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Reincarnation is the central topic o Ryuchi Hiroki's drama “Phases of The Moon” that has just had its European premiere at far East Film Festival in Udine. Based on the bestselling novel by Shogo Sato, the script follows the aftermath of a big family tragedy, and one man's attempt to come to terms with it.

“Phases of the Moon” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival

What happens when someone dies has been one of the most explored questions since the birth of religions. Some believe in heavens and hells, others in reincarnation, and an increasingly large number of people, in plain unison of decomposing bodies in nature. Which one of many presumption's is true is left to each one of us to fathom once we meet our end. If Hiroki was asked, he would chose both reincarnation and John Lenon's music to prove his point.

Kei (Yo Oizumi...

Roy Andersson’s debut feature A Swedish Love Story (1970) is an atypically naturalistic piece, balancing the austerity of later films with a touching and beautifully realised romanticism that captures the first stirrings of young love with an honesty that no other film has impinged upon.

Superficial comparison would place the film in the same company as fellow Swede Lukas Moodysson’s Fucking Åmål (1998), with its consistent themes of generational miscommunication and amorous teenagers. Wonderful as Åmål is, Andersson’s film is a far more accomplished and complex work that loses none of its poignancy for its scope and frequent deviation from the central romance to explore the lives of its peripheral characters.

Opening with the raising of a Hammer-red stage curtain, the film aims to contrast the heightened emotions and simple desires of youth with the realities and discrepancy of adult life, so many of the older characters lamenting dreams...