Welcome to another “Movies We Watched,” collection. These are films that the Rowthree contributors have been taking in in the past fortnight but not necessarily writing up full posts. (Full disclosure: due to the fabulously fun and quite immersive Toronto After Dark festival, it has actually been 21 days since our last compilation) For the ever-increasing full list (coming up on a years worth of micro-capsules) click the icon on the sidebar. For a sampling, read below:

Ugetsu monogatari (1953) 5/5
Ugetsu is right up there with Rashomon and Tokyo Story as a key film of Japan’s Post-War years. A beautifully told story of the power of greed (not to mention the greed for power), Ugetsu is the first Kenji Mizoguchi film I’ve ever seen, and has my incredibly excited to check out more of his work. -DAVE

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2008) 4/5
I had heard the good buzz surrounding this teen romance but I went in thinking it unlikely I’d love it as much as everyone else but walking away, it’s hard not to feel moved by Peter Sollett’s film which fits so many of the romance conventions but it does so with a rare sincerity that is infectious. Though not as emotional, it reminded me a fair bit of “Once”. -MARINA

City of Ember (2008) 3/5
Thought it looks great, has some interesting things to say and is even well acted, “City of Ember” fails to make any real impact. The pacing of this film is all over the place and just when things seem to start moving along, they stop and the movie seems to fall into another crawl. Depressing considering that it showed great potential. Not a complete waste but a bit of a dud. -MARINA

Sukkar banat (2007) 4/5
The story of three women living in Beirut and working at a beauty salon, “Caramel” shows us that women everywhere share the same emotions, hardships and happy moments. Director and star Nadine Labaki captures life in Beirut beautifully but she does so through the stories and friendships of four very different women. A beautiful and charming story, Caramel is the perfect title for this film which is both sweet and painful. – MARINA

Radiant City (2006) 3.5/5
Gary Burns, the director who frequently makes comedies that stem out Calgarian living spaces (be it the cities corridor-connected downtown landscape, suburban kitchens or its mall culture) crafts this clever documentary on suburban sprawl. Going to town (the movies agenda is quite clear and ain’t fair and balanced!) on the social and financial consequences of the unsustainable spread of strip malls and endless communities of cookie-cutter homes he has his talking heads embedded in the environment along with a typical family talking about their neighborhood and life in general. A too-clever ending may spoil some of the impact, but I dug on the movies vibe in a big way. Simply because it is really, really hilarious in its sincere outrage. -KURT

La Jetée / San Soliel (1962, 1983) 4/5
Chris Marker’s short film, La Jetée, is a deservedly lauded short that became the inspiration for Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys. Its time traveling romance is told entirely through voice-over narration and black and white stills, and is as beautiful as it is economical with its material, and one I have seen many times before. The real revelation of this Criterion Collection disc for me was Marker’s other film, San Soliel, an assemblage of travel footage from places such as Japan, Ghana, Iceland, spliced together to form a free-floating musing on time and place, life and death and the many peculiar rituals we strange creatures engage in. Unrelentingly poignant is perhaps the best description I can come up with, a bit of a slog but worth it in the end. There is a section of the film that veers into film analysis of Hitchcock’s Vertigo, a footnote for anyone curious to Gilliam’s inclusion of the film into his version of La Jetée. -MIKE

Donkey Punch (2008) 3/5
Three girls, four guys, lots of drugs and a big expensive boat in the Mediterranean Sea. A recipe for holiday disaster? You bet. Perhaps the ultimate warning on unconventional sex-acts, the titular Donkey Punch sets the stage for a battle of the sexes fraught with equal parts sex and violence from both genders. Oliver Blackburn mixes sun drenched cinematography with the dark corners of the human psyche under various forms of strain. This is not the over-the-top torture of Haute Tension or Hostel as the poster, trailer and overall marketing of the film suggest. The film lives by the more selfish (and audience relatable) pressure of how does each one try to get out of an untenable self-inflicted mess intact and free. There are some bloody moments in the picture, and enough sexuality (explicit and implied) to slap an NC-17 rating on in the United States (and make it unreleasable in Japan of all places) but ultimately it is a tale of how to trust people you do not really know in a tough situation. -KURT

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) 3.5/5
A quirky, odd western from master filmmaker John Huston starring the late, great Paul Newman. This is a great little western, just don’t go in expecting another Hombre or Butch Cassidy. -JONATHAN

Cane Toads: An Unnatural History (1988) 4/5
A document of the ecological, social and economic effects of introducing one species (The Hawaiian Cane Toad) into a foreign ecosystem; Cane Toads is part horror film, part black comedy, and part traditional nature documentary. Mark Lewis follows the spread of the toads across the Australian northeast from the 1930s (when the species was introduced) up until the 1980s (when the documentary was made). Capturing some humourous characters (enough that the film has been described as “if Monty Python made a National Geographic Special”) and wildly unforeseen consequences, Cane Toads plays out as a witty piece of over the top melodrama. Nonetheless, it convincingly leaves the message that even the best intentioned and simplest manipulation of Mother Nature can lead to quiet, inevitable tragedy. Fear the toad! -KURT