Two further stabs at the World Cinema Showcase programme: BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM considers another autopsy of French relationships in Francois Ozon's 5 x 2, and the mass vulgarity of too many comedians (and a single, solitary joke) in documentary The Aristocrats.

At the World Cinema Showcase 2006, TIM WONG previews three of interest: Millennium Actress, an astonishing ode to Japanese cinema and the dreamscape of film; Sha Po Lang, a rugged, back-to-basics martial arts revival from Hong Kong; and The Child, the second Cannes-winning entry from filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.

WCS 2006
The Beat My Heart Skipped | Reviewed by Catherine Bisley

BASED ON the 1978 film Fingers and directed by Jacques Audiard, The Beat My Heart Skipped is well worth a look this coming World Cinema Showcase. Set in the dark underbelly of Paris, the narrative follows Thomas (Roman Duris), a young real estate thug, as he rediscovers his passion for playing the piano after a chance encounter with his dead mother’s agent (she was a concert pianist). As his love for the piano moves into obsession he loses the small amount of control he had in his life; he begins sleeping with his business partner’s wife and skips meetings you don’t want to miss if you’re into corruption.

WCS 2006
Winter Soldier | Reviewed by Mubarak Ali

IT'S NOT too difficult to come up with a quasi-theme for the two retro picks at this year's World Cinema Showcase: War, and how it manipulates and mutates unsuspecting individuals. Sergio Leone's voluptuous and exhilarating, A Fistful of Dynamite (aka Duck, You Sucker!, 1971), is firmly situated within this sphere of war and revolution. The other pick is the rarely-screened and virtually unavailable, Winter Soldier (1972), the only document of the historical Winter Soldier Investigation which took place in January 1971, featuring interviews with more than 100 Vietnam veterans (only a number of which find their way into the 90-minute film) who present testimonies of committed and witnessed atrocities on Vietnamese civilians during the then-ongoing war, the entire project shot and assembled by a collective of 16 New York filmmakers.

WCS 2006
Ghost in the Shell,
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence | By Caleb Starrenburg

BEAUTIFULLY incomprehensible: Watching Ghost in the Shell, and its sequel Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, is reminiscent of the time I found myself lost in Tokyo at three in the morning, having spent the best part of the evening at a Shibuya karaoke bar. Although I was rescued on that occasion by a kindly taxi driver, wandering lost through Tokyo’s striking neon maze was a paradoxically disquieting and exhilarating experience. In much the same way, I’ve become so immersed in the aesthetic wonderment of Mamoru Oshii’s films, at some point I’ve stopped caring I have no idea what’s going on.

WCS 2006
Shakespeare Behind Bars | Reviewed by Nicholas Butler

HANK ROGERSON and Jilann Spitzmiller's documentary, Shakespeare Behind Bars, takes place in Luther Tuckett Correctional Complex in Kentucky. It traces a male Shakespeare troupe over the course of a year working on The Bard’s last play The Tempest. The actors are not your usual cast – they are inmates doing time, each with unique criminal backgrounds to identify with and to explore on many levels.