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Sunday 10/18/09

7:00 AM IFC
Kidnap (2008 IND): For those who prefer their Bollywood features funded by Indian money and produced by Indian filmmakers, here's this week's Wake Up to Bollywood entry. Sanjay Dutt stars as Vikrant, a middle-class Indian whose daughter has been kidnapped — but not for ransom. Instead, the kidnapper wants Vikrant to perform a series of tasks, including assisting with a prison break and murder. As you might expect, this is less light-hearted and frivolous than most of the Indian films airing on IFC these days, and is all the better for it—one can only take so many light-hearted romantic musical comedies.

12:45 PM IFC
The Vanishing (1988 HOL): If you've ever had the misfortune of tuning in to Fox Movie Channel with expectations of seeing the original version of this film - only to be confronted by the inferior-in-every way American remake of the same title - help is on the way. IFC is airing director George Sluizer's terrific Dutch-language version this morning, and while it may not have Kiefer Sutherland, Sandra Bullock, or Jeff Bridges with a silly accent, it compensates with an intriguing and suspenseful plot. You may not have heard of any of the actors in this film, but at least you'll end up caring about the characters they play.

9:00 PM Sundance
World Without Thieves (2004 CHI-HK): When taking the train in China, watch your wallet. That's the lesson preached by this decent Hong Kong crime drama featuring Andy Lau and Rene Liu as Bo and Li, a pair of pickpockets victimizing passengers on the Hong Kong Express. After Li has a change of heart and gets religion, Bo continues his wicked ways — even after Li warns him away from Dumbo (Baoqiang Wang), a humble and innocent lad transporting a large sum of money to his new home in the country. World Without Thieves was co-produced by a cellphone company, which probably explains the film's inordinate number of phone conversations, but if you can overlook the product placement you'll be reasonably pleased with the proceedings.

Monday 10/19/09

4:25 PM IFC
Turistas (2006 USA): It's yucky, gross, tasteless, and (worst crime of all) numbingly unoriginal, but this torture porn epic makes its widescreen television debut on IFC tonight. Hey, there's nothing else on today, so if you're completely bored, take a trip to Brazil with the Turistas.

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