Top picks of the week: Volker Schlöndorff's classic "The Tin Drum," Guy Maddin's "Dracula - Pages from a Virgin's Diary," Matteo Garrone's "The Embalmer," Paula van der Oest's "Zus & Zo," and Joseph Losey's "Mr. Klein."
1. The Tin Drum
Volker Schlöndorff's "The Tin Drum," based on Nobel prize winning German author Günther Grass' novel of the same title, is the story of Oskar Matzerath, a boy who grows up in Eastern Germany before and during World War II. The visuals are exciting, the narrative has an absurd nightmarish quality to it, and this twisted version of history stands as one of the most eloquent accounts of the horror of fascism.
2. Dracula - Pages from a Virgin's Diary
Beautifully transposing the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's interpretation of Bram Stoker's classic vampire yarn from stage to screen, Guy Maddin has forged a sumptuous, erotically charged feast of dance, drama and shadow. Another triumph from the visionary Canadian filmmaker whose newest work "The Saddest Music In The World" is currently showing in theaters.
3. The Embalmer
Matteo Garrone's 2002 "The Embalmer" screened at New York's prestigious "New Directors, New Films" series. The usual story of a romantic triangle that develops when a middle-aged dwarf who works as a zoo taxidermist befriends a teenage boy, only to have a younger woman enter the picture.4. Zus & Zo
Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Film, Paula van der Oest's "Zus & Zo" follows three sisters as they attempt to sabotage their gay brother’s upcoming wedding so he won't inherit the treasured family resort.5. Mr. Klein
Both a thriller and a Kafkaesque dissertation on identity, Joseph Losey's "Mr. Klein" stars Alain Delon (Le Samorai, Le Cercle Rouge) as Robert Klein--a charming and unscrupulous art dealer in Nazi-occupied France. Co-starring Jeanne Moreau, this classic study of suspense explores thr ever-changing relationship between victim and oppressor.