Arthouse

  • Orson Welles – Vérités et mensonges aka F for Fake (1973)

    1971-1980ArthouseDocumentaryFranceOrson Welles

    Quote:
    Orson Welles’ free-form documentary about fakery focusses on the notorious art forger Elmyr de Hory and Elmyr’s biographer, Clifford Irving, who also wrote the celebrated fraudulent Howard Hughes autobiography, then touches on the reclusive Hughes and Welles’ own career (which started with a faked resume and a phony Martian invasion). On the way, Welles plays a few tricks of his own on the audience.Read More »

  • Rogério Sganzerla – Nem Tudo é Verdade (1986)

    Arthouse1981-1990BrazilDocumentaryRogério Sganzerla

    Orson Welles goes to Brazil to shoot his documentary It’s All True.
    Quote:
    A fictional account of Orson Welles’ real passage to Brazil where he was supposed to film a cultural film called “It’s All True”, to present a positive image of Brazilian people and the country’s grandiosity’s to the U.S. government, a project that was part of FDR’s Good Neighbor policy. But Welles got enchanted with everything around him and got distracted from the project, that never got fully made. This movie speculates what really happened to Welles that prevented him from fulfilling his work.Read More »

  • Isabel Coixet – The Bookshop (2017)

    Drama2011-2020ArthouseIsabel CoixetUnited Kingdom

    Set in a small town in 1959 England, it is the story of a woman who decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop, a decision which becomes a political minefield.Read More »

  • Jean-Paul Bourdier & T. Minh-ha Trinh – A Tale of Love (1995)

    Drama1991-2000ArthouseJean-Paul BourdierT. Minh-ha TrinhUSA

    Quote:
    Portraying the Vietnamese immigrant experience through Kieu, A TALE OF LOVE follows the quest of a woman in love with ‘Love’. The film is loosely inspired by THE TALE OF KIEU, the Vietnamese national poem of love which Vietnamese people see as a mythical biography of their ‘motherland,’ marked by internal turbulence and foreign domination. A free-lance writer, Kieu also works as a model for a photographer who idealizes the headless female body and who captures Kieu sheathed by transparent veils. Read More »

  • Zbynek Brynych – Transport z raje aka Transport From Paradise (1963)

    Drama1961-1970ArthouseCzech RepublicZbynek Brynych

    Synopsis:
    Transport from Paradise is set in an unusual World War II concentration camp. The lax Nazi guards permit their Jewish prisoners to roam freely about the camp and conduct their own business and social affairs, without the threat of instant extermination looming over their heads. The prisoners’ main fear is that they may at any moment be shipped off to one of the death camps. In the film’s incredibly heartbreaking climax, a group of prisoners willingly board a train to Auschwitz, laboring under the delusion that they are being sent to another “paradise” camp at the behest of the Council of Jewish Elders. Though it stretches credibility at times, Transport from Paradise is purportedly based on a true story.Read More »

  • Liliana Cavani – Ripley’s Game (2002)

    2001-2010ArthouseDramaItalyLiliana Cavani

    Tom Ripley (yes same character from The American Friend – Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz – and The Talented Mr. Ripley – Matt Damon ). Some are more loosely based on the initial written character than others and occasionally bear only slight resemblances. I’ll wager reams have been written about this intriguing film, but on the surface we have a character study of a man who has chosen to live his life devoid of empathy (selective) to his fellow man. Quite a cynical microcosm of modern humanity. But the debate, of course, is how accurate that is. Is Ripely a true sociopath? Are we, as a society, all moving in the direction of the intense selfishness of Mr. Ripley? is that how our society has evolved? – to squash those who would stand in the way of our economic benefits. Read More »

  • Ange Leccia – Azé (2003)

    2001-2010Ange LecciaArthouseFranceVideo Art

    French artist Ange Leccia’s Azé is made of images that seem to be coming from a terrorist hidden in Middle East.
    No subtitles, but you don’t need any.

    Azé ne conclut en rien ce périple, même s’il en est la troisième étape. Ange Leccia y expose le récit d’un terroriste parti se réfugier au Moyen-Orient. Mais, à l’instar d’Ile de Beauté et de Gold, le scénario se délite pour livrer à l’intuition un ensemble d’images où les choses prennent souvent un caractère pictural. Cette plasticité traduit la curiosité pour l’espace environnant et le transfert possible des signes sous l’impulsion des émotions. Le soleil est ainsi le guide de cette fiction qui donne une version abstraite des films d’aventures romantiques. Sa chaleur va jusqu’à brûler les paysages et la rétine, c’est-à-dire altérer le réel et lui donner l’incandescence d’un mirage. La lumière est un brasier où le voir et le vécu se confondent dans un tremblement érotique.Read More »

  • Sivaroj Kongsakul – Tee-rak AKA Eternity (2010)

    Drama2001-2010ArthouseSivaroj KongsakulThailand

    Quote:
    The sort of love story that can only be believed in Thailand. A man returns after his death to the landscape of his youth and relives the love that was meant for eternity. Even if you don’t believe in reincarnation, it’s a meditative and above all beautiful film.

    It is often said that a certain film is atmospheric, but in this case it is more than apt. Eternity is atmospheric, but also poetic and philosophical, or maybe better: spiritual. Life, life after this life and memories of life flow together. Past and present go hand-in-hand like passionate lovers.Read More »

  • Xuebo Wang – Qingshui li de daozi AKA Knife in the Clear Water (2016)

    2011-2020ArthouseChinaXuebo Wang

    In the far mountains of Ningxia province, the old Ma Zishan and his son start mourning his wife. Loved by everyone in the village and the family, the son wants to sacrifice their only bull for her 40 days disappearance ceremony. Zishan isn’t against it, but his sorrow and his love for the old animal make him wonder. Even his prayers and the Imam don’t seem to erase his doubts. Until one morning the old bull stops eating and drinking. Has he seen the knife in the clear water?Read More »

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