4: 30 [Royston Tan, 2005]

It is amazing what can be conveyed with so little: a look, a stance,
the movement across a room. The camera spends a lot of time in this
film just watching faces, and in particular that of the 11 year old
protagonist (played with great subtlety).

There is minimal exposition, just the briefest sketch to explain any
back story. And yet the connection with the audience is as great as
if we knew the boy's whole story.

A sad tale, told with some warmth.

[IMDB link: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0497877/ ]

The Science of Sleep [Michel Gondry, 2006]

It's like a Jan Svankmajer for the multiplex. It's certainly a lot
of fun – a visual feast of invention; a riff on the fantastical.
And something in its bold simplicity impresses: the stop-motion
water; the cardboard TV studio. Gondry fashions a slightly surreal
world where the line between dreams and reality becomes less and
less distinct.

The weakness of the film, however, lies in the subservience of
plotting to visual showmanship. There is little coherent purpose or
underlying seriousness - unlike in Gondry's magnificent `Eternal
Sunshine'. Mind you, it's still great to just sit back and enjoy a
filmmaker who is clearly having so much fun. And if the visuals are
not enough, then there is always the comedy to keep you on board.

[IMDB link: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0354899/ ]