Synopsis
When Hay was seven years old, he found a dead horse in an open field and watched his father and other adults struggle to get rid of it. Unsure of this memory, he is nonetheless influenced by this incident and, when he cuts himself during a sacrificial rite, everything comes flashing back.Read More »
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Julián Hernández eroticizes nude men like no other filmmaker. His camera practically caresses the actors’ bodies, and viewers who appreciate his distinctive style of cinema often share the palpable desire his characters feel. His latest film, “I am Happiness on Earth” is not unlike his earlier film, “Broken Sky,” in that it tells of a love triangle where much of the communication is done without dialogue.Read More »
Jonas Mekas’ BIRTH OF A NATION (1997) continues the filmmaker’s investigation into the possibilities of film-as-diary to offer glimpses of key figures of experimental cinema, including Stan Brakhage, Tony Conrad, and Michael Snow, compiled from footage shot over four decades. As far back as the masterpieces WALDEN (1969) and LOST, LOST, LOST (1976), Mekas has been turning his roaming camera on those around him, eschewing conventional documentary in favour of a more impressionistic, subjective engagement with his friends and surroundings.Read More »
Miho Nakamichi, an orphan adopted by Haruko, dreams to star in a musical. One day, Haruko promised Miho that she could go on a journey to find her real father, “Daddy-Long-Legs”, who sends a bouquet of flowers every birthday, once she can wear a special pair of pointe shoes. The day finally arrives and Miho’s small adventure begins.Read More »
Synopsis
One of the myths surrounding the creation of Vietnam involves a fight between two dragons whose intertwined bodies fell into the South China Sea and formed Vietnam’s curving S-shaped coastline. Influential feminist theorist and filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha’s lyrical film essay commemorating the 40th anniversary of the end of the war draws inspiration from ancient legend and from water as a force evoked in every aspect of Vietnamese culture. Read More »
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Xavier returns to Lisbon after doing his compulsory military service and tries to give his life some meaning: he visits his old orphanage, meets some his old friends, attends a trial at the courthouse.Read More »
Two tales intersect at a riverside hotel: an elderly poet (Ki Joo-bong), invited to stay there for free by the owner, summons his two estranged sons, sensing his life drawing to a close; and a young woman (Kim Min-hee) nursing a recently broken heart is visited by a friend who tries to console her. At times these threads overlap, at others they run tantalizingly close to each other. Using a stark black-and-white palette and handheld cinematography (with frequent DP Kim Hyung-ku), Hong crafts an affecting examination of family, mortality, and the ways in which we attempt to heal wounds old and fresh.Read More »
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Encoded to make it easier for me to watch. Roughly followed the HANDJOB guide, figured I may as well upload here. The source was cn1831’s DVD (originally LaserDisc?) upload, which is better than the other DVD encode on here. The subs are hardcoded, and I’m sure someone could do a better job encoding, so trump away. Hopefully there’ll be a better quality release one day.Read More »
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After Calderón and Proust, Comédie de l’innocence is another literary adaptation, this time from the little-known Italian surrealist Massimo Bontempelli. Updated from the last fin de siècle to this more recent time of uncertainty, Comédie de l’innocence’s plot is small but perfectly formed. With Aristotelian rigour it moves from the opening conundrum (a child torn between two mothers), through the complication (the confrontation between the mothers and Ariane’s brother Serge), to a satisfying conclusion. Ruiz, who takes a co-credit as scriptwriter with Françoise Dumas, keeps up the tension, however, with laconic and enigmatic dialogue. When Ariane visits the empty flat of Isabella, a nosy neighbour remarks: ‘I really don’t want to know.’ Ariane replies: ‘There is nothing to know.’Read More »