Comedy

Synopsis:
As part of a job that he is promised, Xavier, an economics student in his twenties, signs on to a European exchange program in order to gain working knowledge of the Spanish language. Promising that they’ll remain close, he says farewell to his loving girlfriend, then heads to Barcelona. Following his arrival, Xavier is soon thrust into a cultural melting pot when he moves into an apartment full of international students. An Italian, an English girl, a boy from Denmark, a young girl from Belgium, a German and a girl from Tarragona all join him in a series of adventures that serve as an initiation to life.Read More »

Classic short British comedy, full of stars. In this slapstick comedy two bumbling workmen attempt to take a long wooden plank through a London suburb to a building site. Mayhem ensues. This is done with music and a sort of “wordless dialogue” which consists of a few mumbled sounds to convey the appropriate emotion.Read More »

An aristocrat, short of the readies, has turned his desirable mansion into a textile workshop, where he works with his wife, his son and his mother-in-law. He’s grumpy, stingy and unkind. In the village, the wealthy solicitor wants his ugliest daughter to marry his half-witted young son, so she’ll become a countess. But saint Francis Assisi appears and the count changes overnight; he does not want his family to kill the spiders (your sister, the spider) and he begins to ignore the social conventions: his son will marry “La Langouste” (the lobster), the local hooker who keeps a strong clientele among the billeted troops. Now, the aristocrat, imitating our Lord’s apostles, divests himself of all possessions of the material world and intends to hit the road in a horse-drawn caravan.Read More »

This film has been called the “Uruguayan ‘Slacker’”, a reference to Linklater’s movie. It has also been called a landmark film in a (low-key, small-scale) renaissance in Uruguayan cinema – a national cinema with a terrible memory problem (“El Dirigible”, from 1994, was routinely cited as “the first Uruguayan film”, which is very false, but understandable when one sees how little movies that country has managed to preserve).

Whatever its place in film history, it’s worth a watch, and rings very much true.Read More »

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Based on the novel by Rafael Azcona, screenplay by Azcona and Marco Ferreri. Rodolfo and Petrita each live in separate quarters in dilapidated Madrid, while looking to have a little apartment (or “pisito”, in Spanish). Unfortunately their low salaries prevent them from acquiring one. Soon, Rodolfo’s co-workers urge him to marry the old and frail Doña Martina, who is the main tenant in the apartment he boards in. According to Spanish rent-control law, he could inherit the lease from his spouse. Thus begin his misgivings and Petrita’s.Read More »

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A young aristocrat, Aleksei Fedyashev, is languishing in his family’s country estate, spending his days reading poetry and confessing his love… to a statue. Upon hearing that famous Count Cagliostro is touring Russia and has created quite a buzz in high society with his “magic”, he decides to ask the Count to bring the statue to life…Read More »

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Before there was Woody Allen’s 2008 Vicky Cristina Barcelona, there was Whit Stillman’s far rawer, less warm and fuzzy Barcelona, released in 1994. Set in 1980s Barcelona, the film explores a period of particularly notable anti-American sentiment. While marketing/sales rep Ted Boynton (Taylor Nichols) does his best to keep a low profile while working abroad for his Chicago-based company, the unexpected arrival of his naval officer cousin, Fred Boynton (Chris Eigeman), throws a wrench into Ted’s plans for tranquil solitude.Read More »

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Film Forum writes:Poor relation Dennis Price, ninth in line to the Dukedom of Chalfont, coolly narrates from prison his ascent to the peerage via serial murder, bumping off one D’Ascoyne after another, from an arrogant playboy, to a bullet-headed general, to a stiff-upperlipped Admiral, to a dotty reverend, to a formidable dowager — all, plus three more, played by Alec Guinness.Read More »

Jockey Jack has a bill open with a gangster just released from jail. He somehow manages to parry the gangster’s knife attack backstage at a theatre and the latter ends up dead being put into a double bass case. A day later the gangster mysteriously has disappeared, but it turns out that he was carrying a bet ticket for a horse race now worth over a million. A turbulent run for the money begins.Read More »