Arthouse

Quote:
“We were workers of luxury. And nobody was rich enough to pay us. We had to be at the same time the actor and the documentarist. We had to be at the same time the painter and their muse. The poet and the landscape. The rifle and its prey. The rider and the horse. Don Quixote and Cervantes at the same time.” A miserable Argentine troupe of actors, dancers, musicians, film-makers and a girl embark on a theatre tour to some country, probably in Latin America. If ever love and money were irreconcilable, Por el dinero is the story of that tragedy. Read More »

Lakha comes from a family of bird catchers, but questions the value of catching birds. He, and the older Bhushan, sell their caged birds to the local dealer. Lakha’s wife, Sari, complains that he is not ambitious enough because he cares more for the birds than for her, and she starts meeting Natobar. Kalicharan, a city dealer, suggests they sell their birds directly to him. So Bhushan and Lakha take their next catch of birds on the train to Calcutta. Kalicharan invites them to a feast for the ceremony of the birds, with disastrous consequences.Read More »

An ill man’s dying wish reunites four old friends. (IMDb)
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Friends brought together by tragic circumstances discover how sad their own lives have become in this bittersweet comedy-drama from German filmmaker Michael Klier. Harry (Henry Hübchen), Justus (Burghart Klaussner) and Bernhard (Armin Rohde) were close when they were young but haven’t seen each other in many years. However, they meet for the first time in decades when they learn another member of their circle, Manni (Peter Lohmeyer), has fallen ill and has only a short time to live. Manni has done well for himself and has a fine house with a pool as well as a vintage Ferrari, but as his life draws to a close he wants to spend time with his pals and asks them to help him with his one nagging regret. Manni used to date a beautiful girl named Rosi (Sibylle Canonica), but he treated her badly and she left him; all these years later, Manni asks his pals to find her so he can apologize and beg her forgiveness.Read More »

Jonathan Romney, Vienna IFF wrote:
A relatively concise example of Lav Diaz’s expansive essays on Filipino history and imagination, HISTORY OF HA is a period drama set in 1957, although Diaz is characteristically cavalier about authenticity, with modern wheelie suitcases visible and references to algorithms sprinkled across the dialogue. But the past is always visible in the present in his films, and vice versa. This is often expressed by the idea of living in the wake of something, in this case, the death of the Philippines’ then president Ramon Magsaysay in a plane crash.Read More »

This controversial feature blends documentary, archival footage and fiction into an elliptical narrative in which two young people in Prague, an ancient seat for the practice of alchemy, follow the trail for the mystical philosopher’s stone. History and future blend as brilliant montage sequences and fanciful leaps of the imagination work to posit questions about the legacy of the past and how it influences the individual’s personal freedom and responsibilityRead More »

Quote:
The story centers on the unconventional American professor, Michael Padovic, and his stunningly beautiful wife, Helene, who journey to an eerie Portuguese convent to prove that Shakespeare was, in reality, a Jewish Spaniard. They journey to the spooky old convent of Arrabida where they are housed by the sophisticated, but rather creepy guardian of the monastery, Baltar, who immediately seems attracted to Helene. In order to spend more time with her, Baltar arranges for Michael to spend all his time in the convent’s great library; he is assisted by a beautiful young librarian. It is the wicked Baltar who tries to tempt Michael (in the way that Mephistopheles tempted Faust) into becoming immortal through his research and writing.Read More »

Plainly but nonetheless effectively handled, “The Twilight” relates a case of prison recidivism with the real-life subjects playing themselves. Chance to glimpse incarceration and ex-con life in Iran will hold attention for foreign viewers, though this very modest, earnest exercise in old-school social problem cinema ultimately proves that the related issues are pretty much the same the world over. Fest and educational play are signaled.Read More »

Synopsis:
The solitary Daniel and Sonia share an uneasy love/hate relationship. Daniel’s life is disrupted by the appearance of a stranger that proceeds to insinuate himself in his life. The man’s persistence takes its toll on Daniel and Sonia, leaving Daniel alone with nagging questions of “Why?”Read More »

Synopsis
A largely plotless, fado-scored journey through the gloomy cobblestone streets, zombie bars, and fetid basements of a sordid harbor town populated by German-speaking sots and Portuguese guest workers, Nightfall is Kelemen’s most polished despair-fest. An unhappy young couple, Leni and Anton, quarrel and split separately into the rat’s ass of the evening. Everyone is looking for love, but no one finds any—although Leni does pick up a trick. With perfect bad timing, Anton wanders by the parked car where she is engaged, and in a frenzy of depression, carves her name on his knuckles. A sympathetic hooker bandages his hand and even gets him to dance before she lets her wig slip and passes out on the bar. Then it’s on through an after-hours club of sodden depravity to the bleary dawn.Read More »