Be With Me [Eric Khoo, 2005]

As carefully crafted as a sonnet. Each shot beautifully
photographed and precisely framed. The scenes modulating though
mostly minor keys – like the sparse piano soundtrack, with the same
tendency to mild sentimentality, but with melodies which are never
sickly sweet and which make tentative shifts into a major key.

[IMDB link: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0463903/ ]

A delightful study of love.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu [Cristi Puiu, 2005]

We obviously know the fate of Mr L. Perhaps that is why we feel an
immediate sympathy for him. Perhaps it is because of the way that
those around him judge him so quickly, automatically assuming his
symptoms of illness are merely his own fault - resulting from his
heavy drinking.

It is a long, slow journey that Mr L travels during this film.
Along the way he is subjected to the casual – and not so casual –
cruelties of those there to help him. He is prodded, repeatedly
questioned (with the same questions), diagnosed and misdiagnosed.
There are also those that are kind and sympathetic; those simply
distracted by more urgent seeming cases; those squabbling amongst
themselves; and those distracted by mild flirtations or the need for
a mobile phone charger.

Shot mainly in hand-held long takes, this journey has – along the
way – some dark, observational humour which never trivialises the
sadness of Mr L's long farewell. It elicits a kind of guilty
laughter, but one which helps us to understand that this grim
journey has its rewards for the viewer: Mr L may gradually loses his
grip on life, become more and more stripped down to an object, but
in our eyes we more and more see the humanity of the character, and
the privilege we have in sharing his last hours. It reminds us of
all the other Mr L's out there who are so easily mis-judged and
undervalued.

Perhaps this is an exacting film to watch – but one that is well
worth sticking with.

[IMDB link: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0337573/ ]

Antibodies [Christian Alvart, 2005]

An interesting film which never quite emerges from out of the shadow
of its main influences, such as Silence of the Lambs and Seven. The
creepy atmosphere is well handled, but the biblical references in
the finale are overplayed.

[IMDB link: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0337573/ ]