Based on James Baldwin’s novel “If Beale Street Could Talk” (1974), the action is transferred from Harlem to present day working class districts around Marseilles harbour. The movie chronicles the inter-racial love story between white Clem and black Bebe, who was adopted by a white family, along with his sister. They plan to marry but Bebe is in prison accused of raping a Bosnian refugee who, manipulated by a racist white policeman, has disappeared after denouncing him.Read More »
Storyline:
In the autumn of 1991 Croatia is fighting for independence and the capital Zagreb is plagued by air raid alerts and blackouts. Hela Martinic is a reporter, who returns to her home town from Australia, called by her old friend Vera Kralj. Soon after arrival, she is told her friend was killed in a traffic accident. At the funeral she meets some people who Vera was involved with in some sinister activities and she begins her own investigation…Read More »
Tony Rayns in Time Out Film Guide wrote:
When Office Kitano commissioned Shinozaki to record Kitano’s work on Kikujiro from the start of shooting to the screening of the ‘A’ copy, they knew he wouldn’t do a standard ‘Making of’. Since Kitano shot the film more or less in sequence and improvised a lot, Shinozaki is able to turn his documentary into an authentic ‘bootleg’: an anthology of out-takes, mistakes and deleted scenes which adds up to a ‘parallel’ version of the film itself. It’s also a very candid portrait of Kitano in his self-deprecatory prime – especially when nearly lost for words during a social chat with Hou Xiaoxian. One caveat: Kitano himself sings the song under the end credits.Read More »
The Tango Lesson (Spanish: ‘La lección de tango’) is a 1997 drama film by British director Sally Potter. It is a semi-autobiographical film starring Potter and Pablo Verón, about Argentinian Tango.Read More »
Quote:
The Glass System, made from images shot in New York and Calcutta, looks at life as it is played out in the streets. Every corner turned reveals activities both simple and unfamiliar: a knife sharpener on a bicycle; a tiny tightrope walker; a man selling watches in front of a department store on Fifth Avenue; a hauntingly slow portrait of the darting eyes of schoolgirls on their way home; the uncompleted activities of a young contortionist. The sound in the film (which is from a Bengali primer written by British missionaries) is a meditation on how the English language teaches ideas about culture which are often incongruous. The disjunction between what you hear and what you see evokes reflections about the impact of globalization and the hegemony of Western-style capitalism.Read More »
Quote:
Sheikh Imam or Imam Mohammad Ahmad Eissa, born in 1918, is known in the Arab world for his songs critical of the ruling class. Considered the voice of the oppressed, he was banned from state television and radio, and was imprisoned many times, including in 1974 during the visit of President Nixon.Read More »
Plot: Françoise Canavaggia (Danielle Darrieux) heads back to Toulon in 1963 with murderous plans for the people who now inhabit the villa that had once been hers. After arriving in Toulon, Françoise meets up with her sister and a niece, both adding to her tendency toward self-analysis. But with images of the present and past mixed with memories and fantasies of the past — and excerpts from speeches by Petain and De Gaulle combined with psychological and philosophical ramblings — director Paul Vecchiali has created complexities that many an audience will never figure out. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie GuideRead More »
from imdb:
Ernesto is a journalist in his 40’s who comes from a generation which encountered much political persecution and exile; between the memories and unhealed wounds of his past, stands Ernesto. When his good friend Ricardo calls him one day and proposes to get together after 25 years, they decide to gather all the members of the “old gang” in order to revive those old feelings the best way they know how, through some good old rock n’ roll. Amongst one of Ernesto’s encounters is Ana, an old love who will bring a twisting unexpected turn into his life. The old gang is comprised of Ricardo’s depressive, hypochondriac wife Ana and her socially-conscious former lover Ernesto, a journalist who left Ana years ago to pursue his political ideologies in post-revolutionary Cuba.Read More »
It is the summer of 1958 in wealthy Lake Geneva, where an enigmatic young Frenchman begins an affair with a beautiful starlet under the watchful eye of her flamboyant elderly mentor. But in a season full of secrets, is truth the most elusive passion of all?Read More »