Shunzo (Bengal) and his wife Michi (Masako Motai) run a beloved greengrocer on the outskirts of Tokyo. When Lee, a struggling exchange student from China, visits the shop but is unable to afford the produce, an uneasy relationship sprouts. Begrudgingly, Shunzo agrees to lower his prices. Soon, Lee’s classmates begin frequenting the shop. As Shunzo’s generosity sneaks up on him and strains his family’s welfare, he confronts his role as surrogate father to his newfound Chinese friends.Read More »
L’Inconsolable (The Inconsolable One).1st version. 2010. France. Written and directed by Jean-Marie Straub. Based on Dialogues with Leucò, by Cesare Pavese. With Andrea Bacci, Giovanna Daddi. In Italian. 14 min.
Returning from the forest of shades, a quietly defiant Orpheus tells a Bacchante it was free will, not destiny, which compelled him to cast the fatal gaze on his wife Eurydice, recognizing their love as a thing of the past and his own proper place in the world of living souls. A masterful series of camera shots reveals the Bacchante looking away in incredulity, horror, and betrayal. (Joshua Siegel – MoMA)Read More »
Sébastien (Jean-Pierre Kalfon, Weekend) is staging an adaptation of Racine’s tragedy, Andromaque while a film crew captures their rehearsals on handheld 16mm. The production’s star and Sebastian’s wife, Claire (Bulle Ogier, Out 1), cannot take the pressure and removes herself. Life imitates art, creating a tragedy for the couple when Sébastien recasts the role with his ex. L’amour fou is a hypnotic study of tempestuous love, told with director Jacques Rivette’s signature reflexivity and containing striking examinations of performance, art, theatre and life. A classic of the French New Wave and one of Rivette’s most radical works, L’amour fou was unavailable for years, with the original elements tragically burned in a fire. Now meticulously restored, Radiance Films is proud to present this masterpiece from a new 4K restoration.Read More »
Clarke Fountain, Rovi wrote:
Celia, who calls herself Ginevra, is a movie actress who is appearing in an art-film. When she collapses from exhaustion while browsing in a bookstore and subsequently has a car crash, she decides to run away, throwing away her belongings and attempting to live incognito with a bar singer. Eventually she returns to her oh-so-boring life and shuttles between two additional lovers while working on the set of “Tears of an Angel.” Some allusions are made to the Arthurian and Camelot myths, but these are not developed. Reviewers found the main attraction of this “art film” to be the numerous sex scenes between the star (played by Amanda Ooms) and her various lovers.Read More »
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Three women in a maternity ward reveal their lives and intimate thoughts to each other.
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At the height of his international acclaim, Ingmar Bergman followed two meditations on death, The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries, with an examination of the mystery and pain of birth. This intimate chamber drama, set in a maternity ward, follows the emotional crises of three women as they grapple with motherhood. Another major success for the director that was also recognized for its exquisite performances by Ingrid Thulin, Eva Dahlbeck, and Bibi Andersson, Brink of Life is one of Bergman’s most brilliantly nuanced explorations of the inner lives of women.Read More »
Two actors wandered from house to house in the countryside in the roles of the photographer and the retoucher business man offering their photographic services to the people.Read More »
The Son of Gascogne (1995)
October 9, 1995
FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW;Maybe He’s The Son Of a Film Legend
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: October 9, 1995
There really isn’t much difference between a favorite screen image and a personal memory of youthful passion, except that one exists on film and the other only in our private mental movies. That insight lies at the heart of Pascal Aubier’s delicious comic bouillabaisse of a film, “The Son of Gascogne.” The film, which the New York Film Festival is showing tonight at 9 and tomorrow night at 6 at Alice Tully Hall, is a fable about an innocent young man who inherits a mystique that has everything to do with old movies and old loves and our eagerness to confuse the two.Read More »
In this dark, slow-paced and enigmatic film, the title Schastlivye Dni (Happy Days) is definitely a bit on the ironic side. The story begins when a young man with a head injury is released from the hospital and begins searching modern-day St. Petersburg for a room or a place to stay.Read More »
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In 1974, Alexander Kluge and Edgar Reitz roamed Frankfurt for ten days with a small crew, capturing life in the city at that time: the political demonstrations, carnival fun, and debate within the SPD Party’s Congress. Interwoven to these are bizarre fictional situations and spy story parodies.Read More »