Parineeta
Based on the novel originally written by Saratchandra Chattopadhyay, this foreign film is a beautiful love story dealing with class struggles and family expectations. An orphan, beautiful Lolita is befriended by her neighbor, Shekhar, and over time, the two fall in love. Shekar's family is against his relationship with Lolita, since they've long had plans for him to marry a wealthy girl from a "good" family. Lolita's own feelings are torn when a wealthy businessman she has known for years returns home with hopes of marrying her. The opposition to their romance clarifies just how much they mean to each other and frantically, they must decide if they should act on their true feelings.

5x2
I love this idea! Director François Ozon follows the life of a marriage, from the moment of first love to the bitter divorce... but in reverse order. The film begins with Marion and Gilles, a married couple who are just finalizing their divorce. Gradually, we move backward, to the moment they decided to end things, the fights and anger, the moments when they began to disconnect, the bliss of first love, the moment they met. We watch the reversed demise of this relationship in five sections, each one more intense than the first. By the end of the film, you'll either agree or disagree that their marriage was doomed from the start. The reversal is interesting as we see the characters change with the time regression; they get younger, happier, less and less jaded... it's fascinating to watch.

My Summer of Love "The most dangerous thing to want is more."
I love this movie's tagline and find it totally appropriate to the story. Sixteen-year-old Mona is a rebel, a bit of a tomboy, and works for everything she gets. Tasmin is spoiled and vain and Mona's exact opposite. The two girls meet over the summer and interested in how the other lives, gradually become friends. As their friendship grows into something deeper, the girls find themselves more and more obsessed with the other. Mona's brother Ben, a recently converted Christian, discovers his sister's sinful ways and vows to end her budding romance with the "evil" girl she's seeing. Ben's determination may end up ruining the girl's summer and their lives.


Fever Pitch
You may already know from my previous review of this film, but I loved this movie! I thought it was sweet and funny, and not at all what I was expecting. Drew Barrymore is Lindsay, a straight-laced workaholic who chooses all of the wrong men. Jimmy Fallon is Ben, the perfect guy for Lindsay. He's everything that she wants in a man: handsome, funny, kind, and he always puts her first - until baseball season. Suddenly, Ben turns into a raving obsessed fan - he is a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan - something that Lindasay can't comprehend. His preoccupation with his team threatens the one true love he's ever had! This film was a surprisingly sweet romance, since the directors, the Farrelly brothers, are infamous for their often offensive humor.

Stay tuned for the #1 movie of 2005!