And the WINNER is...

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles!!

I know there were only 3 movies to choose from--but the Chinese one won out. And no, it's not just because it was Chinese. Actually, the main character is Japanese and then goes to China. So most of it is probably in Japanese. Such a good movie! I know the title makes it sound excruciatingly long and boring, but it isn't. I watched this on Sunday night, and maybe that had something to do with it--being Father's Day and all. This movie was all about a father's love for his estranged son and what he was willing to do to try to mend the relationship. I had a good cry. The director of the movie (and I may be talking to myself here, as I realize many of you aren't even into foreign films, let alone the directors of foreign films--and you've probably already stopped reading if you even began...) is Zhang Yimou. He directed The Road Home (one of my all time favorite movies--foreign or otherwise) and Raise the Red Lantern (this one is much more depressing but still well done). A warning, though, for anyone who might go rent this--it's PG, but it shows a young boy pooing (it actually shows it)--which was very disturbing to me--but it is CHINA after all. Anyway, besides that it was perfectly clean and had a great message. I love the simplicity of this movie. Beautiful.

Turtles Can Fly would be my second choice. Apparently, this is the first film made in Iraq since the fall of Hussein. I still can't figure out why the heck it's named that (it's been driving me crazy. I have a degree in English--I should be able to figure this out, right??) This movie is very powerful and thought provoking, but it is not for the easily disturbed. It is all about this group of orphaned refugees who work together collecting mines from mine fields. Most of them are disfigured--it's heart-wrenching. It takes place right around the invasion of the U.S. The acting was superb, though--a bunch of young kids with no prior acting experience--amazing.

Ponette was also about a child. Her mother dies and the entire film is about her struggle to come to terms with her death. Again, great acting by a child. I tried to watch this one with Kate, so that may have altered my perception of it. I had to pause it every few minutes. So it seemed kind of long to me, but that's probably just because it stretched out over most of the day...