1981-1990

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Donaldson’s The Bounty was a strikingly solid adaptation of the tale of rebellious Fletcher Christian, stalwart Captain Bligh and the breadfruit and Tahitian beauty that inspired mutiny on the HMS Bounty. Unlike the rollicking 1935 classic that starred a dashing Clark Gable as the swashbuckling Christian and an imperious Charles Laughton as the evil Bligh, this is a revisionist tale that casts the Bounty captain in a more compassionate light. Hopkins’ Bligh is a usually fair and just leader who’s unprepared for the tropical lust that takes over his crew, and soon finds himself up against Gibson’s Christian, a man torn between his duty to his captain and the newfound love he has for the South Seas … Donaldson’s strength lies in keeping the audience sympathetic to both Hopkins and Gibson, making out neither to be a monster but rather men driven by their differing moral compasses. Donaldson further distinguished The Bounty from its predecessors with its attention to historical detail and sumptuous location photography, which seduced audiences as well as the crewmen of the ill-fated ship. – Mark Englehart, imdbRead More »

During the night of the big earthquake that shook Athens in 1981, Yannis, a 30-year-old cinephile, falls in love with his best friend Yorgos’ girl who allows him to sleep next to her holding her breast. Yannis and Eva have to overcome Yorgos’ jealousy as well as the ups and downs of their own affair. Since they all seem to be suffering, they form a trio that manages to live together in harmony but then a well-hidden secret from the men’s political activism in the past is about to hit them like a new earthquake.Read More »

Synopsis
April, 1937. Anton, a Communist Party member living in France, is involved with trafficking arms to left-wing activists in Spain. He is captured by the Gestapo but is subsequently released when is friend, Léo, head of a Communist network in Europe, arranges an exchange. Anton is recruited in the struggle against fascism but ends up being a victim of the Stalinist purge…Read More »

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Escaping from the sanatorium for the insane, a man who calls himself Jesus goes to Seoul. He is indulged in the illusion that he should save Seoul from the judgement of fire by finding a woman. He looks for an angel but nobody cares about him, and only a child selling the chewing gum follows him whose wish is to have mother. Finally, he finds a beautiful woman and gains her love through incessant persuasion. Seoul becomes a blessed land and, though Jesus is dragged to the hospital again, the woman becomes the child’s mother, and thus, Jesus promise for the child comes true.Read More »

A double wedding in a small village turns to high drama when one bride runs away and the other refuses to go on with her marriage. The drama unveils the fragile balance holding together a family strained by an abusive father now replaced by the successful but corrupt eldest son, a pathologically enraged second son, and the troubles of the youngest son, rendered deaf by a violent blow his father dealt him as a child. Ultimately tragic, the film is rife with biting humor and sharp political critique as it exposes how the violence of arbitrary and absolute power in a patriarchal society seeps into the unit of a family. Stars in Broad Daylight, Ousama Mohammad’s first long feature, remains banned from screening in Syria because of its subversive representation and critical voice. Selected at the «Quinzaine des Réalisateurs» at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988.Read More »

A 1989 British drama film adapted for the screen and directed by Kenneth Branagh, based on William Shakespeare’s play of the same name about Henry V of England. The film stars Branagh in the title role with Paul Scofield, Derek Jacobi, Ian Holm, Emma Thompson, Alec McCowen, Judi Dench, Robbie Coltrane, Brian Blessed, and Christian Bale in supporting roles.

The film received worldwide critical acclaim and has been widely considered one of the best Shakespeare film adaptations ever made. For her work on the film, Phyllis Dalton won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design and Kenneth Branagh, in his directorial debut, received Oscar nominations for Best Actor and Best Director.Read More »

A short personal filmed journal about the director’s nervousness in presenting a script and awaiting the decision about whether it can be made.Read More »

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The fifth directorial effort of German film star Maximillian Schell, Marlene is an unorthodox documentary of the legendary Marlene Dietrich. After years of resisting Schell’s entreaties, Dietrich finally agreed to participate in this project-but refused to appear on camera. Thus, a tape recording of a Dietrich-Schell interview is heard throughout, while the screen is filled with images of Marlene culled from stills, dramatic films (The Blue Angel, Shanghai Express et. al.) and newsreel footage.Read More »

Vladimir Nabokov, widely considered one of the world’s greatest writers for such works as _Lolita_, was also a remarkable professor at Cornell University. Here, Plummer portrays the witty Nabokov, providing an entertaining and insightful lecture upon “Metamorphosis,” Kafka’s bizarre story about a man who wakes up one morning to discover he has turned into a giant bug.Read More »