Arthouse

Named the Best Dutch Film of the Century by the Netherlands Film Festival, Verhoeven’s hugely successful, Academy Award–nominated sophomore feature opens with a giallo-style jolt, develops into a kinky, blackly comic sexploitation romp, and finally blossoms into an alternately sweet and perverse romance. In the first of his many collaborations with Verhoeven, Rutger Hauer stars as a temperamental sculptor who hitches a ride with a free-spirited young woman (Monique van de Ven). In short order they hook up on the side of the road, get married, and settle into a life of round-the-clock lovemaking in his art-strewn studio—but, alas, nothing lasts forever.Read More »

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Composed entirely of still photographs shot by Marker himself over the course of his restless travel through twenty-six countries, If I Had Four Dromedaries stages a probing, at times agitated, search for the meanings of the photographic image.Read More »

Review from Cinemascopian.com:
Elad Keidan’s “Himnon” (Anthem), a droll 36 minute observation on a day in the life of a man from Jerusalem who goes out to buy milk and comes back hours later with his life turned around from the bleak into the hopeful, captivated the hearts of the Cinefondation jury Hou Hsiao Hsian, who presided over the jury , must’ve found the film right up his alley: with long takes and extreme long shots it is indeed almost Taiwanese in style. But the quirky storyline and the abundance of heart and belief emanating from the movie may remind viewers of “The Band’s Visit”, last year’s Cannes darling, also made in Israel. This is the first time an Israeli film wins the Cinefondation. But 2nd and 3rd prizes were won four times previously, so this is the fifth prize for an Israeli filmmaker in the competition’s 10 years existence. (This is also the first time a movie from Jerusalem’s Sam Spiegel Film School wins there after all previous Israeli winners were made at The Tel Aviv University Film School.)Read More »

La falaise is the first short film by Faouzi Bensaïdi, a Moroccan director who has continued, after this first success already showing his special leg, with Trajet and Le mur , then feature films, including A Thousand Months , noticed at Cannes, and the last one. date, Volubilis . This film, in theaters at the moment, reveals, like La falaise , the director’s interest and concern for his country, for his pains and his peculiarities. In both works, there is an important social dimension and an exacerbated dramatic sense.Read More »

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When brothers Simon and Sergei bungle an important drug deal on behalf of the local crime kingpin, they’re forced to make up for it by retrieving a lost batch of heroin. Trouble is, they have no idea where to begin. This shrewd gangster satire includes some 20 Russian film stars among its ensemble cast, cleverly costuming each big name to leave viewers guessing who’s who.Read More »

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This French drama explores the desolation felt by a young girl whose divorced concert pianist mother and businessman father are too self-absorbed to give her any attention. Louise (Sophie Rochut) stoically attempts to carry on, despite the disregard of those around her. Her stoicism is shattered by a few moments of incidental friendliness from a journalist. She runs away to find him, despite not even knowing his name or address. She returns home, unsuccessful, and throws herself in the river. This suicide attempt momentarily brings mother and daughter together, but we are left with little hope that things will really be better in the long run. Writer/director Michele Rosier tells this sad story with a minimum of melodramatics, which makes it even more effective.Read More »

Ritwik Ghatak’s final film (made two years before his untimely death) features Ghatak himself in the role of Nilkantha Bagchi (the name is deliberately chosen to draw parallels between Lord Shiva’s blue throat after having swallowed all the poisons-of-the-world during the churning of the ocean and the character in the film), an alcoholic intellectual nearing the end of his life who journeys forth through Bengal, deep into the fabric of his past life, loves, and friendships. It is a not-so-veiled self-portrait of the director himself.Read More »

Eimantas and Migle have been together for only a couple of months. Migle’s grandfather has been living in an apartment that is too big for him. That’s why Migle’s parents decide that he is finally going to live with them. In order to please his girlfriend, Eimantas comes to the grandfather’s home to help Migle’s family move all the furniture. But not every family member is happy about the presence of Eimantas.Read More »

Synopsis
A father-daughter relationship is melded, strained, and deepened by a shared angst: the grandmother in the family left her home by train and never arrived at her destination. The father Pierre (Jean Rochefort) is distraught that the police could basically dismiss the issue as inexplicable, and he decides to retrace on foot the voyage his mother should have made. His daughter Amelie (Camille de Casablanca) goes with him, and the story evolves as the two walk along the train tracks, searching in the nearby terrain and bushes for any evidence that might point to what happened. Along the way, their once antagonistic and distanced relationship (Amelie is a student, her father is a picture-restorer) begins to work itself out…Read More »