A mental hospital, a traffic accident, and a bank robbery all play elements in the question of coincidence versus fate in the untraditional love story, The Princess and the Warrior (Der Krieger und die Kaiserin, 2000).

Sissi, a nurse, is convinced that she and Bodo are destined for one another when their paths momentarily cross in a life or death situation. Taking the chance to break out of her monotonous ritual of a life, she pursues the stranger. A melancholy and grief-stricken ex-soldier, Bodo believes he is not the one for her and emphatically rejects her but is faced with her when their paths continue to cross in strange ways. Both characters, even with completely different mindsets, face the same challenge of “shit or get off the pot.”

Directed by Tom Tywker, this movie is an antithesis to his previous Run Lola Run. As chaotic, frenetic, and loud as Lola is, The Princess and the Warrior is calm, balanced, and tranquil. Using lush cinematography and an ambient sound, the film is a surreal, vivid, dream-like encounter that has some twists and surprises lurking, just like in real dreams.

This movie is a favorite because it has a completely original story line and both the characters have such transparent emotions, even when they are in conflict with each other. You hear them breathe and almost hear their heartbeats in your head. With their hearts and souls so bared, you want to will them together, even when we have barely seen them hold hands, much less kiss.

Mara Dearing – ‘Okie Transplant’, NYC

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A few years ago I worked in a web company in Dublin with a Czech designer, Pavel. He was a fan of a Czech animator: Jan Svankmajer. It just so happened that Little Otik, his newest film, was showing in the only (9 years ago) art house cinema in Dublin. Pavel gave a few friends and I a few shots of slivovitz and talked us into it.

The film is an updated take on a Czech folk tale. A childless couple go on holiday up in the mountains to recover from the news of the wife’s infertility. The husband finds a root that resembles a baby, cleans it up, and presents it to the mother who quickly accepts it as a real child. She dotes on it so much that it comes alive.

This is where Jan Svankmajer’s animation background comes in. Rather than going for animatronics or CGI he goes for good, old-fashioned stop motion. The scenes with a spindly, wild root crying and writhing like a baby are both hilarious and creepy, an effect I don’t think he could have accomplished with CGI. The thrust of the film doesn’t begin until they bring the “baby” home to live with them in their bleak apartment block in the city, which is, Pavel assured me, full of the kinds of people that turn up in your average Czech neighborhood. From there, mammals of various sizes begin to go missing.

It’s a truly original film, with a wickedly dark sense of humour.

Dylan Bryne - Shanghai Tattoo, Shanghai

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“Local Hero” is a treasure. That’s not a word I normally use to describe a film, or anything else really, but it fits. The screenplay is brilliant. It takes careful listening or several viewings to catch some of the more subtle gems; even so, it’s a very easy movie to watch. The characters are wonderfully quirky, and convey that with their lines as well as facial expressions (another reason to watch closely). It’s warm, affectionate, funny, surprising, touching and memorable. Sometimes I try to decide what my favorite line or scene is, but I never can.The Scottish scenery is lovely and sometimes stunning and the music is – it’s Knopfler; it’s amazing.

Mary Claire Coffey – Washington, D.C.

Yuppie from Houston travels to a small Scottish town in order to buy it and make everyone wealthy so his oil company can put a refinery there. The rest is pretty much a wacky comedy of small town manners, a hilarious Burt Lancaster as the owner of the oil company, the warmth of relationships there compared to the impersonal Houston and a very clever ending. On top of that, the soundtrack by Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) is brilliant. In fact, the theme song from the movie is played as Newcastle United takes their home field. It has a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was picked as one of the top 100 movies from the 1980s by Premiere magazine. Both Siskel and Ebert loved it!

Steve Misha – San Diego, CA

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La Vie Revee des Anges (Dreamlife of Angels), directed by Erick Zonka, is a stunning portrait of suicide wherein two young girls attempt to navigate their way through a life of little opportunity. In the town of Lille, France, Isabel and Marie move in together hoping that their hapless situations will change. When Marie falls for a boy of a higher social status the stakes are instantly raised, and she believes her life will change drastically if they stay together. Soon after she finds him with a more suitable mate, and her hopes of a different life are shattered. She no longer cares to live. Leaving Isabel behind, Marie takes her own life and Isabel attempts to find solace in a job at a local factory. Beautifully directed and acted, La Vie Revee des Anges will surely haunt those who see it for years to come.

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Hannah Phillips-Kaplan – Daughter, Wife, Mother… not a hipster, Los Angeles

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hands-down, the greatest film I’ve ever watched. every aspect. if I start writing, it’ll go for thousands of words, so do yourself a favor, absorb the opening sequence of Emir Kusturica’s Underground and then I’ll leave you to it.

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me