Comedy

Summary: In 1988, renegade filmmaker Robert Altman and Pulitzer Prize–winning Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau created a presidential candidate, ran him alongside the other hopefuls during the primary season, and presented their media campaign as a cross between a soap opera and TV news. The result was the groundbreaking Tanner ’88, a piercing satire of media-age American politics, in which actors Michael Murphy (as contender Jack Tanner) and Cynthia Nixon (as his daughter) rub elbows on the campaign trail with real-life political players Jesse Jackson, Gary Hart, Bob Dole, Ralph Nader, Kitty Dukakis, and Gloria Steinem, among many others. The Criterion Collection is proud to present the complete eleven-episode television series—more relevant today than ever.Read More »

From TCM:
When the body of Violet Feverel, who had taken her horse for an evening ride, is discovered in Central Park, Inspector Oscar Piper of the New York police arrives at the crime scene and is joined by his friend, amateur detective and schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers. After Hildegarde locates Violet’s horse and bloodied saddle, Oscar concludes that she was murdered and begins to question suspects, including Latigo Wells, the manager of Violet’s stable. Confronted by Oscar’s suspicions, Wells reveals that Violet had quarreled with Eddie Fry, her sister Barbara Foley’s boyfriend, just before the murder. Hildegarde then finds out from High Pockets, a stable employee, that Violet also had quarreled with Wells just before her death. At Violet’s apartment, Oscar and Hildegarde discover Eddie and Barbara hastily packing and question them. The young couple, who had become engaged in spite of Violet’s objections, defend their innocence and cast suspicion on Don Gregg, Violet’s ex-husband, whom Violet had jailed for nonpayment of alimony.Read More »

Rosalind, the daughter of a banished duke, falls in love with Orlando at a wrestling match, but her usurping uncle, jealous of her popularity, banishes her from court. Disguised as a boy she seeks out her father and his friends in the Forest of Arden. Here she meets Orlando again and, under the guise of a young man, counsels him in the art of love.

Directed by Thea Sharrock
Designed by Dick Bird
Music composed by Stephen Warbeck
Choreographed by Fin Walker

Recorded live at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London, in October 2009.Read More »

Quote:
A film about the absurdities of everyday life, Cosmos is not so much six short films as it is one film with multiple storylines which interlace seamlessly. The styles, interests and rhythms of the six filmmakers blend together, producing a cohesive whole that is often comic, often tragic – and, at times, both. Cosmos, an immigrant Greek cab driver, leads us through storylines as intricate as big city traffic.Read More »

Desert in your mind is the first feature movie directed, written and produced by Marta Grimalt Canals. This surrealistic road movie is filmed in super 8 bw around California, Barcelona and Mallorca.

Through his frustrations, an obsessed novelist connects with a dimension where a walking girl encounters weird characters in a mysterious urban world, slowly driving to the peaceful nature of the desert. In this trip between light and shadow, hope for finding an inner mental peace will prevail.

This movie is characterized for an experimental language, with purposed technical and performing imperfections, wrapped in an organic fantasy effect.Read More »

A student film with no synced sound, Babysitter is a humorous nine-minute short made as Todd Solondz’ graduate film for NYU film school in 1984. Eric Schwartzman narrates and plays the lead role of a young boy who tells his history with babysitters, and how his life was particularly touched by his last one, a teenager (Patti Seitz). Read More »

Tange Sazen is the story of a one eyed one armed swordsman his nagging wife and an orpan who upsets their routine while clutching a ceramic pot worth one million ryo. We know the value of that pot, but none of the film’s characters know that which sets into motion some great sight gags and wonderful bits of action. First conceived as a series of films in 1927 this film has not been seen since 1935, and the wait has been certainly worth it. Gorgeous scenery, fabulous costumes, quick comic pacing and enough action to keep you interested this film hopefully is the first of a new series. Clear English subtitles allow the viewer to be caught up in the daily lives of this family, and the constant bickering of the wife who is not sure about the orphan, and that pot. A subtle comic masterpiece!Read More »

Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. A young Orthodox woman, ROCHEL MESHENBERG, is about to begin her first year as a special education teacher at the local public school. She is also about to embark on what her father and mother call the “most exciting time of her life” – the process of finding a husband via the time-tested method of using a “shadchen,” or matchmaker.Read More »

Synopsis:
“A near-fatal collision between a car and a motorcycle brings about the happy reunion of Lise Tanquerelle, a busy career woman, and Antoine Lemercier, a professor of Greek at the Sorbonne. Although it has been many years since they last saw each other, in the halcyon summer of their college days, Lise and Antoine still have fond feelings for one another. Unfortunately, Antoine loathes the police with the passion of a red-blooded anarchist and Lise isn’t sure how to break the news to him that she is a police commissioner. Before she can resolve this dilemma, Lise is drawn into an investigation into the brutal killing of a former minister…”
– Films de FranceRead More »