Comedy

  • Harmon Jones – As Young As You Feel (1951)

    1951-1960ClassicsComedyHarmon JonesMarilyn MonroeUSA

    Based on a story by Paddy Chayefsky, this is the tale of a man, John Hodges, who is being forced to retire from his job, at the age of 65, and decides to fight back. His family can barely stand having him at home, and the traditional pursuits of the aged do not appeal. Impersonating the head of his former company, Hodges sets out to convince them to get rid of their outmoded retirement policy. He arrives at his old plant on an inspection tour where complications ensue. This movie features good performances, but it will probably be remembered more for the bit part played by a young Marilyn Monroe as the boss’ secretaryRead More »

  • Fernando Cerchio – Totò e Cleopatra (1963)

    1961-1970ComedyFernando CerchioItaly

    PLOT SYNOPSIS:
    Returning from Egypt where he was bewitched by Cleopatra, Mark Antony is sequestrated by his wife, who sends a double (Totonno, a slave trader) to the Pyramids.Read More »

  • Slobodan Sijan – Ko to tamo peva? aka Who’s singing over there? (1980)

    1971-1980ComedySlobodan SijanYugoslavia

    Synopsis:
    On April 5, 1941, a date Serbs will recognize, men on a country road board Krstic’s bus for Belgrade: two Gypsies who occasionally sing about misery, an aging war vet, a Nazi sympathizer, a dapper singer, a consumptive, and a man with a shotgun. Krstic is a world-weary cynic, out for a buck; the driver is his son, the simple, cheerful Misko. En route they pick up a priest and young newlyweds going to the seaside. Along the way, mis-adventure strikes: a flat tire, a rickety bridge, a farmer who’s plowed the road, a funeral, two feuding families, an army detail, and a lost wallet slow the bus and expose rifts among the travelers. On April 6, amid rumors of war, they reach Belgrade…Read More »

  • Emma Dante – Via Castellana Bandiera AKA A Street in Palermo (2013)

    2011-2020ComedyEmma DanteItaly

    Shut inside their cars, two women face off in a silent duel that is fought out in the intimate violence of their stares. A wholly female duel punctuated by the refusal to drink, eat and sleep; more obstinate than the sun of Palermo and more stubborn than the ferocity of the men who surround them. For, as in every duel, it is a question of life or death… It’s a Sunday afternoon. The sirocco is blowing pitilessly in Palermo when Rosa and Clara lose their way in the streets of the city and end up in a sort of alley: Via Castellana Bandiera. Read More »

  • Hal Ashby – Shampoo (1975)

    1971-1980ComedyHal AshbyRomanceUSA

    Plot Synopsis from allmovie.com
    A frankly adult comedy about the sex lives of the aimless and the rich, Shampoo is also a pointed commentary on the demise of 1960s idealism at the dawn of the Nixon era. It is Election Day, 1968, and randy Beverly Hills hairdresser George Roundy (Warren Beatty) is too worried about attending to all of his women’s tonsorial and sexual needs, while trying to swing a bank loan to fund his own salon, to notice the fateful Presidential race. As George juggles the demands of girlfriend Jill (Goldie Hawn) and mistress Felicia (Lee Grant), not to mention Felicia’s daughter (Carrie Fisher), he meets Felicia’s husband Lester (Jack Warden) to get money for the salon and discovers that his beloved ex-girlfriend Jackie (Julie Christie) is now Lester’s mistress. Read More »

  • Olle Hellbom – På rymmen med Pippi Långstrump aka Pippi on the Run (1970)

    1961-1970ComedyCultOlle HellbomSweden

    She’s one of those definitively Generation X characters, the original latchkey kid, the first one left Home Alone: Pippi Longstocking, living on her own in the pastel Villa Villekulla without benefit of adult supervision and only a horse, Little Old Man, and a monkey, Mr. Nilsson, for company. Independently wealthy, thanks to her sailor-father’s adventures in the South Seas, she buys toys and candy for the town kids, pigs out on cakes and cookies, and is assuredly a bad influence on her young next-door-neighbors, Tommy and Annika (Päaut;r Sundberg and Maria Persson). Read More »

  • João César Monteiro – Recordações da Casa Amarela AKA Recollections of the Yellow House (1989)

    1981-1990ArthouseComedyJoão César MonteiroPortugal

    Synopsis:
    This quirky Portuguese comedy won a silver lion at the 1989 Venice Film Festival. The story concerns the irrepressible Joao de Deus (played by the director, Joao Cesar Monteiro), an ill-kempt, lusty and none-too-honest resident of Violeta’s boarding house, which happens to have yellow walls. Joao, who has no visible means of support, is in his fifties, and is not above cadging money from his 70 year old mother, who still works as a cleaning lady. He has a wistful sort of lust for the young ladies in the boarding house, and gets a kind of thrill when he is permitted to take a bath in their used water. Read More »

  • Luc Moullet – Le Système Zsygmondy [+Extras] (2000)

    1991-2000ComedyFranceLuc MoulletShort Film

    Synopsis:
    In order to climb a peak, two young walkers arrive at the Zsygmondy mountain refuge the night before. But the girls find there’s only one single place left…Read More »

  • Sebastián Borensztein – Un cuento chino AKA A Chinese Tale (2011)

    Drama2011-2020ArgentinaComedySebastián Borensztein

    The film opens idyllically when a Chinese man, Jun (Ignacio Huang), takes his girlfriend on a boat trip on a picturesque lake to propose to her. This image is quickly shattered when a cow falls from the sky, killing Jun’s girlfriend. The shattering of Jun’s happiness and the serene scene becomes a precedent for the rest of the film. It is this event which will ultimately change the life of bad tempered iron monger Roberto (Darín). Read More »

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