Seen anything good lately?

LOURDES: Jessica Hausner's little French film is everything but. It advertises itself as the story of one pilgrim, a frail young lady called Christine played brilliantly by Sylvie Testud, who is paralysed from the neck down by MS. Christine is a part of a group pilgrimage to Lourdes with volunteers from St. John's Ambulance assisting the pilgrims. The main character that steals the show actually turns out to be Lourdes itself, cinematographically portrayed by Hausner as a Disneyland-like spot with the main attractions being the Grotto and the Baths. Hausner takes her time with each scene and those used to more action-oriented sequences may find it trying. But, if you surrender to each scene you will find all the beauty of story-telling in the facial expressions of the characters as they reveal one layer of emotion after another. Patience really is the reward in the final scene which lingers on our supposed protagonist's face. Lourdes is portrayed as a world of contrasts; the formica-like tackiness of pilgrim hostels, and shops filled with souvenirs of Mother Mary figurines contrasted with the Disneyland-like quality of Lourdes. The real show-stealer for me is the script. Well-paced, it bring out the cynicism of the faithful through the joking humour of one of the older volunteers and the by-the-bible answers of the card-playing priest. The real questions we are faced with are: Who really has faith?, What happens to it when suffering hits?, and What does a miracle really look like?

I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS: This is the true story of a gay

con-artist who lied his way into and out of jail probably more times than I have fingers. The movie gives the primary driver for this as his love interests. Its Jimmy first, then Phillip Morris - who he meets in jail, and then falls so deeply in love with that he successfully cons both his and Phillip's way out of it - for a limited time. Those of you familiar with Jim Carrey's style will see slightly toned-down glimpses of it through-out the movie. But, the fantastic acting job really is in the portrayal of Jim Carey and Ewan McGregor as two gay men deeply in love. They pull this off so believably that the rest of the story-telling can go on without anyone being distracted by the lack of belief in this couple's dynamic. I have to confess that the real marketability of this film is that it is based on the true story of Steven's character played by Carrey. The fact that the events really happened and showed up the inadequacy of the US prison system to keep low security prisoners in place is remarkable.

THE BLIND SIDE: There is definitely a place in the movie-watching world for yet another down-and-out-meets-lucky-break, awe-inspiring story. Only hard-core cynics who don't know what it is like to open their doors and let a stranger in will find themselves dry-eyed at the end of this movie. We don't need to see what the projects are like to get a picture of the down-and-out. Neither do we need to see the luxury of the lucky-break situation because that's not where the luck is. It is written in the relationships of this story. Centered around a rich, Southern, charitable matriarch who takes in a homeless yet promising teenager from the projects, what this movie delivers to me is the story of one in inspiring woman who didn't respond to the negative influences of her environment bu the positive ones and struggled to deliver what what right through the challenges she faced. Teh lesson to be learnt here is how unconditional love and support given from her family can be recycled outwards to others and then back in. It left me wondering how many unsung heroes are really out there. Not enough and plenty of self-proclaimed heroes I'm sure. But, the model is there. And of course, Sandra Bullock is fabulous as the matriarch. She deserves every accolade coming to her for her portrayal of Leigh Ann Tuohy.