious abilities.

Synopsis
Zaror, a Chilean native who has trained extensively in karate and tae kwon do, plays a violent street gangster, whose life is forever changed when a powerful martial artist looking for vengeance kills his mother and kidnaps the woman he loves. This gangster journeys to a legendary martial arts master (Man Soo Yoon) and learns the honored path of the warrior. He emerges a master himself and sets out on his own mission of vengeance and to rescue his true love.

• Film website
• Marko Zaror website
• Chilean martial arts site with Kiltro link. Spanish language.
• Stunt footage 11MB. Downloadable QT file.
• Trailer 14.3MB Downloadable WMV.

FRANCE: Renaissance. 2006

Director: Christian Volckman
Stars: It's animated stupid.
Release date: France - 15 March 2006
Genre: Animation/B&W/Action
Length:

Holy crap. Sin City was a live action B&W comic come to life, well this is a B&W comic book come to life, literally. It's amazing looking. Incredibly done. It feels wierd, as though it was a rotoscoped version of an action flick. And at $14 million Euros, it's a hefty price tag for a French animated genre picture. Definitely a new way of animating, yet keeping an old film noir approach. Imagine Richard Linklater's recent fetish with animation, yet directed by Luc Besson in black & white. Just watch the damn trailer.

Synopsis
Paris, December 2037. Ilona Tasuievn, a young scientist jealoused by everyone for her beauty and intelligence, is brutally kidnapped. In a high-tech environment where every action is controlled and filmed, Karas, the criticized policeman who’s in charge of the investigation, feels soon a presence around... He’s not the only one on Ilona’s tracks, and his pursuers are ready for anything for arriving ahead of him.

The more he nears the truth, the more the noose is tightening : Ilona is the key of discovery which can make Man equal than God, the Renaissance protocol. The cop doesn’t know anymore if the missing young woman is victim or torturer. Angel or demon.

Finding her becomes a question of life or death for Karas, but maybe too for all our civilisation...

• Website
• Trailer Downloadable QT.

RUSSIA: Ненасытные (Insatiable). 2005

Director: Ruslan Baltzer
Stars: Марк Богатырев, Никита Ефремов, Эдуард Ланге, Артем Ткаченко
Release date: 2006?
Genre: Crime/Comedy
Length: ?

Took me forever & a day to work this film out. I mean finding out some details in English was impossible. Babelfish again. Stumbled upon the trailer & then went from there. When you watch the trailer you'll see why I had to find out more. It looks stark raving mad. Those Russians are going into hyperdrive at teh moment. It's a bloody shame that hardly anyone in the Western world will ever get to see them on the big screen. Even on DVD tehy are proving hard to find with English subtitles. The directors previous films look crazy as well. Dazhe ne dumay! (Don't Even Think!) in 2003 & a sequel the year later..

Synopsis
I think its about some porn filmmakers, some hip hop kids, some gangsters, wrestling, lawlessness, marijuana & gun toting B & D wierdos.

• Film Production website It's all in Russian.
• Trailer

JAPAN: Wakusei Daikaijû Negadon (The Monster from Mars). 2006

Director: Jun Awazu
Stars: CGI generated people.
Release date: Japan - 25 Oct 2005
Genre: Anime/Sci-Fi/Giant Robots
Length: 25 mins

I'm not one for Anime very much, I prefer Kaiju films, though this looks like a good mix of both with it's rampaging realistic looking CG giant robots. They've made the graphics look like the 60s film style of the early Godzilla type films & it looks amazingly on target. Sky Captain had a similiar look, but this one has no human actors in it at all.

The Japanese DVD doesn't contain English subs, but US Anime label Central Park Media will be releasing it with subs mid 2006. Even though the film is short in length, it will apparently contain 35 mins of extra footage & loads of bonus material.

From the filmmakers
"The monster film. It is a genre which is unique and peculiar to Japan. We decided to make a short monster film that uses full-CG. This is a daring, foolhardy independent project. From the monster to machinery, the characters, background, and small articles, we created everything with CG. "NEGADON - the Monster from Mars" is a "digital monster film", a film for the future."

Synopsis
In the year 2025, the world population explodes to over 10 billion. In search for a new place to live, mankind initiates the space exploration project entitled “The Mars Terraforming Project.” Step by step, mankind successfully transforms Mars into a habitable planet. But when a Japanese freight spaceship returning from Mars crashes on the streets of Tokyo unleashing a giant and vicious monster from underneath the surface of Mars, only Dr. Narasaki and his long-abandoned robot Miroku can save Earth and mankind.

• Website
• Website

HUNGARY: Taxidermia. 2005

Director: Gyorgy Palfi
Stars: Csaba Czene, Gergo Trocsanyi, Marc Bishoff, Istvan Gyuricza.
Release date: Hungary - 3 Feb 2006
Genre: Comedy/wierdo/freaky stuff
Length: 92 mins

Please please please Sydney Film Festival people get this one. It looks barking mad. It definitely has that Balkan region feel to it. As in the insanity that permeates Emir Kusturica's films. An adaptation from a novel by contemporary Hungarian writer Lajos Parti-Nagy. A Hungarian, German, Austrian & French co-production.

It just won the Best Film Award at the recent 37th Hungarian Film Week. "The award consists of €300,000 that will go towards the director’s next film. Taxidermia also received awards for Best Set Design & Best Supporting Actress and Actor for Adél Stanczel and Csaba Czene, respectively."

Synopsis
The heroes of Taxidermia are three men. Three generations of a family, who happen to live in Eastern Europe, in Hungary. The story of the grandfather, the awkward batman of a ruthless captain in the 2nd World war; the father, who is a professional sports man, a competitive eater during the socialist era; and the story of the son, who is a taxidermist, the sculptor of organic material, is told by the youngest member of the family. Surrealism and historical facts get mixed up in his imagination, creating a kind of "fairy realism".

• Website
• Trailer 15mb downloadable QT file

SWEDEN: Storm. 2005

Director: Måns Mårlind & Björn Stein.
Stars: Eric Ericson, Eva Röse, Sasha Becker, Peter Engman, Jonas Karlsson.
Release date: Sweden - 20 Jan 2006
Genre: Psychological/Fantasy/Thriller
Length: 115 mins

Looks killer. Go to the website, click on 'Ga till Storm', then 'Förföljd' (left side of pop-up), then 'Trailer'. Watch. Also check out the 'filmklipps'. Some are calling it Sweden's Matrix. Did I miss something? Why, because some dudes are wearing black & they are using mostly green hued backlighting? Whatever. Still looks pretty cool.

"Starting out as a flashy and violent actioner, "Storm" gradually morphs into a multilayered psychological study of a troubled young man. Fast paced, visually exciting and with enough plot twists to satisfy the most jaded filmgoer, pic has all the makings of a cult hit. Chances are good of it scoring offshore too -- as evidenced by brisk sales during AFM. Film won the audience award at the recent Stockholm fest." Review snippet from Variety.

Synopsis
DD is young, cool. Knows where it’s at. Or… thought he did. He is completely unaware that a struggle between good and evil has begun in which he himself is the arena. To get through it in one piece and alive DD must solve a riddle. A riddle whose solution will either destroy him or give him a new life.

• Website

RUSSIAN: Volkodav iz roda serikh psov (Wolfhound). 2006

Director: Nikolai Lebedev
Stars: Aleksandr Bukharov, Oxana Akin'shina, Igor Petrenko, Andrey Rudenskiy
Release date: Late 2006
Genre: Fantasy/Action
Length: 110 mins

I wish the Americans would steer clear of making Medieval films. Leave them to the Europeans. It's their history & they make a pretty good fist of it when they do undertake cinematic mythology. This new film is another heavyweight effort from the impressively building Central Partnership studios. This US$10 million 'slavic fantasy' utilised the largest sets in 25 years at the once struggling Mosfilm studios. They also shot footage in the mountains of Slovakia. You'd think they'd have enough locations at home. Go figure. Bring it on... Looks impressive.

Synopsis
He was doomed to die, but managed to survive, and now his mission is to revenge for the annihilation of his tribe. He is the great warrior who calls himself Volkodav, and is the last man from the tribe of Serie Psi (Grey Hounds). After escaping certain death, Volkodaw (accompanied by Neletuchaya Mysh) is on a mission to kill Ludoed who is responsible to what happened to Serie Psi

• Website
• Trailer 12mb avi

RUSSIA: Paragraf 78 (Paragraph 78). 2006

Director: Mikhail Khleborodov
Stars: Gosha Kutsenko, Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Anastasiya Slanevskaya, Aziz Beishenaliev.
Release date: Russia - 13 July 2006
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
Length: ?

UK dance music act Sneaker Pimps are providing the soundtrack. So expect pumping breakbeat to accompany a bunch of tough looking Russians running through tunnels with large weapons. I hope it's better than the recent snorefest 'paint by numbers' film version of Doom. It has a similiar look to it, but i'm hoping the ex-Soviets can pound the USA films into the ground with some heavy action & avoid the cliches.

Synopsis
In the nearest future a crew of special forces' ex-members are assigned to a new important mission which becomes a unique opportunity for long retired commandos to meet their other brothers in arms. Even more so, they still have some personal issues between them unsolved. They are still not accustomed to call each other by names, preferring old nicknames from the forces. However, time and experience change even those super pros who always stuck to the indisputable and unquestionable Paragraph. It`s not just external danger they have to face at the top secret missile base where they carry out their mission, it's also each other…

• Website

THAILAND: Yam Yasothon (Hello Yasothon). 2005

Director: Mum Jokmok
Stars: Mum Jokmok, Yaowaluck Tumboon, Chaipat Ningong.
Release date: Thailand - 8 Sept 2005
Genre: Comedy
Length: ?

Yep, another Thai film, though this one looks pretty bent.
Thailand's famous tv comedian Mum Jokmok (Petchtai Wongkamlau) has been in Killer Tattoo, Ong Bak, The Bodyguard & Tom Yum Goong & now directs himself again in his 2nd feature. A deliriously technicolour extravaganza. Definitely reminds me of the saturated colours in the visually drunk look that Tears of a Black Tiger & Citizen Dog had a few years ago. Sure it looks as camp as a row of tents, but it's cartoon-like style might be what is compelling, though they do say it is an enjoyable romp despite the rough edges.

Synopsis
Rural love story in 1967! Yaem tries everyway to get away from Joei who is crushed on him as he thinks himself 'handsome'. Something happens in a night before Joei is sent by her parents to Bangkok. Yaem realizes his heart is changing.

• Website

JAPAN: Hanai Sachiko no karei na shougai (The Glamorous Life Of Sachiko Hanai). 2003

Director: Mitsuru Meike
Stars: Emi Kuroda, Kyoko Hayami, Kanae Mizuhara, Takeshi Ito.
Release date: ? 2006
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Action
Length: 90 mins

You want originality in a screenplay? Read below. If that isn't off the wall enough for you.. well... then forget it.

"Meike’s sexy, anarchic, satirical romp was originally released into pink cinemas in a 65-minute version called Horny Home Tutor: Teacher’s Love Juice, but proved so popular that a ‘director’s cut’ was prepared, featuring enough raunch, humour and weirdness to please all but the most po-faced. The depiction of the current incumbent at the White House is particularly to be savoured."

Synopsis
Sachiko Hanai is a call girl specialising in role-playing the type of lusty home tutor every adolescent boy dreams of having correct his homework. One day she inadvertently stumbles into a coffee shop interrupting some dodgy dealings. Tempers flare, guns are drawn and Sachiko finds herself in the path of a stray bullet that hits her bang in the centre of her forehead. Dazed and confused, she wanders into the streets, not noticing a mysterious metal canister being inserted into her handbag. Her attempts at dislodging the bullet with an eye-liner pencil set off a volley of flashing lights and strange images; suddenly Sachiko finds herself able to speak foreign languages and solve complex formulae, making her much in demand as a bona-fide tutor. Unfortunately, the cylinder contains a replica of the finger of the US president, whose fingerprint is capable of unleashing nuclear Armageddon.

• Website

USA: The Notorious Bettie Page. 2005

Director: Mary Harron
Stars: Gretchen Mol, Lili Taylor, Jonathan M. Woodward, David Strathairn, Cara Seymour.
Release date: USA - 14 April 2006
Genre: Drama/Bio-pic
Length: 100 mins

Why? Cause it's Bettie Page. One of those pop icons that many are familiar with, visually, yet don't actually know much about. So hence the interest to learn about her history would be the major factor in seeing this film. It's having a limited cinema run in the US. Probably because it's a HBO connected film & therefore that will maximise attention for it's cable TV showing. Gretchen Mol, who plays Page, is one of those people who has been in over 25 films, yet I can't name any of them. Hope she pulls it off. Imagine the Bettie fanclubs critique when it does come out. That'll be the test. I guess we'll see it on DVD next year.

The Canadian director made the film version of Bret Easton Ellis' book American Psycho, but seems to have recently diirected well known TV shows.

Synopsis
Page was the ultimate girl-next door, and one of the most popular Playboy centerfolds. Page challenged the conservative 1950s, posing as a fierce dominatrix and earning both a cult underground following and Senate Committee investigation on juvenile delinquency, essentially a witch-hunt orchestrated by a senator from her home state of Tennessee bent on exploiting her as a stepping stone to the White House. At the height of her popularity, Bettie disappeared. But in 1979 and 1982, Page (a diagnosed schizophrenic) tried to stab several people to death and was institutionalized.

• Website
• Trailer

NETHERLANDS: Worst Case Scenario. 2006

Director: Richard Raaphorst
Stars: Zombies. Lots of them. Mostly Germans.
Release date: They need financing. So still in development.
Genre: Horror
Length: This can be 5 hours long as far as I'm concerned.

This is probably THE most anticipated film in horror circles at the moment. With good reason... Nazi zombies.
That's all that really needs to be said. Some people are whinging because it's already been done. So what! As much as I love Shock Waves there is room for an update. The other films like The Frozen Dead, Zombie Lake & the Jess Franco directed Euro pudding La Tumba de los Muertos Vivientes (Oasis of the Zombies) were all pretty bad. And it's not as though the genre has been overdone. One look at the promo real & if you are any kind of a zombie film buff, then you'll have to pick your jaw up from the ground. I cannot believe that no-one has come to their financial rescue. The promo reels are dripping with conviction. They look as though they could make an incredible film. Okay, we don't know about dramatic scenes & choice of actors, but let's hope that 100% of the package is as good as they can get. No point having awesome camerawork, impressive production design, brilliant make-up...and then stick some shit actors into it. Then it would just turn into a b-grade straight to DVD film. Get some talent in front of the screen with a tight script & then you have the makings of a terrific piece of cinema. They've had sufficient time to clean up the script so I guess it's just a waiting game now for the financing to come through.

Dutch director & locations. In English language. American actors. The Re-Animator's Bryan Yuzna attached himself to the project after Raaphorts created the title sequences to Beyond Re-Animator. Where's Tarantino or Eli Roth to the rescue...? Surely they'd want to see this film made.

Synopsis
The original screenplay of this horror movie centers on the common friction between neighboring countries. It’s a global phenomenon, and even in peaceful Western Europe you will find old grudges. If you dig deep enough. In the final of the World Championship soccer games Holland and Germany are going to war. A visiting American and his family try to get away from the nationwide frenzy, but traveling to a North Sea island they wind up in situations far, far worse

...This was the original premise...
A group of friends try to get away from the soccer madness surrounding a German-Dutch finale, but on a trip to a holiday island they run into extremely violent hooligans. They miss the last ferry out and are thankful when they can hitch a ride with the only other boat at the pier. But the island they arrive on is not at all what they expected. Let's just say the entertainment sucks and the locals give new meaning to the word 'stiff'. And that's just the beginning. Exploring the desolate landscape they find a strange bunker and, deep inside it, someone trapped, mutilated and barely alive. Freeing this man they unknowingly set the wheels in motion for mayhem on a much larger scale, a plan wrought during WWII and ever since waiting to happen. The group ends up in the middle as "I'll bash your head in with a steel pipe"-hooligans and an army of undead Nazis, the likes of which you've never seen before, go to war. And no, that is not the end of it.

• Website
• Promo reel 1 Downloadable QT file. 26MBs
• Promo reel 2 Downloadable QT file. 22MBs

THAILAND: Hell. 2005

Director: Teekayu Thamnitiyakul
Stars: Wutinun Maikun, Nathawan Woravit, Punyapon Dhajsonk.
Release date: Thailand - 23 June 2005
Genre: Horror
Length: 95 mins

There's literally dozen's of horror films being made in Asian countries, most specifically Thailand for some bizarre reason. So it's hard to choose the ones that look superior. Even though it is a loose adaptation of Japanese film Jigoku. On the website it's the 6th Thai script lettering in red that will show a very small embedded trailer. I just went by the photo gallery images to determine that it might be visually appealling, if nothing else. Now available on Thai released DVD but alas, no subtitles.

Synopsis
A team of a documentary program is on the way to film some clips. Unfortunately, a severe car crash takes their life away and their spirit is brought to somewhere they're not familiar with. Finally, they're aware themselves in a dreadful world called "Hell" where all the spirit of bad human is sentenced to be tortured for their sin and misdeed they've done. The car driver truly is the only man in the team whose life comes to the end of time, but the other is unluckily escorted. Art (Wutinun Maikun), a camera man in the team realizes the time in human world of himself and his friends is still available. He and his friends must escape to their own world before someone in Hell could hold them back.

• Website

SOUTH KOREA: Yasu (The Beast aka Running Wild). 2005

Director: Kim Seong-soo
Stars: Kwon Sang-woo, Yoo Ji-tae, Son Byeong-ho, Eom Ji-won
Release date: Sth Korea - 1 Dec 2005
Genre: Action/ Crime
Length: 124 mins

Even though the film is studded with contemporary hearththobs, it received an over 18 classification, therefore making the likley teenage girl audience shut out from seeing the film. So they feel that this dispells any notion that it was a vapid attempt at creating just another shallow action film. The director was upset at the rating & felt it was imposed because of the depiction of corrupt politicians & injust social policies, not for the actual violence portrayed. The ambigious ending also apparently solidifies the lack of a clear resolution giving it a more realistic approach for creating discussion among the Korean youth about their govt.

Synopsis
In "Running Wild", the cop's younger brother served a prison term during which he came to know a big boss, who later emerges as the paragon of evil, and a character who directly squares off with Jang Do-young. The brother got away with a piece of evidence that could put the boss back in prison, but he was brutally killed by his minions on the street because of this evidence.

• Website
• Trailer

THAILAND: Karuse Valentine (Ghost of Valentine). 2005

Director: Yuthlert Sippapak
Stars: 'Ploy' Jindachoti, Pitisak Yaowananont, Wiyada Aumarin.
Release date: Thailand - 6 Feb 2006
Genre: Horror/Drama
Length: ?

Intriguing to say the least. Based on the ancient Thai ghost myth of the Phii Karuse. Has previously been used in other films such as Demonic Beauty. The director has previously made the crazy action flick Killer Tattoo, hitman comedy Pattaya Maniac & the demon comedy Bupah Rahtree.

Synopsis
A beautiful nurse has just moved to work in an old hospital. There, she's the beloved among her colleagues because of her graceful personality and mind. There's also a guy who works as the janitor for the hospital, he falls for the nurse at first sight. The first rose he gives to the nurse leads to their true love. Surprisingly, the nurse discovers an old photo of a couple hiding in the hospital, which is the photo of her pastlife. She's going to tell the guy about this surprise, but the guy suddenly turns into a disability after involved in an accident. He can move his body no more, only the eyes that still blinking. Meanwhile, the nurse finally realizes the horrible truth behind her mysterious illness, there's something abnormal and supernatural inside her body, something that she just doesn't want to accept

• Website

DENMARK: Nordkraft. 2005

Director: Ole Christian Madsen
Stars: Thure Lindhardt, Signe Egholm Olsen, Claus Riis Østergaard, Farshad Kholghi
Release date: Denmark - 4 March 2005
Genre: Drama
Length: 130 mins

One viewing of the trailer & you'll be convinced that it is a must-see. Like many others online have stated...why this wasn't a regular on the festival circuit is anyone's guess. It looks solid. The director had previously filmed some episodes of the cop show Rejseholdet. Which incidentally starred famed actorMads Mikkelsen. His brother Lars appears in this film.

The screenplay was adapted from the book by Jacob Ejersbo. The 3 disc DVD release complete with English subtitles is available at XploitedCinema. On my list to get.

Synopsis
Maria is a pusher, searching for love amid a world of junkies and bikers; Allan is desperately trying to stay clean after returning from an ill-fated trip across the Pacific; and Steso is torn between the only two things that give his life meaning - his drugs and his girlfriend. Hard as nails, yet shot through with a yearning, desperate romanticism, Madsens third feature (following his critically acclaimed Kiras Reason) is like Trainspotting crossed with Les Amants du Pont Neuf - a glimpse inside the subculture of addiction that manages to sidestep the usual cliches and represent the messy complexity and contradictions of real life. It's European commercial cinema at its most urgent and persuasive.

• Website
• Trailer

ENGLAND: Johnny Was. 2005

Director: Mark Hammond
Stars: Patrick Bergin, Roger Daltrey, Vinnie Jones, Samantha Mumba, Eriq La Salle.
Release date: ???
Genre: Action/Drama/Thriller
Length: 90 min

First thing I see is Adrian Sherwood's name & then Vinnie Jones & Eric LaSalle. Then my mind starts thinking it'll be a film about conflicts between yardies & London hardmen set to a dub soundtrack. I wasn't far off. The early trailer looked a bit so so & failed to convey anything of magnitude, but the new one looks more impressive & cohesive. Let's hope it is a gritty film, for there doesn't seem to have been many tough films from the UK recently.

Synopsis
Johnny (Vinnie Jones), trying to escape a violent past in Ireland, hides out in Brixton, London, in the world’s least-safe safe house, sandwiched between a drug den run by a Jamaican gangster (Eriq La Salle) and a pirate radio station belonging to a Rasta DJ (Lennox Lewis). When Johnny’s former comrade (Patrick Bergin) escapes from Brixton Prison determined to derail the Irish peace process, Johnny faces being dragged back into violence and away from his new love (Samantha Mumba). Johnny’s actions ignite a simmering war on two fronts with his drug-dealing neighbour and his former boss Jimmy (Roger Daltrey). Johnny faces questions of race, morality, loyalty – and ultimately survival - played out against a great reggae sound track from legendary DJ-producer Adrian Sherwood.

• Website
• Trailer New version

TUNISIA: Bab'aziz. 2005

Director: Nacer Khemir
Stars: Parviz Shaminkhou, Maryam Hamid, Nessim Kahloul, Mohamed Grayaa, Golshiteh Frahani.
Release date: Nov 2006
Genre: Drama
Length: 96 mins

Looks like a huge co-production between Tunisia/Germany/France/UK & Iran. In Arabic language. Desert & snow environment films are No 1 in my book. I love 'em. This just looks & sounds interesting.

Synopsis
Ishtar is a little girl who guides Bab’Aziz, an old blind dervish, through the desert to attend a big meeting of dervishes. Just like in a treasure hunt, they get to cross the paths of several characters : twin brothers Hussein and Hassan, with very different temperaments, the prince who decided to build a palace in the middle of the desert, Osman who is trying to leave the country and Nour looking for his father. All these stories interweave around Bab’Aziz like a dream "which is within another dream and so on until the infinity of grains of sand."

• Website
• More info

SWEDEN: Frostbiten. 2005

Director: Anders Banke
Stars: Petra Nielsen, Grete Havnesköld, Emma Åberg, Jonas Karlström.
Release date: Sweden - 6 Feb 2006
Genre: Horror
Length: 95 mins

Hmmn, nope. I definitely cannot recall the last Scandinavian vampire film I saw. What a concept. Arctic living undead bloodsuckers. Visual production looks high end, music sounds big & orchestral, location looks fantastic. Has everything going for it in the trailer. Make sure you take a look at the downloadable 'behind the scenes' footage.

Synopsis
Annika, a medical doctor and her 17-year old daughter Saga have just moved to a small cold town far up north, as Annika is going to work at the hospital there. At her new school Saga meets a bizarre girl named Vega. And pretty soon, all hell breaks loose.

• Website