2001-2010

One of the most distinguished filmmakers working today, David Lynch is a director whose vision of cinema is firmly rooted in fine art. He was motivated to make his first film as a student because he wanted a painting that ‘would really be able to move’. Most existing studies of Lynch, however, fail to engage fully with the complexities of his films’ relationship to other art forms. “The Film Paintings of David Lynch” fills this void, arguing that Lynch’s cinematic output needs to be considered within a broad range of cultural references. Aimed at both Lynch fans and film studies specialists, Allister Mactaggart addresses Lynch’s films from the perspective of the relationship between commercial film, avant-garde art, and cultural theory. Individual Lynch works – “The Elephant Man”, “Blue Velvet”, “Twin Peaks”, “Lost Highway”, “The Straight Story”, “Mulholland Drive”, and “Inland Empire” – are discussed in relation to other films and directors, illustrating that the solitary, or seemingly isolated, experience of film is itself socially, culturally, and politically important. “The Film Paintings of David Lynch” offers a unique perspective on an influential director, weaving together a range of theoretical approaches to Lynch’s films to make exciting new connections among film theory, art history, psychoanalysis, and cinema.Read More »

Quote:
Photographer and filmmaker Larry Clark offers another look at the inner workings of urban youth culture in this comedy drama. Jonathan (Jonathan Velasquez) is a teenaged El Salvadorian refugee living in a primarily Mexican-American and African-American neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles. Jonathan and a handful of fellow Salvadorian émigrés who are his best friends stand out like sore thumbs on the block, due less to their national origin than because they’ve rejected the hip-hop music and fashion around them in favor of old-school punk, as favored by the Ramones and latter-day Latino bands such as Suicidal Tendencies. Jonathan and his pals Kiko (Francisco Pedrasa), Eddie (Eddie Velasquez), Porky (Usvaldo Panameno), and Spermball (Milton Velasquez) have a group of their own, and Jonathan, a sweet but streetwise kid who has a way with the girls, is the lead singer. Read More »

LOVE IS ALL Klaasje has divorced Dennis, who cheated on her with a school teacher. Dennis would like her back, but when she moves in with a young lover it looks as if he has missed the boat. Meanwhile, Klaasje’s best friend Simone is the pivot of her family. Her husband Ted often feels redundant and he does not have the guts to tell her that he has been laid off. Pool attendant Victor is looking forward to marrying the love of his life, Kees. But Kees has doubts and keeps his fears at bay during weekends spent ‘larping’ (Live Action Role Play). Victor’s sister Kiki, a sales assistant at department store Bijenkorf, is dreaming of a prince on a white horse. But she is unaware of the fact that a real prince, Valentijn, is crazy about her. With the arrival of a mysterious Santa Claus, all these amorous ups and downs reach a climax, while the happy endings come closer too. Written by Motel FilmsRead More »

Every day Claudine toils on the production line in a food-processing factory, but as a union leader, she works even harder to get better pay and working conditions for her fellow employees. The days of strong unions are in the past, however, and Claudine senses her union is losing its clout. When Joanna, a friend in prison, needs her to speak up on her behalf, Claudine hesitates, knowing it will diminish her reputation and undermine her role as a union official. In her feature film debut, director Bénédicte Liénard offers a provocative political tale without sacrificing humanity or style. As a social drama with a human face, A Piece of Sky strikes out against injustice. —Blaq Out
Read More »

Quote:
Assayas has a fondness for casting striking leading ladies, such as Maggie Cheung (IRMA VEP, CLEAN) and Connie Nielsen (DEMONLOVER), and Argento’s role in BOARDING GATE fits neatly alongside these in the director’s oeuvre. The early, dialogue-heavy scenes give Argento and Madsen plenty of time to establish their tawdry relationship, but when Assayas transports the action to Hong Kong, the movie takes a different turn as the director sets up some nerve-jarring chase sequences. The director infuses the movie with all his usual visual flair–the shaky, hand-held camera work and dimly lit sets perfectly reflect the seedy nature of Assayas’s subject matter–but BOARDING GATE will mostly be remembered for Argento’ s supremely confident performance.Read More »

Quote:
An interview with a Mormon Fundamentalist who shares a husband with her younger sister.Read More »

In the last feature-length collaboration between Straub and Huillet before Huillet’s death in 2006, villagers from across the length of Italy — a peasant, a postmaster, a theater director, a mayor, a rope maker — gather in the Tuscan countryside to recite the five final scenes of Cesare Pavese’s Dialogues with Leucò.

Published in 1947, just two years after the Holocaust and the Second World War and two years before Pavese’s suicide, the Dialogues offer a series of meditations on human destiny, both comical and tragic, between ancient Greek mythological figures. Desperate in their hunger for immortality, mortals are blind to the gift of being human — of their ability to experience joy and suffering; to feel a passing breeze or the touch of another body; to name, remember, and act.Read More »

Synopsis
Emerging from a coma after a water ski accident in which his girlfriend Délie was killed, Stan van der Decken is informed that he is the heir of the mysterious Professor Starkov. He then embarks on a trip to the village of Las Estrellas…Read More »

Quote:
Napoli, Napoli, Napoli, Abel Ferrara’s new project, is not only a portrait of the city itself, but a deep sight into its humanity, vital and brutal, passionate and cruel at the same time. While interviewing a group of female convicts in Pozzuoli State Prison, Ferrara was deeply impressed by their statements, so harsh and fatalistic. He then decided to base on their life experiences three different screenplays, written by Peppe Lanzetta, Maurizio Braucci and Gaetano Di Vaio. Di Vaio’s episode is inspired by his actual experience as a convict; Braucci’s depicts a sad and brutal adolescence; Lanzetta’s a family melodrama of violence, expectations and vengeance. By interweaving reality and fiction, this innovative docu-drama is a complex and compelling mosaic; like the city of Naples, so fascinating and indecipherable at the same time.Read More »