STRIKING DISTANCE

US, 1993, 102 minutes, Colour.
Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Farina, Tom Sizemore, Brion James, Robert Pastorelli, Timothy Basfield, John Mahoney, Andre Braugher, Tom Atkins.
Directed by Rowdy Herrington.

Striking Distance is a Bruce Willis vehicle of the mid-90s. Having established himself as a star of action shows with Die Hard and its sequel, Bruce Willis appeared in several films like this, police shows, mysterious killers, chases and shoot-outs. Striking distance is a generic kind of name for this kind of film.

The film is well done, Rowdy Herrington having an ability with this kind of rowdy film, for example Road House, Gladiator (not the Russell Crowe version but a film about a fighter starring Cuba Gooding).

The setting is Pittsburgh and Herrington, who comes from Pittsburgh, uses the town and its rivers to full effect. The cast is strong, led by Bruce Willis with John Mahoney as his father, Sarah Jessica Parker as the love interest with character actors like Dennis Farina, Tom Sizemore and Robert Pastorelli as a family of cops.

This is the kind of film that action audiences like, some themes about police work, families, investigations of police corruption as well as plenty of action.

1. The impact of the film? Title? Action show, Bruce Willis style?

2. The Pittsburgh setting, homes and the police precincts, the rivers, the barges? Road chases, river chases? The musical score?

3. The familiarity with the police investigation genre, the work of the police, suspects, clashes at the precinct, suspicions, Internal Affairs investigation? The genre of the serial killer, the mystery, the brutality towards women, torture, the solution of the mystery?

4. Father and son, Tom and Vince? The generations of police in the family? Vince Hardy and his work as police chief? The relationship with the Ditillo family, cousins? Jimmy Ditillo as his former partner, the giving of evidence against Jimmy, the allegations of excessive violence? The serial killer, the pursuit of the killer, Tom and Vince and their participating in the chase (and their light-hearted chatter during it)? The crash, Tom being injured, finding his father dead, shot? No killer?

5. The accusation against the vagrant, Kesser, as the serial killer, his being charged?

6. Tom, his character, commitment to police work, his relationship with the other members of the force? His love for his father? Relationship with his father as sketched during the chase? His regaining consciousness and his shock to find his father dead?

7. Jimmy Ditillo, his being condemned, possibility of going to prison, diving into the river from the bridge? The irony that he did not die?

8. The passing of time, Tom and his unreliability, his drinking, his being part of the river rescue patrol rather than on the side? None of the Ditillos now being in charge, Nick Ditillo? Jimmy Ditillo's brother Danny, returning from California, joining the force?

9. Further killings, Tom Hardy and his opinion about the continuity of the serial killer and Kesser not being the killer? The reaction of Nick Ditillo and the others? Their giving him a new partner?

10. Jo Christman, working with Tom, the incident with the gunmen, the hijacking of the barge, his action, her admiration?

11. Further killings, an ex-girlfriend of Tom? The brutality of the killer phoning him, the screams of the woman before she was killed?

12. Tom, Jo and the relationship, going to the dance, his being ignored by the police, Danny and his drunkenness, fighting? Tom and Jo and their relationship? The irony of her being Internal Affairs investigator, Emily Harper? His being part of her commission? Her testifying in favour of Tom, his not being reprimanded?

13. The killer, the abduction of Emily? The killer at the Ditillos', the cabin by the river, the memories of he and his cousins playing there in the past?

14. Danny, knocked out and handcuffed, Jimmy Ditillo alive, wanting to kill Tom, Danny and Emily? Nick and his arrival, the revelation that he had accidentally shot Vince Hardy, letting Jimmy escape? His being killed by Nick?

15. Tom, getting loose from his bonds but still handcuffed, the pursuit, the drama of the chase along the river, his confrontation of Jimmy, Jimmy drowning?

16. Tom and his ability to have a new phase of his life, the relationship with Jo, his work in the police force?

17. The film as a satisfying look at police work, serial killers? A murder mystery?

SECRET WINDOW

US, 2004, 105 minutes, Colour.
Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello, Timothy Hutton, Charles S. Dutton, Len Cariou.
Directed by David Koepp.

Top ingredients: a Stephen King novella, Johnny Depp, an intriguing title. It's not bad but it is not the outstanding thriller that one might have expected. Adapted for the screen by director, David Koepp (Stir of Echoes, which was a fascinating story of hauntings and madness), it takes on favourite themes for King, including an author with writer's block, mad fans, violence and madness.

Johnny Depp yet gives another different performance as Mort Rainey, a popular novelist living alone near a lake in upstate New York, looking and sounding dishevelled, with writer's block and prone to napping all the time. He is confronted by a stranger, with an old-fashioned black hat and a thick southern accent who claims that Rainey has stolen one of his stories. His name is Shooter and he continues to stalk, haunt and do violence to Mort. Houses are burnt, friends are killed...

If you feel you are familiar with this kind of story and with Stephen King's predilections, you may well work out what is going on - and then the suspense becomes waiting to find out if you were right.

Maria Bello is his wife, Timothy Hutton the man she is with and Charles S. Dutton is an exclusive security guard. John Turturro does a wonderfully sinister turn as Shooter. But it is Johnny Depp's film. He is in almost every sequence and he creates a character you can believe in rather than believe.

1. A Stephen King story? King's issues of authors, nightmares, violence, madness?

2. The New England setting, the house and the interiors, the range of rooms, the bedroom, the downstairs, the bathroom? Seeing and knowing these rooms in detail? In order, destroyed? The lake? The country roads? The town, the post office, the shop, the motel? The contrast with New York, Amy's house, the offices? The real world? The contrast with the fantasy world - the visualising of Mort's story, the flashbacks, the imagining of the house after it was burnt, his visit and his watching the burnt house? The Philip Glass moody score?

3. The prologue, Mort outside the motel, talking to himself, backing the car, getting the key, finding Amy and Ted in the room, their betrayal? Six months later, his writer's block, the paragraph in the typewriter, the story of betrayal?

4. Mort and his dishevelled look, raggy clothing, his hat, sleeping all the time, writer's block, the companionship of his dog? The housekeeper and her tidying up and his making faces behind her back? The arrival of Shooter, pounding on the door, the confrontation, Mort saying he didn't know him, the issue of the manuscript, Shooter leaving it, his throwing it in the garbage, the housekeeper taking it out, his beginning to read it, the manuscript being word-for-word for his story? Shooter writing it in 1997, his publishing his story two years before? Checking with Amy by phone? The dilemma in trying to prove that it was his story and not Shooter's?

5. Mort and his handling the situation, his fears? Talking to himself, forever taking naps, the continued phone calls? Shooter and his ominous presence? The mystery man, the car from Mississippi, the strange hat, the accent, the claims? His ringing his security guard, interviewing him, the timing and the expense of his work? His finding him asleep outside the house, the fright? The search of the house, his fears, Shooter reappearing, Mort's reaction and shooting the mirror and the shower glass? Finding his dog dead - and burying him? His going to New York, stalking Amy outside the house? Amy and Ted? The house burning down?

6. The house, his visiting the burnt house, Amy's phone call? Seeing Amy and Ted, his clashing with Ted? The insurance office, his insulting Ted, getting rid of him, talking to Amy, going down the street and talking to Ted, discovering the name of Ted's home in Tennessee, Shooter's Bay? Blaming him for everything that was happening? Confronting him and challenging him?

7. The return to the lake, his phoning his security guard, making the appointment with the old man who had waved to them and could witness to Shooter's presence (and the later flashback and his waving only to Mort)? His waking late, his going to the appointment, discovering the bodies, fainting, his pushing the car over the cliff into the water? Shooter's arrival, challenging him, giving him the time limit? His hurrying to the post office to get the magazine, finding it had been torn open, the pages cut out? His being unwilling to talk to the sheriff?

8. Amy and Ted, the phone calls, their love for each other, the broken marriage, Amy and her explanations, Mort's drinking? The love and betrayal, the blame? Ted coming to visit, Mort finding him at the service station, the clash, Ted punching his hand on the car? His wanting Mort to sign the divorce documents? Amy, the phone call, her deciding to visit with the papers, Ted deciding to follow her?

9. The sheriff, his age, doing needlepoint for his arthritis, listening to Mort - and not listening? His wanting to talk to Mort, Mort hurrying away? His return at the end, his knowing the truth, threatening Mort?

10. The people in the town, the growing suspicions, at the shop, the girl from the post office, his flirting and her moving away?

11. Mort continuing to talk to himself, the two selves appearing, his having created Shooter as an alter-ego, a shadow figure? Their clash? The visualising of the story, the garden, Amy's garden? The showing of the two Morts, the showing of Mort alone but talking to his alter-ego? Amy's arrival, being disturbed, the destruction in the house, her finding Mort behind the door, his persecution of her, the physical violence, her death? Her trying to warn Ted, his death?

12. The end, the writer's block gone, Mort writing his story - and looking through the secret window to the garden, the corn crop and the complete disappearance of Amy as in the story? The irony of his eating the corn, the visit of the sheriff, the cooking of the corn?

13. Stephen King themes, psychological thriller, psychological case-study, madness?

THE STORYTELLER

US, 1977, 100 minutes, Colour.
Martin Balsam, Pattie Duke Astin, Doris Roberts.
Directed by Robert Markowitz.

The Storyteller is an excellent television movie. It raises all the questions that are perennially asked about television programming, writing, portrayals of violence, influence on the impressionable - and the possibility of always turning the television off.

The film was written and produced by the team of William Levinson and Richard Link, originators of the many popular television series of the 60s and 70s. Their film is the fruit of experience and the possibility for retrospective on their work.

Martin Balsam is excellent, a man of integrity, a writer of television shows whose aim is to tell a good story and to entertain. When one of his popular telemovies, portraying an adult committing arson, an adult who was disturbed, an adult who experienced the execution of justice during the film, when his show influences a young boy to set fire to his school and he is killed because of smoke inhalation, there was a hue and cry about the influence of television. Media reporters and commentators take the very moral high ground. The film portrays the problems for the writer, his dilemmas, especially when the parents of the boy send photos in the post. He decides to visit the parents, finds a very aggrieved and hostile mother, is apologised to by a father who understands the situation, realises that his son was disturbed and that they had not found the strength to do anything about his mental behaviour.

Doris Roberts appears as Martin Balsam's wife, Patty Duke Astin as his daughter. There are snippets inserted throughout the film, glimpses of ordinary people who make a wide range of comments on television and its impact.

A film of the 70s, it is nevertheless still relevant, raises the important issues and would be most useful for media education work.

1. The 70s perspective on television, its power, influence, responsibility, its power for incitement to action?

2. A 70s perception on audiences, their watching patterns, choices, children watching, parents, disturbed people watching?

3. A 70s perspective on writers, producers, executives, decision-making, trends, testing audiences and watching the adrenalin pumping during violent scenes, research?

4. From the perspective of the 21st century on television, audiences, those contributing to television programs? The changes in thirty years, similarities? Changes in the media, availability, openness, responsibility?

5. The inserts with the various interviews and comments by members of the public? The housewife and her child, watching and the influence; the executive, the free society, the world full of nuts, self-censorship? "How can a story hurt someone?" The policeman, the lack of realism, his wanting more realism and comparisons with what happens in real life? The housewife, her experience of television, children, turning the television off? The end of the film and the collage of the variety of opinions?

6. The discussion during the drama for the various viewpoints, from Ira and his perspective, the executives for the network, the police, the press conferences and the media?

7. The film as a case study, the portrait of a writer, the portrait of a disturbed child and his actions? The responses from society? The ambiguity of the issues, the truth?

8. Ira his age and experience, his having written so many shows, creative, with his tape recorder dictating scenes, his facility and ease with his imagination? His discussions with the producer, omissions, changes, tailoring things to popular expectations? His preparation, the writing of the show, its being produced, ready for screening, the publicity, the premiere, his family and friends gathering, his wife, daughter, the discussions about phones and babysitters, their enjoying the show?

9. Ira, his way of life, wealth, the long marriage to his wife and their ease of communications, discussions? His daughter, her broken marriage, her child? Her not letting the child see the television? Their discussion about fairytales and violence? The differentiation between fantasy and reality? Fears and the children coping via this kind of violent story?

10. Kenny, at school, alone, with his teachers? Information about him, the fact of his getting out of bed, burning the school, dying in the smoke? The news treatment of the episode? The media and its taking stances, presenting information, judging, condemning? The press conferences and the questions to Ira, the speech by the executives, the accusatory questions from the press? The letters in the post with the photo? Ira and his discussions with the producer, his going to Seattle?

11. Ira and the hard decisions, examining his conscience, unable to sleep? His accepting of responsibility? His reaction to the letters and photos? The contact with the journalist from Seattle, the incessant phone calls in the house? Going to Seattle, the limits for the interview, the poor interview at first but the help of the journalist, Ira and his explanation of himself? His visiting Kenny's mother, her hostility? The father coming, offering the apology, explaining about his son and his being impressionable? The parents not able to do anything for their son?

12. His return home, being greeted by his wife, daughter, their support? His discussion with the producer, his choices about his future programs?

13. The portrait of a good man, the shock of the episode, the challenge to himself and to his career? His response?

14. The role of the story teller, taking risks for a wide audience, the results, the judgments? Responsibility?

SILENCE BETWEEN TWO THOUGHTS

Iran, 2003, 95 minutes, Colour.
Moazen Mayam Moqadam.
Directed by Babak Payami.

Silence Between Two Thoughts is the work of Babak Payami, the Afghan-born director of such films as The Secret Ballot. This film was made in Afghanistan and Iran but, during 2003, the footage was confiscated by the Iranian government. Payami put together material from his final cut as well as material that he had prepared for editing in order to show the film, in incomplete form, at festivals around the world so that audiences would see the film and understand something of the religious and secular tensions in Iran.

The setting is Afghanistan, a village where a local group is in charge, violently, the leader relying on the Koran for his domination of the village people and appointing a man to be the executioner of those who did not conform. A crisis looms when the woman he is about to shoot is understood to be a virgin and therefore cannot be executed. The solution is for him to marry her and then execute her. This is a challenge to his own simple-minded and single-minded beliefs, allowing the woman some freedom, even allowing her to go on a women's pilgrimage to a shrine. This puts him at a disadvantage with the people turning against him and the leader denouncing him.

The film ends with a confrontation between the man and the people, his values in confusion. At the opening, in a very long single-shot opening scene which focuses on him shooting people and then circles around him to show his being on guard in the village, he undergoes a journey from fanaticism if not to resolution at least to a questioning of what was happening. The director says that the silence between two thoughts refers to the moment when an individual or a whole society wakes up from the nightmare of blind conviction. The director states that he is very strong against religious fanaticism - especially with relationship to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

1. The impact of the film? The director's Afghanistan upbringing and perspective? Iranian perspective? The difficulties with the Iranian government?

2. The locations, the desert, the village, the cliffs? The musical score?

3. The title, the director's interpretation of this silence, the thoughts about single-mindedness and the change to openness of perspective? Religious fanaticism in Iran and Afghanistan? Social extremes? The use of the Koran to justify these stances?

4. The opening, the long shot of the executioner, his casual shooting, the sound of the victim falling, the camera circling him and revealing the town and the people? His role, his acceptance of his role, his ease with killing people? Haji and his domination of the town? The issue of the virgin, his not shooting her, his having to marry her, then kill her? The repercussions for him? The acceptance? Meeting the young woman, learning to understand her, trying to give her some freedom in the house? Allowing her to go on the pilgrimage? His growing dilemma as to what he should do? The character of the woman, her words, her silence, her being a victim? Her learning to assert herself and gain personal affirmation and freedom?

5. Haji, the command of the town, the religious rulers, the domination of the people, the interpretation of the Koran? The officers accepting his orders and presuming they were based on religious texts?

6. The people in the village, being dominated, going about their ordinary work, the executions? The women and their going on the pilgrimage, the effect of the pilgrimage, the reasons?

7. The people turning on the executioner, hounding him, Haji fleeing? His confusion, danger? The reaction of the woman?

8. The film illustrating the Middle -Eastern and Asian interpretations of Islam and its dominance, fundamentalism, especially in countries like Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq as well as the Arabian Peninsula?

SUMMER IN THE GOLDEN VALLEY

Bosnia, 2003, 104 minutes, Colour.
Haris Sijaric, Kamel Cebo.
Directed by Srdgan Vuletic.

Summer in the Golden Valley is a story of post-Balkan conflict Sarajevo. The title indicates a wonderful time and a wonderful place. However, the point of the title is quite ironic, the comment on Sarajevo and its seeming to be a derelict city, the aftermath of bombings, the aftermath on people's characters, struggling to survive. There is a motif of a plane flying over the city throughout the film, the flight attendant telling the people that they will soon be far away from this city. From the outside, the young hero indicates to his girlfriend and to the girl that he abducts how the plane glows in the sun but casts a shadow over the city.

The director made the film in his early thirties. His comments indicate that the 90s were not only a terrible time but left the next generation a legacy of destroyed cities, chaos and a loss of principle. His generation wants to forget about the past and make new beginnings. He was in his early thirties at the time he made this film.

The film focuses on a sixteen-year-old, a rather nondescript-looking boy who idles his time away, is grieved with the death of his father, finds that his father owed a huge debt and tries to find a way to pay it back, which includes being the pawn of a corrupt policeman and his participation, with his glue-sniffing friend, in an abduction. In many ways, the abduction goes wrong but enables him to repay the debt which, he discovers, was a fiction of the man who demanded it. Left to himself, he has the option to give up or to make new decisions. It is of interest that the central characters are Muslim - but, apart from the funeral, show little indication of the kind of devotion to religion that Muslims have in other cultures.

1. The impact of the film? Grim? The Balkans in the 90s? The aftermath of the war, the physical destruction of Sarajevo and Bosnia? The destruction of society? The destruction of morale and morality?

2. The Sarajevo settings, the city itself, the hills overlooking the city? The aerial shots from the plane? The strong musical score? The irony of the title?

3. The loss of principle, young people, the glue-sniffing, the preoccupation with sex and boasting? Family relationships? The Islamic background - seen explicitly only in the funeral and the boy's wanting the man demanding the debt money to honour his father at the cemetery?

4. The theme of the plane flying over the city, the young man and his pointing it out to his girlfriend, the flight attendant and the passengers, her comments? Her tear at the end? The boy in the shadow of the plane?

5. The boy himself, his looking at the audience, his appearance, his large friend? Their sniffing glue? At school, fighting in the yards? With his girlfriend and wanting to kiss her? His showing her the plane and the sunset? The shadow of the plane? His mother, the death of his father, his sniffing glue and going home? The funeral and his grief, his prayer? The clashes with the policeman? His wanting to find the money to pay the debt? The policeman and the abduction plan, his participation? His relationship with the girl, their discussions, sex? His wanting her to be free? The finale of the plot, the policeman with the gun, the shock of him shooting himself? His friend being shot in the leg? The girl putting the money in his hood? His finding it, telling his mother not to sell the apartment? Going to the casino, giving the money, watching the man gamble it away, the truth about there being no debt? Demanding that the man go to the cemetery and honour his father? His meeting with the policeman's daughter, kissing her - what future? Moral decisions and a future?

6. His friend, glue-sniffing, the talk about sex, the man in the schoolyard and his incessant talking about sex? The young boy's listening to him? The young boy and his being a friend, the news of his father's death? The large friend and their participation in the abduction? His being shot in the leg?

7. The corrupt policeman, meeting with the drug dealer, the plan for turning him in or protection? The plan going wrong, the shooting? The policeman and his lack of principle, his persuading his partner to join in? The partner and his lack of principle? The abduction plan, the father with the daughter? The case of money, the morning, the confrontation, the girl escaping from the car? The policeman and his shooting the boy in the leg, his ranting, his exasperation, shooting himself?

8. The girl, the abduction, her relationship with the boy, their discussions, the handcuffs, sex, his saying she had no heart, her leaving him the money?

9. The gambler, his interruption of the funeral? The money back, his gambling it away, the truth and the humiliation at the cemetery?

10. Audience experience of these people, their experience of war, the brutality, the aftermath and the loss of moral? What future in Bosnia?

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

Australia, 2003, 103 minutes, Colour.
Paul Hogan, Michael Caton, Roy Billing, Stewart Faichney, Alan Cassell, Paula Duncan, Monica Maughan.
Directed by Dean Murphy.

Paul Hogan has found it difficult to sustain his screen reputation since the first two Crocodile Dundee films. He has tried Flipper. He has tried another Crocodile Dundee. This one might restore some faith in his screen power, limited as it is to his ironic Ocker presence and humorous style.

But, this time, he also has a message. He is lending his talent and reputation to a comic plea against homophobia and a respect for people in same-sex partnerships. Hence the title - which, in fact, was the title of a Rock Hudson comedy of the 1960s (but with Gina Lollobrigida).

At first the film has every homophobic name and joke you can think of plus some very broad camp and mincing humour. Of course, this indicates that Vince (Hogan) and his mate of many years, Ralph (Michael Caton) have absorbed a homophobic culture as have the townspeople of Yackendandah where the film is set. When Vince realizes that he can get government tax relief, he proposes that they declare themselves a couple and - understatement of the film - nobody will know. Ralph and Vince do some research in learning how to mince, but do some real homework with a visit to Darlinghurst, the clothes shops and the clubs, where they make some friends they never ever dreamed they would meet.

The humour comes in people finding out, especially the tax inspector (Pete Postlethwaite down under) and Ralph's daughter (who has something to tell her father who does not know her friend's name is Peta).

It all ends well, of course, with Michael Caton delivering the message for tolerance in a moving speech with reticent feeling and Hoges keeping up the jokes.

1. The popularity of Paul Hogan, his screen presence, comic style? The nature of Australian comedy?

2. The gay themes, homophobia in Australia, ignorance, tolerance, understanding, respect? A message film via mockery, comedy, camp humour, parody and satire? Final preaching?

3. The title, its suggestions, the range of gay and camp jokes throughout the film, Paul Hogan and Michael Caton dramatising them, the ocker cast and the frowns and wariness?

4. Yackandandah, the opening, Ralph on the bike, the road, the small population, the look of the town, the mail van racing through, the mechanic's shop, the cinema - showing The Last of the Knucklemen and the strong macho image?

5. Michael Caton as Ralph, his work, mechanic, his friendship with Vince, love for Carla, the death of his wife, Vince and his divorce, place in the town, financial problems, seeing him at the cinema, where he lived? Michael Caton and Paul Hogan and their working well together?

6. The legal papers, the newspapers and the tax idea, Vince going to Ralph, all the means he took to persuade Ralph to say yes, the discussions, Ralph's reaction? The reaction to the idea of same-sex partnerships, the emotional, physical aspects? The jokes during their discussion, with the fire hose etc? Signing the documents, the discussions about who was spouse or not? Ralph and his looking at the photos of his family - persuaded to say yes out of friendship for Vince?

7. Life in the town, the meetings for preparing the ball? The firemen and the chief, Faith and her control, talking, Father Xavier and his blessing? Ralph and Vince at work, the gradual hints, Faith and her overhearing, the gossip, Yvonne and her seeing the damp letter, spreading the news? The women at the bowling club_ everyone?

8. Their going to Eric, his reputation as the hairdresser, following him, photographing him, discovering his liaisons with all the women? His confession, wanting the photos, their blackmailing him to teach them gay mannerisms? The lessons and the awkwardness?

9. The decision to go to Sydney, wandering Darlinghurst, the clothes, going to the club, Vince and his dancing with the drag queen, the aftermath, their discussions with the various members of the club? Their getting to understand them? The group coming to Yackandandah, Ralph having fixed the motorbike, their being introduced as friends?

10. Russell's arrival, the documents, the interview, the farcical aspects of comedy as they went through the interview, their pretences? Going to the ball, Vince's declaration to Yvonne and Russell overhearing?

11. Carla, her love for her father, her relationship with Peta? Coming home, the shock of the house, upset with her father, listening to his speech, the reconciliation and his dancing with both of them?

12. The men in the town, ringing Sydney and puzzling, their discussions about the trip being just for business? Listening to the speech, the aftermath?

13. The dance, the visitors, the jokes, ladies' choice?

14. Ralph, the pressure on him about the pretence, his going on stage, making the speech, Vince joining him, the truth about mateship and love - Carla's response, the men's response, the applause of the town?

15. The preaching tone of the final speech, the plea for tolerance and respect, Michael Caton being able to carry it off dramatically? Russell's comment on the speech and how it moved him? The audience moved in a similar way - or not?

THE STRAY

US, 1999, 95 minutes, Colour.
Michael Madsen, Angie Everhart, Stephen Lyszansky.
Directed by Kevin Mock.

The Stray is a straight-to-video kind of film. It begins with police surveillance, a chase and then moves into the story of a psychotic man stalking a wealthy woman. Needless to say, there are struggles, people not believing each other, violent interludes, and a final revelation of why the madman was stalking the wealthy woman in revenge. Themes are indicated by a rather gentle credits sequence with antiques and a music box playing. However, the film is in the general vein of police and thriller action.

1. The popularity of this kind of film? Video fare? The popular ingredients - and the predictability?

2. The Los Angeles settings, homes, wealth, the luxurious restaurant, overlooking the ocean? The streets, the beaches, the highways? The authentic feel of Los Angeles? The musical score?

3. The title, Kate's story about the dog and its surviving? Her hitting Jil and taking him in? And his biting the hand that fed him?

4. The opening, the mask and the robbery, the drug deals? Ben and his team, the public holiday, the Fourth of July, the decision to chase, shoot-out? Their being reprimanded for recklessness? Ben, his career, difficulty in working with a team, being told off by the boss? His suspension?

5. His relationship with Kate, opposite types, the incident with Jil, his being opposed to Jil's coming in, the hospital sequence, his suspicions, articulating them - and being correct? The continued investigation of the robbery? His doing manual work around the house with Jil? Especially the beehive (featured in the opening credits)? The violence, the death of his partners, his confrontations, Kate and her rejecting him, the final confrontation with Jil? A future with Kate?

6. Kate, her wealth, her restaurant, good relationship with her staff, the food critic, bringing the columnist - and Jil's outburst during their visit? Her hitting Jil, her compassion, taking him in, making him feel at home? Her reaction to him in the house, standing naked shaving, her awkwardness? Ben's suspicions? Ordering them both out? Jil's transformation, his working in the kitchen, the final blow-up, the recklessness and destruction? His cruelty towards the pursuing police? His henchmen? The final confrontation, the shooting, his explaining the situation of his family, Kate's family? The symbol of the music box and his fixing it and giving it to her as a gift? His insanity?

7. Jil, the hit and the road, in hospital, his performance, gratitude towards Kate, being instructed by Ben about jobs around the house, his volunteering, his pleasantness with Kate? His transforming himself, being provocative? Referring to the sex life? His being ousted? His henchmen, their violence, the deaths of the police and the burning of the shed? The final confrontation in the kitchen, his explanation, his death?

8. The combination of police action, stalking thriller, romance?

TEAR THIS HEART OUT (ARRANCAME LA VIDA)

(Mexico, 2009, d. Robert Sneider)

Based on a popular Mexican novel, and with a song that is sung towards the end of the film when the lyrics clearly indicate the life of the central character, this nationalist and feminist drama was one of the five final contenders for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, 2008.

It is quite a lavish production, considered one of Mexico's most expensive. It recreates life in that country in the 1930s and 40s with attention to design, costumes, sets and a sense of period, also with the music and songs.

At the centre is a very strong young woman, Catalina. As played by Ana Claudia Talencon (the star of The Crime of Fr Amaro), she has to age from 15 to 30, an uneducated but shrewd girl who is seduced by a violent and ruthless general from the Revolution but who is a match for him at every step of their marriage and his career as politician, governor of the state of Puebla and minister in Mexico City. She has a lot to learn when she accompanies the general to the ocean and then has to learn about sexuality, when she agrees to his brusque command to marry him, when she is pregnant and discovers his infidelities, when he makes her a minister for health care and she takes it seriously and listens to complaints about him. She decides at times to leave but does not. She knows she can do better things for people, but she doesn't. She falls in love with an orchestra conductor but, of course, it is ill-fated.

Nevertheless, as the film ends and she still has much of her life before her, all kinds of possibilities and freedom open up. She has triumphed in self-assertion in a macho culture.

The film plays like a lower-key saga because most of the violence in politicking and destruction of enemies takes place off screen because the story is that of Catalina. He cruel husband is the supporting character.

While the action takes place rather rapidly and the film is not overlong, we still get a sense of the crises that Mexico went through during this period as well as experience of a woman who is something of a Scarlet O'Hara survivor of her day.

THE MARKET, A TALE OF TRADE

(Turkey, 2008, d. Ben Hopkins)

Though written and directed by British Ben Hopkins, this is a Turkish film. It has won some top awards at Turkish festivals and national awards. However, while it has a strong flavour of Eastern Turkey and Azerbaijan, it has universal interest and appeal.

Hopkins directed the rather striking 19th century fable, Simon Magus. His output in the years following is not extensive and includes some low budget dramas and some documentaries. The idea for this film came from a visit to Moldava in the 1990s and an examination of how people survived with trade and the black market after the fall of Communism. However, there is no major film industry in Moldava. Hopkins visited Turkey and made a documentary in the Eastern region of the country. With the backing of Turkey's film industry and international help, he set his story in this Eastern part of Turkey, Kurdistan.

The film is brief but, with the location photography graphically showing the mountainous landscapes, the deserts and the villages, the audience will feel that it has visited this part of the world.

Mirham is a small-time fixer. Anything you want, he can find it and offer you a bargain. He is an independent, which irks the local black market mini -czar. He is married to a loving wife who sees the good man underneath the surface. He loves his little daughter and his wife is pregnant. Despite being a devout man who prays and visits his mosque, he drinks and gambles at cards.

When he undertakes a mission to buy children's medicine in Azerbaijan because the lorry carrying pharmaceuticals to the village has been hijacked, he takes it as a sign that he should become respectable and set up a shop for selling the coming mobile phones (this is 1994). The journey does not turn out as hoped for – but we see Mirhan in action, smuggling chemicals under his car, letting the border guard have a cigarette mini-bribe. He also engages the help of his old uncle.

The thing with Mirhan is that he has charisma, he is a charmer you can't help but like and hopes that he makes good. And his uncle is a great gentleman of the old school. Together, they keep us watching and hoping.

In the background, of course, are the pressures of capitalism (and some TV footage of how the mineral they are smuggling in Turker comes from exploited workers in Africa), the globalism of companies like those for mobile phones. And, there is the ever-present local corruption. Interesting, entertaining and thoughtful.

WRONG ROSARY

Turkey, 2009, 90 minutes, Colour.
Nadir Saribacak, Gorkem Yeltan.
Directed by Mahmut Fazil Coskun.

A film about religion, beliefs and barriers – as the title would indicate.

This is a very quietly gentle film (to say that it was 'low-key' might be to hype the description!). It is set in Istanbul where Musa has come to be the new muezzin. His neighbour is Clara who is tending a dying nun. They are both very shy and awkward in their manner. Musa is attracted but cannot bring himself to express this to Clara. Clara has other goals in life.

The film is a series of vignettes as they encounter each other in small ways. However, when Musa wants to return Clara's rosary beads which she has dropped with her parcels and Musa has retrieved, he follows her to the Church. He encounters a book-seller there and is invited to work part-time for him.

There are some complications, played low-key: the collapse of the bookseller, Musa being arrested because a cousin had given him some stolen museum manuscripts to sell, the death of the nun.

Religions are treated with courtesy and respect but there is a language of fate – and, even if Musa was to declare his love for Clara, their convictions would only present insuperable barriers for their devout lives. Which makes this a film of suppressed emotions, rather rueful and melancholic.

1.The title and expectations? Islam and Catholicism?

2.Audience knowledge of religions, the differences between Islam and Catholicism, the shared values, beliefs, the difficulties and barriers, especially with marriage?

3.The pace, quiet, low key, a focus on good people, suppressed feelings? Fate and disappointment?

4.The Turkish settings, the city of Istanbul, the neighbourhood, the mosque, the church, police station, shops, hospital, apartments? A sense of realism? The musical score?

5.The introduction, the nuns taking in the pregnant woman, the difficult birth, the nuns’ care? Clara and her adulthood? Her care for the dying nun? The background of Catholicism, religion, piety, care for others?

6.Musa and his family, travelling to Istanbul, his arrival, the apartment, going to the mosque, meeting the imam and the staff, their being friendly? His role as the new muezzin? His routine, waking at four, leading prayer, the small congregation, cleaning the mosque, his free time?

7.A shy man, settling in his apartment, the difficulties with the fuse, borrowing the screwdriver from Clara, her barely opening the door? Watching her through the window? Meeting her, stuck in the lift and her getting him out? Shy and awkward? Bumping into her, the bags, picking them up, getting the rosary, using it by mistake at the mosque, the reaction of the imam? Following Clara to the church, visiting the church, putting the rosary on the collection plate?

8.Jakup and talking with him in the church, Jakup’s interest in his Ottoman knowledge, the invitation to the bookshop, to work with him, friendship? Jakup and his following Clara? A sense of mystery?

9.The cousin, talking with him, crass language, bringing the manuscripts, showing them to Jakup, Jakup warning him, the phone call to his cousin, the sudden arrest, in prison, Jakup saving him?

10.Musa taking him home, his gratitude? Jakup’s collapse? Clara helping? The hospital, their staying? Musa introducing himself, Clara introducing herself? The friendship? The death of the nun, their helping with her? The visit to the town with Jakup, walking around the town, the photo? The revelation that Clara was going to Italy to be a nun? Musa’s sadness, not able to tell her of his love? The station and the farewell?

11.Clara, her personality, reserved, work in the church, buying the photos? Her albums? Caring for the nun, the detailed compassion? The nun’s death? Her relationship with Musa, shy, enjoyment of the trip, the photo?

12.Jakup and the revelation that he was Clara’s father, Musa finding the photos, his not being able to tell Clara the truth, not finding the right time?

13.A film of gentleness, religion, respect – yet fate separating people and providing barriers?