Drama

  • Nadine Labaki – Et maintenant on va où? AKA Where Do We Go Now? (2011)

    Drama2011-2020ComedyLebanonNadine Labaki

    In an isolated Lebanese village, the mosque and the church stand side by side–but religious tension threatens to boil over, particularly as a series of pranks escalates into ever-increasing hostility. The women of the village, both Christian and Muslim, concoct improbable schemes to defuse the tension, including hiring a troupe of Ukrainian belly dancers. Where Do We Go Now? veers back and forth between wrenching drama and cheerful comedy but somehow maintains a balance. Director-actress Nadine Labaki leads her mostly nonprofessional cast with heart and fervor.Read More »

  • Karpo Acimovic-Godina – Umetni raj AKA Artificial Paradise (1990)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaKarpo Acimovic-GodinaYugoslavia

    Los Angeles in 1935. Fritz Lang receives in his hotel apartment the young film amateur Willy, who wants to prepare an interview with him. At a certain moment Lang starts relating how, as an army officer in the First World War, he spent some time in the house of the lawyer Karol Gatnik in a small town in the northeast of Slovenia.Read More »

  • Tatsumi Kumashiro – Kaburitsuki jinsei AKA A Thirsty Life (1968)

    Drama1961-1970AsianJapanTatsumi Kumashiro

    Based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Komimasa Tanaka, the film tell the story of a strip-teaser, and her daughter who wishes to join her mother’s profession.Read More »

  • Vic Morrow – Deathwatch (1966)

    Drama1961-1970CultQueer Cinema(s)USAVic Morrow

    Quote:
    Based on a play by Jean Genet, a small-time thief battles with his gay cellmate over a third illiterate, muscular convict.

    Leonard Nimoy (Jules LeFranc), Michael Forest (Greeneyes), Paul Mazursky (Maurice), Robert Ellenstein (Guard), Gavin MacLeod (Emil)

    Sharing a dank cell in a French prison are Jules LeFranc, a social outcast serving time for a minor theft, and Greeneyes, a convicted murderer awaiting the guillotine. Embarrassed by the pettiness of his offense against a society he detests, Jules openly worships the infamous Greeneyes and longs to be his friend. Read More »

  • Kumar Shahani – Tarang AKA Wages and Profits (1984)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaIndiaKumar Shahani

    Sethji is a widowed, a businessman and lives a comfortable life with his only daughter, Hansa, his son-in-law, Rahul, and a grandson, Munna. He has Rahul as his right-hand man, and a nephew named Dinesh who also assists in running the business. Petty rivalries and jealousies have grown in the family, and Sethji and Rahul feel that Dinesh is now trying to undermine the business. They would like to get rid of him, without attracting any attention to themselves. They do terminate Dinesh, but this affects Sethji’s health, and he dies. Shortly thereafter, Hansa also dies, leaving Rahul to look after the business on his own. But there are many questions unanswered, like why was no one in attendance with the ailing Sethji; Hansa’s death was a suicide, why was it covered up?; what of the affair that Rahul is having with Janki, their maidservant, who is full of venom against the family; and the involvement of Anita, Rahul’s secretary, in his personal life. With the police getting involved, it is time for them to either come clean or go their separate ways.Read More »

  • Gabriel Abrantes, Denis Côté, Marie Losier, Dominga Sotomayor – Aqui, em Lisboa: Episódios da Vida da Cidade AKA Here in Lisbon (2015)

    2011-2020Denis CôtéDocumentaryDominga SotomayorDramaGabriel AbrantesMarie LosierPortugal

    Welcome to Lisbon: there are mermaids by the Tagus and birds flying over the old city; there are mad scientists and singing fish; lost tourist guides and lost tourists; fado and sad guitars. What a weird city you may think – but no. Lisbon is about being different, sarcastic, welcoming to foreigners even in an economic crisis. Different directors became fascinated by our strangeness. We became fascinated by these directors. The city is never the same in these four episodes, here in Lisbon.Read More »

  • Haifaa Al-Mansour – Wadjda [+commentary] (2012)

    Drama2011-2020Haifaa Al-MansourSaudi Arabia

    Slant Magazine wrote:
    Wadjda, a film about the oppression and long-imposed inferiority of women in Saudi Arabia, even begins with a downward-tilted, condescending gaze, offering an opening shot of school girls’ feet. One pair is notably different from the others, sporting purple-laced Chuck Taylors instead of the uniform-y patent-leather slip-ons. These, of course, are the feet of the 10-year-old title character (Waad Mohammed), whose rebellious nature is immediately, ham-handedly underlined as a rally cry for all Saudi women. Reluctant to sing in a choral-type lesson among her tuneful classmates, Wadjda is quiet and unengaged, to which an instructor reacts with, “What’s the matter, Wadjda? You don’t want us to hear your voice?” Cut to Wadjda inside her bedroom full of Western-pop-culture décor, listening to Grouplove’s “Tongue Tied.”Read More »

  • Mitchell Leisen – Death Takes a Holiday (1934) (HD)

    1931-1940DramaFantasyMitchell LeisenUSA

    The Grim Reaper (Frederic March) takes the form of a Prince in an attempt to relate to humans and, along the way, also learns what it is to love.Read More »

  • Marysia Nikitiuk – Koly padayut dereva AKA When the trees fall (2018)

    2011-2020DramaMarysia NikitiukUkraine

    The story of a five year old little rebellious girl Vitka with her teenage cousin Larysa and her boyfriend, the young criminal Scar unfolds in a Ukrainian provincial setting. Larysa finds herself at a crossroads after the death of her father. Yearning to be self made, the village community ostracizes her for loving Scar. Larysa discovers her grandmother once sacrificed her love for a young gypsy abandoning him for traditional values and other people’s opinions. Larysa’s mother is too psychologically weak to support her daughter. Larysa and Scar plan to escape from a life of crime, misery and their relatives. But are they ready to pay the full price for freedom?Read More »

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