Four Christmases
Comedy, USA (2008)
Directed by Seth Gordon
Starring Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon and Robert Duvall
Language: English
A traditional family Christmas movie released just in time for the holidays presents an unlikely duo – short, delicate lady Reese Witherspoon and tall and tough Vince Vaughn. They portray a San Francisco couple Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) who have a holiday tradition of telling their extended families they are doing charity work in a far-away place to avoid spending Christmas with them, then they enjoy a vacation at some luxurious resort instead. But this year, their plans to go to Fiji are ruined by flight-cancelling fog, and Kate and Brad have to attend four different Christmas celebrations, filled with eccentric divorced parents and other wacky family members, when, and finding out that they may not have as much in common as they originally thought.

Tonight I'll Sleep at Yours (Ce Soir Je Dors Chez Toi)
Comedy/Romance, Belgium (2007)
Directed by Olivier Baroux
Starring Jean-Paul Rouve, Melanie Doutey and Kad Merad
Language: French
A new French comedy about having a hard time committing and moving in with your girlfriend. Parisian writer Alex (Jean-Paul Rouve) adores his girlfriend Letitia (Melanie Doutey): she’s gorgeous, funny, and effervescent. And she’s equally crazy about him. But she somewhat spoils the idyll by announcing to Alex that it’s time for them to move in together. Alex tries desperately to forestall the inevitable by persuading his buddy and publisher Jacques, (Kad Merad), to move in with them, feigning a bout of depression. The absurd level of commitment-avoidance leads to this charming threesome’s wandering around various elegant settings from the South of France all the way to New York City.

Modern Love
Comedy/Musical/Romance, France (2008)
Directed by Stephane Kazandjian
Starring Alexandra Lamy, Stephane Rousseau and Berenice Bejo
Language: French
Love is in the air but not everyone is breathing easy in this romantic comedy. Modern Love is the story of Eric (Pierre Francois Martin-Laval) who loves Anne (Melanie Bernier) but meets up with Marie (Clotilde Courau), his ex-girlfriend, and begins dreaming of a second chance. It is the story of Elsa (Berenice Bejo) who, after swearing that she will never again go out with anyone but her “male ideal,” meets Jerome (Stephane Debac) who is good looking, personable and financially secure, but she can’t seem to interest him in getting serious and she wonders if he’s actually attracted to women. It is the story of Vincent (Stephane Rousseau) and Marianne (Alexandra Lamy) who have nothing in common and yet everything needed to please each other.

Glory to the Filmmaker! (Kantoku Banzai!)
Comedy/Drama, USA (2008)
Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Starring Takeshi Kitano, Toru Emori and  Kayoko Kishimoto
Language: Japanese
Making a film about your own self being indecisive is potentially a kiss of death.  But Japanese moviemaker Takeshi Kitano has already proved that he’s too good to fail even such risky task – “Glory to the Filmmaker!” is his second successive film about himself. Playing himself in the film as a celebrated director, Takeshi Kitano sets out on a quest to produce a box-office hit after publicly announcing his departure from gangster flicks. After failing to find financing for his next project, he decides to tell the story of a swindling mother and her gold-digging daughter who set their eyes on an honest man, which unpredictably leads to the endangerment of the planet. To fully appreciate the jokes in the film you will have to be familiar with a good range of Japanese movies, such as Takashi Yamazaki’s “Always” and Yoichi Sai’s “Blood and Bones” which Kitano starred in. But even if you haven’t seen any of them, you’ll have to be at least a Kitano fan to really enjoy yourself.

Breath (Sum)
Drama, South Korea 2007
Directed by Kim Ki-duk
Starring Chen Chang,  In-Hyeong Gang and Jung-woo Ha
Language: Korean
Jang Jin (Chang Chen) is on death row and already tried to end his life twice without success. The news report about Jang’s case over and over again, so that unhappy housewife Yeon (Park Ji-ah) also hears about him. Yeon has to struggle with dull everyday life and is married to a boring husband, who also seems to cheat on her. Then, one day Yeon goes to the prison Jang is kept in. On the first meeting with Jang, Yeon tells him about her own near-death experience when she was still a child, and asks him not to try to kill himself in the future again. During the weeks that follow Yeon visits Jang over and over again, whereas she gets closer to him.

The Wave (Die Welle)
Drama/Thriller, Germany (2008)
Directed by Dennis Gansel
Starring Jorgen Vogel, Frederick Lau and Max Riemelt
Language: German
Even more than 60 years after the Second World War ended, German film-makers are still understandably obsessed with trying to understand what it was that turned their nation for a while into a monstrous totalitarian and genocidal regime. “The Wave” is a remake of German film “The Experiment,” made in 2001, which was based on a real-life American experimental project to find out what happens when you give one group of people absolute power over another. Teacher Rainer Wenger (Jurgen Vogel) conducted an experiment with his students. They had brought up the question of how people accepted the Nazi’s rise to power and couldn't understand how people had let them. So Wenger decided to recreate a dictatorship within his classroom. This is when they start the role playing, starting with what appear to be harmless, and indeed positive, experiments with discipline and a sense of community, but which then move into more dangerous areas, such as blind conformity and notions of superiority until the whole thing gets totally out of control.

Sorry, If I Love You (Scusa Ma Ti Chiamo Amore)
Romance /Comedy, Italy (2008)
Directed by Federico Moccia
Starring Raoul Bova, Michela Quattrociocche and Luca Angeletti
Language: Italian
In this Italian romantic comedy, viewers are invited to feel sorry for a bunch of male friends approaching middle age who are beginning to feel a little lost in their carnality. One of the friends has an accident with a motor-scooter, whose owner is a sexy and adventurous 17-year-old girl. “Though almost adults,” says the promo, she and her friends can still get up to the most incredible mischief.” Heartthrob Raoul Bova (“Alien vs Predator,” “Under the Tuscan Sun”) stars as the older man. He looks over 37 and behaves like a teen ager and in a love relationship with a young girl. The only challenge is guessing whether there will be a moral sting in the tail.

Zhovten
26 Kostiantynivska (Kontraktova Ploscha metro),
205­5951, 417­3004, www.zhovten-kino.kiev.ua

Tonight I’ll Sleep at Yours –  Dec. 18 – 4.45 p.m., 9.40 p.m., Dec. 19 – 8 p.m., Dec. 20 - 2.25 p.m., 6.25 p.m., Dec. 21 - 2.25 p.m., 6.25 p.m., Dec. 22 – 12.55 p.m., 9.40 p.m., Dec. 23 – 8 p.m., Dec. 24 -  2.25 p.m., 6.25 p.m.
Modern Love – Dec. 18 – 12.50 p.m., 8 p.m., Dec. 19 – 3 p.m., 9.35 p.m., Dec. 20 - 9.35 p.m., Dec. 21-22 – 8 p.m., Dec. 23  – 3 p.m., 9.35 p.m., Dec. 24 – 8 p.m.
Maradona by Kusturica –  Dec. 18 – 1.55 p.m., Dec. 19 – 20 - 7.50 p.m., Dec. 21 - 1.30 p.m., 7.50 p.m., Dec. 23 – 7.50 p.m., Dec. 24 – 1.30 p.m., 8.10 p.m.
Breath – Dec. 18 – 9.50 p.m., Dec. 19-23 – 6.20 p.m., Dec. 24 – 9.50 p.m.
The Wave – Dec. 18 – 6.20 p.m., Dec. 19-23 – 9.30 p.m., Dec. 24 – 6.20 p.m.

Butterfly Ultramarine
1 Uritskoho (Vokzalna metro), 206-0350, 206-0370. www.kino-butterfly.com.ua
Four Christmases – Daily at 4 p.m., 5.50 p.m., 7.40 p.m., 9.30 p.m.

Kyiv 
19 Chervonoarmiyska (Lva Tolstoho metro),
234 ­7381, 251­ 2199.  www.kievkino.com.ua

Modern Love – Daily at 3.30 p.m.
Tonight I'll Sleep at Yours – Daily at 5.30 p.m., 7.15 p.m.
Sorry, If I Love You – Daily at 9 p.m.

Kinopanorama
19 Shota Rustavelli, 287 ­3041, 287­1135. www.kinopanorama.ua

Glory to the Filmmaker! – Dec. 18-19, 21-22 – 1.10 p.m., 3 p.m., 4.50 p.m., 6.40 p.m.,  Dec 20, 23 – 11 a.m., 1.10 p.m., 3 p.m., 4.50 p.m., 6.40 p.m.
Import/Export – Dec. 18 – 10.30 a.m., 8.30 p.m.
The Secret of the Grain – Dec. 19 - 10.30 a.m., 8.30 p.m.
According to the Plan – Dec. 20 – 8.30 p.m.
Mister Lonely – Dec. 21 – 11 a.m., 8.30 p.m.
The Beat That My Heart Skipped – Dec. 22 - 11 a.m., 8.30 p.m.
The Life Before Her Eyes – Dec. 23 – 8.30 p.m.