挑战者

　　曼谷，是一个大都市，也是一座不夜城。城市的中心泰尼亚路是一片红灯区，这里的路边随处可见一些日本男人。露克是红灯区的头牌之一。她一个人独自住在曼谷的豪华公寓中，用在这边挣到的钱，负担起她远在老挝边境的原生大家庭。一天，露克偶遇了她在五年前爱上过的男人，她曾经的一个日本客人，小泽。小泽是一名从日本自卫队退伍的士兵，他生活在贫民区，勉强维持生计。当小泽要去老挝时，露克陪着他一起回了家乡，并将小泽介绍给了自己的家人和儿时的朋友。在小村庄度过的这段时间里，小泽开始对曼谷的都市生活感到厌倦，不禁向往起了能够在这里过着平淡的日子，然而这却也揭开了殖民时代所留下的疮疤。

　　2005年，南北朝鲜联合制造了核武器“飞击震天雷”，但迫于国际列强的压力，韩朝不得已交出核武器，民族强盛的愿望眼看再次落空。朝鲜少校江民吉（金胜宇 饰）不甘心屈服，掳走参与项目的金博士（孔孝珍 饰）与飞击震天雷，韩方派出少校朴政宇（黄正敏 饰）带队追索，正当两方相遇之时，一颗彗星划过天空，江、朴等人彗星的强大力量影响下透过扭曲时空来到了1572年的朝鲜……
　　江、朴等人机缘巧合将正在屠戮朝鲜人的女真人慑退，被朝鲜先民视为“天军”。当夜，一名小偷偷走了他们的武器，而这名小偷，居然是朝鲜民族英雄——李舜臣（朴重勋 饰）。此时的李舜臣武科落榜，万念俱灰，面对失意的民族英雄和倍受女真欺凌的先民，穿越时空的韩朝两方军人们为了各自的信念开始战斗……

　　Fraught with over obvious symbolism, Hartley's early feature is nonetheless a joy to watch. Hal here shows us his uncanny ability to cast his characters perfectly came early in his career.
　　Adrienne Shelley is a near perfect foil to herself, equal parts annoying teen burgeoning in her sexuality (though using sex for several years); obsessed with doom and inspired by idealism gone wrong she is deceptively – and simultaneously – complex and simple. Her Audrey inspires so many levels of symbolism it is almost embarrassingly rich (e.g., her modeling career beginning with photos of her foot – culminating her doing nude (but unseen) work; Manhattan move; Europe trip; her stealing, then sleeping with the mechanics wrench, etc.)
　　As Josh, Robert Burke gives an absolutely masterful performance. A reformed prisoner/penitent he returns to his home town to face down past demons, accept his lot and begin a new life. Dressed in black, and repeatedly mistaken for a priest, he corrects everyone ("I'm a mechanic"), yet the symbolism is rich: he abstains from alcohol, he practices celibacy (is, in fact a virgin), and seemingly has taken on vows of poverty, and humility as well. The humility seems hardest to swallow seeming, at times, almost false, a pretense. Yet, as we learn more of Josh we see genuineness in his modesty, that his humility is indeed earnest and believable. What seems ironic is the character is fairly forthright in his simplicity, yet so richly drawn it becomes the viewer who wants to make him out as more than what he actually is. A fascinatingly written character, perfectly played.
　　The scene between Josh and Jane (a wonderful, young Edie Falco . . . "You need a woman not a girl") is hilarious . . . real. But Hartley can't leave it as such and his trick, having the actors repeat the dialogue over-and-over becomes frustratingly "arty" and annoying . . . until again it becomes hilarious. What a terrific sense of bizarre reality this lends the film (like kids in a perpetual "am not"/"are too" argument).
　　Hartley's weaves all of a small neighborhood's idiosyncrasies into a tapestry of seeming stereotypes but which delves far beneath the surface, the catalyst being that everyone believes they know what the "unbelievable truth" of the title is, yet no two people can agree (including our hero) on what exactly that truth is. A wonderful little movie with some big ideas.

　　《再见，我的新郎》记录了同志青年肖恩·彼特尼·克罗恩 （Shane Bitney Crone） 和汤姆·布莱德格鲁（Tom Bridegroom）感人的爱情故事。他们刻骨铭心的相爱，曾经考虑结婚育子、组建家庭，然而所有可能性随着汤姆在2011年5月7日由屋顶意外坠落而化为乌有。肖恩不能去医院见汤姆最后的一眼，他无权处置汤姆的遗物，他甚至被禁止出席汤姆的葬礼，一切只因为他不是汤姆的“家人”，他们的关系得不到法律认可。
　　2012年汤姆去世一周年时，肖恩将他的不幸故事做成视频上传到YouTube网站，结果在世界各地引起极大反响，从而最终促成这部《再见，我的新郎》的诞生。《再见，我的新郎》获纽约翠贝卡电影节观众票选最佳纪录片奖。

孟买警局的警探德鲁夫正在追查一宗震惊全城的连环杀人案，受害者都是年轻女孩，死因都与一种诡异的燃烧型药物有关。随着调查逐步深入，警方锁定了初步嫌疑人——但事情远没有看起来那么简单。

随着线索一层层揭开，德鲁夫意识到他们面对的并非普通罪犯，而是一个极端聪明且危险的存在。案件的每一步都像被算计好一般，不仅挑战警察系统的极限，也逼迫他面对自己过往的伤痛。在真相的边缘，他必须做出选择——是捍卫正义，还是被黑暗吞没。