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Dariush Mehrjui’s THE COW is credited as making modern Iranian cinema possible. As the story goes, Ayatollah Khomeini liked the film, allowing it to play in theaters across Iran, despite being approved and partially funded by the Shah’s government. In 1971, the film was smuggled out of Iran and played at the Venice Film Festival, where is won awards and became the first Iranian film to get a wide reception outside Iran. Taking a page from the French New Wave, this neo-realistic drama is like THE BICYCLE THIEF combined with UMBERTO D.

Based on Gholan-Hossein Saedi’s play, the story follows Masht Hassan (Ezzatolah Entezami), a man who holds a high status in his village because he owns the only cow in miles. His relationship with his animal is move loving than his relationship with his wife. A great deal of his personality is wrapped up in owning the cow. One day while he is away on business, the cow mysteriously dies. The town’s smartest man Eslam (Ali Nassirian) believes that Hassan won’t be able to handle the news and convinces the town to cover it up, telling Hassan that the cow ran away and that the local thug Esmayil went to find the beast. When Hassan does return, no version of the story is comforting. Slowly, Hassan slips into insanity, eventually taking on the role as his cow.

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Iranian filmmaker Tahmineh Milani opened eyes around the world with her frank look at the role of women in Iran in this gripping production. Her following film, THE HIDDEN HALF, landed her in prison for two weeks. Her most recent film CEASE FIRE has become the best selling movie in Iranian cinema history. For TWO WOMEN, on a low budget, she crafts a moving melodrama about two promising female architecture students whose lives eventual go in very different directions.

Roya (Marila Zare’i, THE FIFTH REACTION) works at an architecture firm with her supportive husband when she gets a phone call that her good friend from college Fereshteh (Niki Karimi, THE HIDDEN HALF) is at the hospital with her dying husband. Roya hasn’t heard from Fereshteh for years, because her prideful father (Reza Khandan) kept them apart. They original met when Roya asked Fereshteh, an exceptional student, for help with her Math class. They soon became inseparable friends. However, Fereshteh gains a stalker named Hassan (Mohammad Reza Forutan) who threatens violence on her unless she marries him. Later tragedy will lead to Fereshteh agreeing to a marriage with the older Ahmad (Atila Pesiani), whose paranoia leads to mental abuse.

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This anthology film is a love letter to Paris and to love itself. Twenty short films were commissioned for the feature-length project set in the 20 arrondissements of Paris. Only two of those films did not make the final cut. Directors such as Gus Van Sant (GOOD WILL HUNTING), Joel and Ethan Coen (NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN), Walter Salles (CENTRAL STATION), Sylvain Chomet (THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE, Alfonso Cuaron (CHILDREN OF MEN), Wes Craven (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET), Tom Tykwer (GO) and Alexander Payne (ABOUT SCHMIDT) all helmed sections. Stars such as Steve Buscemi, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Nick Nolte, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Bob Hoskins, Elijah Wood, Natalie Portman, Gena Rowlands and Gerard Depardieu (who also directs) provide the film with their acting talents. Altogether it works as a joyous experience.

Director and star Bruno Podalydes begins the film with a hate story to Paris parking, which ends in a lonely man having a pretty passerby (Florence Muller) fall for him. Gurinder Chadha (BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM) brings us a tale of a young white man (Cyril Descours) who meets a young Muslim woman (Leila Bekhti) at the park, but what will her grandfather think when he follows her to their mosque? From Gus Van Sant, there is a tale of a print shop customer (Gaspard Ulliel, HANNIBAL RISING) who is smitten instantly with the young worker (Elias McConnell, ELEPHANT), but there is a hidden obstacle to the customer’s bold declaration of his affections. In a typical Coen Brother unsentimental fashion, their “love story” finds an American tourist (Buscemi, FARGO) trapped in the middle of a lovers’ spat between a pretty young girl and her hotheaded boyfriend.

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A great deal of press preceded the release of Ang Lee latest film last year, because it was being released in theaters with an NC-17 rating. Few theaters carry NC-17 films, because few newspapers will run ads for NC-17 films, so few movie companies make NC-17 films. While cinemas all across America every week contain at least one orgy of blood marketed to teens, what horrors does Lee have in store for us? Gasp, sex. And it could be real sex to boot. Lee answers the question whether his actors had sex by simply stating, “You saw the film.” So why start the review discussing the ridiculous rating system in America — because ratings should be meaningless to reviewing this film and should be disposed with before discussing the merits of Lee’s work.

Set during WWII when Shanghai was occupied by the Japanese, a group of college students come together to form a theater group to perform protest plays. The quiet young girl Wong Chia Chi (Wei Tang, film debut) takes to acting quickly. This piques the affections of group leader Kuang Yu Min (Lee-Hom Wang). Soon protests plays are not enough for Kuang, who decides the group to work their way into the inner circle of Mr. Yee (Tony Leung, HERO), a high ranking official in the collaborationist government, and assassinate him. Chia Chi, posing as Mrs. Mak, the rich wife of an absent businessman, catches the eye of Mr. Yee. Using the official’s wife (Joan Chen, THE LAST EMPEROR) as her in road, Chia Chi prepares for her mission as best as she can, even giving up her virginity to a fellow rebel so she can be convincing with Yee. But the rash plans of the naïve students do not go smoothly, leaving many to reevaluate their motives.

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French director Claude Chabrol is best known for his thrillers, but in 1988 he re-awoken his career with this ambiguous tale about moral relativism in occupied France. The central character isn’t very likable, however she is relatable. Poor and hungry, she stumbles into becoming an abortionist. Her motivations are selfish at first, but less so as her living conditions improve. Framing this true-life story is the moral compromise of the Vichy government under the thumb of the Nazis.

Marie-Louise Giraud (Isabelle Huppert, THE PIANO TEACHER) was one of the last women to face the guillotine in France. When we first meet her, she is short with her children and refers to her son as her ugly duckling. Marie lives with her two children in a small apartment with barely enough money to buy food. Her husband Paul (Francois Cluzet, ‘ROUND MIDNIGHT) returns from the war shell-shocked. His inability to hold a job doesn’t help their situation or their marriage. One day, Marie visits her next-door neighbor who is trying to give herself a home abortion. Marie says she’ll help. When everything works out, the neighbor gives the music lover Marie her record player, spurring Marie to see that doing “favors” can be lucrative.

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This short is featured on the Animation Show Vol. 3 DVD.

Stuttgart, Germany-based filmmaker Daniel Nocke crafts an animated reality show, seen peeking into a confrontation between four roommates. Only thing is that the foursome is a wildebeest, rhino, hippo and crocodile. Helen the wildebeest, Roger the rhino and Armin the hippo wait for the late Gerold the crocodile. The trio have lost their patience with Gerold whose food left in the kitchen may be upsetting to Helen.

The juxtaposition of a common human experience with animals is very common in animation. Aardman’s CREATURE COMFORTS and Matthew Walker’s JOHN AND KAREN are two excellent examples of the great irony that can be created. NO ROOM FOR GEROLD has some of the nice irony of those films, but for the most part the tension between the characters is closer to a well-done sitcom. The CG design is intricate from the details of the room to the smash zooms and blurry pans that perfectly simulate a handheld style. However, the character animation could have been more fluid, which would have brought more vitality to the material. As it is, the characters often seem like humans wearing oversized animal masks. But despite its flaws, the character dynamics work and the idea contains enough humorous irony to make the short very entertaining.

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Philippe Pollet-Villard’s THE MOZART OF PICKPOCKETS won the Best Live-Action Short Oscar this year, beating out more serious fare. Pollet-Villard stars as a pickpocket named Philippe who along with his partner Richard (Richard Morgieve) work with three other thieves robbing tourists and female shoppers. As the white guys in the gang, they always play the cops in the scam and only receive stolen passports as their cut. One day a deaf boy, who begs for change, follows them home. At first Philippe wants nothing to do with the child, but Richard is an old softy. To make it worth their time, they decide to teach the boy the pickpocket trade, but things don’t turn out as expected and the little boy may have something to teach these hapless crooks.

The story is cute and charming with solid laughs sprinkled throughout. But I kept thinking back to SIX SHOOTER, which won the Live-Action Short Oscar in 2006, with its witty dialogue and twisting storyline. MOZART isn’t bad, but in comparison it lacks the spark that the previous Oscar winner had. Cocky and clueless Philippe and kind Richard are characters we’ve seen many times before. Pollet-Villard’s pacing is nice and ends the film on a nice joke. The last quick shot can be viewed with several meanings, leaving us wondering whether it’s a simple happy parting wink or representative of something more devious. I’ll leave it up for you to decide. In the end, the film has a winning combination of humor and heart, which is allows a great combination for winning an Oscar in the shorts categories.

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This Danish short film (if you consider 39 minutes short) received an Oscar nomination in 2007. The melodrama tackles the tragic issue of young people suffering from severe forms of cancer. Staying on the same ward, Stephanie (Julie Olgaard, AFTER THE WEDDING), Sara (Laura Christensen, THE KINGDOM) and Mette (Neel Ronholt, AFTER THE WEDDING) have developed a close bond. It’s Christmas and the trio look forward to celebrating New Year’s together. Stephanie is cynical and pessimistic, a deadly combination. She’s having a hard time emotionally with her condition and gets defensive when asked about her parents. Mette is a Christian, which helps her cope. Bedridden, she desperately needs people around her at all times. She doesn’t like taking her morphine pills so she has amassed a nice collection in her nightstand drawer. Sara is very close with her father, whose quiet sad eyes can’t hide his emotions. Due to the tumor on her spine, Sara must have surgery on New Year’s Eve.

Director/writer Christian E. Christiansen handles the bleak material with a bit of humor and a bit of heart. Though the material is melodramatic, Christiansen never pushes for effect. He honestly deals with the emotions of his characters without pandering to theatrics. His three lead actresses give natural and often moving performances. Christensen is especially good in the least flashy role as the middle ground between Mette’s optimism and Stephanie’s pessimism. Olgaard’s emotional breakdown on night is filled with pain and longing. Toward the end, there are a few moments when the film feels like it’s going to dive head first into sentimentality, but pulls up just in time to reveal its real message about death. It’s not a revolutionary statement, but during the course of experiencing these young women’s story we come to believe in its simple truth.

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Nominated for the Best Live-Action Short Oscar, this sweet comedy seems like a well-told conventional love story until a late revelation sends the soaring in a new direction. Andre (Dirk van Dijck) is an office clerk who during quiet times at work has struck up a relationship with a tango lover online. Not knowing one thing about the tango, he desperately enlists the help of all-work co-worker Frans (Koen van Impe) to teach him to dance. With only two weeks to learn, Frans doesn’t think that is up to the challenge.

Dijck is a nerdish fellow with a good heart. He has misrepresented himself to the woman online, but his intentions are noble. Frans is a man who doesn’t like to mix his social life with his work life, so Andre has to prove that he has the passion it takes to dance the tango. Frans is an intense man, who once convinced to teach Andre, never lets Andre have a moments break from his training. Accompanying Andre to the tango event with the woman, Frans watches with eagerness to see if his student can do it, allowing the stoic man to open up his personality as well. Director Guy Thys plays on conventions so well that when hidden truths are revealed we are thoroughly and joyously surprised. The end makes a reevaluate everything that had come before. This charming short uplifts with a surprising hopefulness.

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This Oscar nominee for Best Live-Action Short Film is an absurdist comedy that careens from one unfunny gag to the next, leaving a hundred-gag pileup in its wake. Set in an Italian middle school, director Andrea Jublin gives us a few peeks into the lives of the stereotypical teens before thrusting his crazed substitute onto the class. This manic juvenile adult leaves the class of students in shock at first, but as he prances around the room like an ADD patient on acid, he forces the students into bizarre behavior to beg for high grades.

Jublin plays Il Supplente so over-the-top that none of the humor hits. The pacing is at a fever pitch from the start, making the audience warn out quickly. In many ways, the often mean-spirited “teacher” reminded me of an Adam Sandler character. Let’s not hope for an American feature length remake. When the supposedly humorous twist arrives, it is no surprise to the audience, because it could only be the logical outcome to the substitute’s actions. The film is trying to embrace the joy of youthful silliness and exuberance, but does so in creating an adult character that doesn’t come off as young-at-heart, but as psychotic. Jublin dedicates the film to “all the people who have problems with conduct.” This class clown has never grown up to discover that his childhood antics were annoying back then, and even more so now that he has grown.

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