N46-2011 Title: Maya Score: B Comments: This is a lengthy collection of film styles.

It starts with the ending and cycles back after a narration that includes an analogous alternative ending. The grandmother has a white witch/gypsy quality that is enhanced by a superimposed black and white fading film montage. What remains unresolved is the real other man in this womans adulterous life, the state policeman. The parallels of terrorists and homeland security issues in Albania and the USA are comical in the end I actually expected him to be a terrorist. The sets were well done. The make-up and especially the hair were fantastic, the women looked great. The transformation of the teen-ager to woman was perfect even with the bald look, she owned it. I was surprised by the weight of the lead actress since her friends were thinner and more youthful she did not seem like a likely choice for a worldly vibrant positive man. Yes, he changed her but he also changed all of the women. Sound was good but not difficult because it was narrated by voice over with no background noise. There were inexplicable flashes that were someones fantasies, they were not helpful it was like an inside joke that the audience doesnt get to be in on. Too many belabored points could have been much shorter and more solid. After all, this is just a story of a woman having an affair. There is almost no romance because that is upstaged by everyones opinions about how it affects them. Then there is no follow-up on the woman after it is exposed, just about her husband and daughter. Title: Region of Unlikeness Score: D Comments: It says rough cut but this is rougher than reasonable. The whole film has an overwhelming feeling of being incomplete beginning with the script. The sound is off and on. The clothes are terrible even for vintage, and they put the woman in a 1940s hairstyle for no reason. The

contradictions in the script would warrant reshooting some scenes. For instance the man says meet me at my apartment, the woman walks up to a suburban house. The backyard scene is frivolous and has an active soccer game behind it as a distraction to its pointlessness. The main connection of whether or not this is the womans father never comes up. The film is very short but spends too much time on shots of the woman looking at things and conversations without content. Title: Tokyo Playboy Club Score: B Comments: The characters are vulnerable and rash. They are completely controlled by overactive emotions. It looks like a comedy because of the gross overacting. It has an air of refinement in the set decorating and costumes. It is interesting but some parts ruin it. The film is not quite gangster because the gangsters act like teenagers. The main character is of course quiet and complex, he is not easily read but it compares to a Hit-man with a heart of gold. It is interesting in the use of contrasts to create the characters the female is contrasted by obnoxious loud bubblegum chewing gigglers. The man is surrounded by characters with no character. The sound and camera work are very well done. Title: West is West Score: A Comments: This is an insightful real life clash of cultures between England and Pakistan. The story is from the midseventies but it is still relevant today, might be nostalgic to some. The one give away that this is not from the seventies is the son telling everybody to fuck off. The costumes and locales are great. The audience doesnt get to see much of the art and architecture the scenes are close cropped. There is not a lot of fluff or music. Since it is a foreign country in an English movie I would prefer to get a closer look at daily life. I didnt really see the wedding picture until the end it was

treated like a prop. There was some beading above the doorways that we didnt see.
Title: Score: