Quote: Lesbian-themed tale of a schoolgirl who entices her gullible (not to mention slightly warped) female teacher by positing that they are predestined to dance together on the day the world ends. The screenplay was titled “The Gods Have a Nervous Breakdown,” which should give some idea of the symbiotic descent into psychosexual dementia that ensues. Rei Takaki co-stars with Shoichiro Sakata and Asako Shirakawa.Read More »
Quote: In an early episode in Carmen, Carlos Saura’s second dance film with renowned flamenco artist Antonio Gades (in what would inevitably prove to be the second film of their collaborative Flamenco trilogy), a group of musicians rehearse at a large, open dance studio within earshot of the choreographer, Antonio (Gades) as he struggles to find the proper tempo suitable to adapting the Seguedilla from Bizet’s opera for a flamenco performance. Reinterpreting the operatic work from a waltzy, 3/4 timed vocal piece to a sprightly, improvisational bulería, the musicians perform their rendition to the receptive Antonio who, along with his studio partner – and perhaps, erstwhile paramour – Cristina (Cristina Hoyos), begin to re-envision Carmen, not as a French composer’s projection of the fiery gypsy seductress – and more broadly, a foreigner’s stereotypical notions of Spanish culture – but rather, as an indigenous adaptation of Prosper Mérimée’s novel, disconnected from the now iconic flourishes of Bizet’s opera. Read More »
Quote: In And the Ship Sails On, I needed a large exterior to paint, so I used the wall of the Pantanella pasta factory. It was where my father, Urbano Fellini, had worked when he passed through Rome on his way back from forced labor in Belgium after World War I. It was while at the pasta factory in 1918 that he met my mother, Ida Barbiani, and carried her off, not on a white charger, but in a third-class coach on the train, with her full consent, away from her home, family, and social class in Rome.Read More »
The mysterious death of an enigmatic young man newly arrived in the suburb of Wetherby releases the long-repressed, dark passions of some of its residents.Read More »
PLOT: “Before we started work on the film “Les Favoris de la Lune” , I tried to capture on film my first impressions of the city and the people who inhabit it. This etude of Paris, slightly shortened, was shown on television.” – Otar IoselianiRead More »
Quote: The intertwining storylines of an art dealer, a thief, a police chief inspector, a gun dealer, an inventor, a beautician, several bums, and a crazy old man play out as an 18th century chinaware set and a 19th century portrait pass in and out of their hands. This absurd, hilarious, intricate and surreal cinematic Rubiks cube examines the bizarre twists of fate that draw people and possessions together and apart.Read More »
IMDB: Leo is a street vendor who, always accompanied by his dog, entertains shoppers on the beach telling stories to a group of guys who actually want to conquer the tourists in a bathing suit. Meanwhile, Mario, a boy on holiday with his father, falls in love with his cello teacher Margherita. Beautiful Margherita, who teaches music and disturbs the sleeps of her adolescent students, is immediately the most popular prey by the guys on the beach. But it will be the father of one of them who manages to covet it.Read More »
PLOT:Part of a tv series in which foreign filmmakers portray a region or town in France. Otar Iosselani looks at the Basque region and its inhabitants. Concentrating on the Fête Dieu, its traditional Pastorale during Summer 1982 and its festive preparation.Read More »