Arthouse

LES PAYS LOIN was Jean Rollin’s second short film. It was never screened in the cinema-or even film festivals- until years after it was made and, even then, on extremely rare occasions. This Encore release is the first opportunity that almost anyone has had to see this early work. The film is a science fiction piece in which a man and a woman are lost in a maze of streets and can’t remember how they got there. When they do make it out onto the busy, populated streets, things are no better. The landmarks are unfamiliar and the people speak a strange language. Even at this very early stage, one can already see the themes of loneliness and melancholy, and a yearning for release that are trademarks of Rollin characters throughout his entire body of work.Read More »

On a sudden whim Goli decides to return to Iran after 20 years of living in France. She lands in Rasht, her home town, located in the north of the country. Farhad, a frame maker by trade, comes to welcome her. He seems to know her well, but the young woman has absolutely no recollection of him.

Director’s statement: I wanted to make a love story slightly different from those we are used to seeing. Farhad, the main character, is a man in love who demands nothing of that love to whom he has devoted all his life and who, like a sort of guardian angel, is content just to follow his beloved Goli’s life from afar.

The film considers what both parties bring to this love equation and reflects on what they gain and what they lose. To what extent can one maintain a sense of belonging when one lives outside one’s homeland and how does a revered image of home correspond to a concrete reality? What is more desirable, a world of one’s imaginings, the world as it is, or a mixture of the two?Read More »

A woman whose son has been estranged from her for years travels to visit him in Paris. Despite offers of money and position, he would prefer to remain a petty thief, gigolo, and paid dancer rather than have anything to do with his mother. She has factories in Indochina which, despite political reverses, still run under her direction, and they could have been put under his control. The lad is happy enough to steal the jewels and money she has left lying around for just that purpose, knowing that he is too proud to accept gifts. His unhappy childhood in Indochina has left him too bitter to be approached.

Based on her novel and prior to directing a film version of the novel, Duras had already modified it into a stageplay that had enjoyed a theatrical run.Read More »

A character study as well as a meditation on communication, creativity, and physical space, Take What You Can Carry is a picture of a young woman seen through the interiors she occupies and the company she keeps. A North American living abroad, Lilly aspires to shape an intimate and private place of her own while connecting to the world around her. When she receives a letter from home, it provides the conduit she needs to fuse her transient self with the person she’s always known herself to be.Read More »

Quote:
In which Scheherazade doubts that she will still be able to tell stories to please the King, given that what she has to tell weighs three thousand tons. She therefore escapes from the palace and travels the kingdom in search of pleasure and enchantment. Her father, the Grand-Vizier, arranges to meet her at the Ferris wheel and Scheherazade resumes her narration: O auspicious King, in old shanty towns of Lisbon there was a community of bewitched men who, with all dedication and passion, devoted themselves to teaching birds to sing… And seeing the morning break, Scheherazade fell silent. [Kino Lorber]Read More »

Quote:
In which Scheherazade tells of how desolation invaded men: It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that a distressed judge will cry instead of giving out her sentence on a night when all three moons are aligned. A runaway murderer will wander through the land for over forty days and will tele transport himself to escape the Police while dreaming of prostitutes and partridges. A wounded cow will reminisce about a thousand-year-old olive tree while saying what she must say, which will sound none less than sad! The residents of a tower block in the suburbs will save parrots and piss inside lifts while surrounded by dead people and ghosts; including in fact a dog that… And seeing the morning break, Scheherazade fell silent. Damned tales! If things continue this way my daughter will surely end up with her throat slit! the Grand-Vizier, Scheherazade’s father, thinks in his palace in Baghdad. [Kino Lorber]Read More »

Quote:
In which Scheherazade tells of the restlessness that befell the country: It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that in a sad country among all countries, where people dream of mermaids and whales, and unemployment is spreading. In certain places, forests burn into the night despite the falling rain; men and women long to set out to sea in the middle of winter. Sometimes there are animals that talk although it is highly improbable that they are listened to. In this country, where things are not what they appear to be, men of power promenade on camels and hide permanent and shameful erections; they await the moment when taxes are collected so they can pay a certain wizard whom… And seeing the morning break, Scheherazade fell silent. [Kino Lorber]Read More »

allmovie:
This Dutch film, based upon the classic 19th century S&M novel, chronicles the relationship between a dominatrix and her slave. Much of the soundtrack includes works by Mahler and Tchaikovsky. Wanda has a number of sado-masochistic encounters with Severin in a variety of locations including a crypt. In the end, he is left branded by another man while she leaves with a woman.Read More »

SYNOPSIS:
Selma is a Czechoslovakian immigrant, a single mother working in a factory in rural America. Her salvation is
her passion for music, specifically, the all-singing, all-dancing numbers found in classic Hollywood musicals.
Selma harbors a sad secret: she is losing her eyesight and her son Gene stands to suffer the same fate if she
can’t put away enough money to secure him an operation. When a desperate neighbor falsely accuses Selma
of stealing his savings, the drama of her life escalates to a tragic finale.

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 28 wins & 34 nominations Read More »