1981-1990

Synopsis:
In the aftermath of the First World War, Séraphin Monge returns to his home village in the south of France and sets about finding himself a job. Working as a road-mender, he gets to meet another man, Brigue, who is able to shed some light on his mysterious past. Séraphin is surprised to learn that, almost a quarter of a century ago, his entire family was slaughtered in the course of one stormy night. He was the only survivor, then just a baby of four months. The murders were blamed on a party of migrant workers from Eastern Europe – they were soon arrested and executed, although not everyone was convinced of their guilt at the time.Read More »

Plot:
A famous film director remembers his childhood at the Cinema Paradiso where Alfredo, the projectionist, first brought about his love of films. He returns home to his Sicilian village for the first time after almost 30 years and is reminded of his first love, Elena, who disappeared from his life before he left for Rome.Read More »

Synopsis:
Inspector René Boirond has been policing a crime-ridden neighbourhood of Paris for over twenty years. In that time, he has learned that the best way to do his job is to turn a blind eye to most of the petty criminality that surrounds him and adopt a live and let live approach to dealing with crooks, pimps and other lowlife. Of course, the backhanders he receives by way of recompense is always a welcome supplement to his meagre salary. René’s mutually advantageous system is suddenly placed in jeopardy when François Lesbuche, a young and enthusiastic cop straight out of police school, is assigned to work with him.Read More »

Synopsis:
A young boy’s life in turn-of-the-century France. Marcel, witnesses the success of his teacher father, as well as the success of his arrogant Uncle Jules. Marcel and family spend their summer vacation in a cottage in Provence, and Marcel befriends a local boy who teaches him the secrets of the hills in Provence.Read More »

Synopsis:
Every holiday Marcel and his family go to their cottage in the Provence (France). He likes the hills in this region. Before they arrive at the cottage they have to walk about 5 miles. With the co-operation of an ex-pupil of Marcel’s father, who’s a teacher, they only have to walk 1 mile, since they can take a shortcut along a canal, through the backyards of some eccentric people. During one of these holidays he meets Isabelle, a pretty but conceited girl…Read More »

Quote:
Claire (Marlene Jobert), a bilingual UNESCO interpreter meets Simon (Jean-Michele Folon), an oceanographer at an international conference she is assigned to work (UNESCO’s international headquarters are in Paris). The two are drawn to each other, and romance blossoms. Just as they begin to establish a stable relationship, she discovers that she has breast cancer, and after a few trips to the doctor, she finds out that she needs a mastectomy. Unable to face her new boyfriend with the truth, she breaks off their relationship. As one might expect, no oceanographer worth his salt is going to leave his true love for just any shallow reason.Read More »

Synopsis:
French secret agent Joss Baumont is sent to one of the African countries to kill their president Njala. However, at the last moment the political situation changes and the French secret service turns him in to the African authorities, and he is sentenced to a long-term imprisonment. After the daring escape he returns to France and deliberately informs his former chiefs of his presence promising them to kill Njala who has just arrived to the country with the official visit.Read More »

Quote:
Never one to shy away from touchy subject matter, Bigas Luna seems determined to become to Spain what Russ Meyer is to America and Tinto Brass is to Italy. One of his most explicit works to date, The Ages of Lulu (Les edades de Lulú) begins like a fairly standard knockoff of 9 1/2 Weeks but swerves into far more dangerous waters that could only be explored in Europe. Sweet little Lulu (Live Flesh’s Francesca Neri) discovers her sexual awakening at the hands of older, self-absorbed Pablo (Óscar Ladoire), who makes her acquaintance by shaving her nether regions (“…so you’ll look prettier”). Read More »

Quote:
A slow-burning masterwork of the early 1990s, this third feature by Charles Burnett is a singular piece of American mythmaking. In a towering performance, Danny Glover plays the enigmatic southern drifter Harry, a devilish charmer who turns up out of the blue on the South Central Los Angeles doorstep of his old friends. In short order, Harry’s presence seems to cast a chaotic spell on what appeared to be a peaceful household, exposing smoldering tensions between parents and children, tradition and change, virtue and temptation. Interweaving evocative strains of gospel and blues with rich, poetic-realist images, To Sleep with Anger is a sublimely stirring film from an autonomous artistic sensibility, a portrait of family resilience steeped in the traditions of African American mysticism and folklore.Read More »