Drama

This comedo-dramatic exploration of the human condition follows its characters through a single high stress day, coincidentally pitting issues of child abuse and serial homicide against those of loneliness and estrangement.Read More »

Jacek loves heavy metal, his girlfriend and his dog. His family, his small hometown, his fellow parishioners all see him as an amusing freak. Jacek works at the construction site of what it is supposed to become the tallest statue of Jesus in the world. When a severe accident disfigures him completely, all eyes turn to him as he undergoes the first facial transplant in the country.Read More »

Quote:
The 3 Part of the Maiku Hama Triology is the best and probably darkest of all the films. In fact, this episode is more of a horror-like thriller reminiscent of a Takashi Miike film. “The Trap,” which is the final film of the trilogy was preceded by the more semi-comical episodes of “The Most Terrible Time In My Life,” and then followed by “Stairway To The Distant Past,” and finally concluding with this film, “The Trap.” In the previous episodes of the trilogy, Maiku Hama (Masatoshi Nagase) is not the aloof private detective he was originally portrayed as; but a much more intelligent and calm detective.Read More »

Synopsis:
A young man, Gabriel Fouquet, arrives in a coastal town in Normandy to visit his daughter, who is staying in a boarding school. He ends up lodging in a guesthouse run by the aged Albert Quentin and his wife Suzanne. To forget his troubles, Gabriel hits the bottle, not realising that the teetotal Albert was once a heavy drinker. Twenty years ago, the latter pledged never to touch alcohol again if he and his wife survived the war. Through his friendship with Gabriel, Albert becomes nostalgic about his past, recalling his time as a sailor on an expedition to China. To drown their sorrows, the two men embark on a drinking binge which quickly gets out of hand…
— James Travers.Read More »

Kongo is writing a book on the subject of immigrants but while his editor wants a kind of traveler’s book in which ethnic exotic ingredients are offered to a European audience, Kongo has more ambitious ideas – he conceives of the idea of writing a book that follows the paths of Congolese history and its many ghosts. A brave and powerful film, made with single-mind integrity. Filmed mainly in the Congo, the film also provides a slice of life of the contemporary Congolese community in Brussels.Read More »

A small-time crook digs himself deeper into trouble the harder he tries to get out in this comedy from Turkey. Altan (Cem Yilmaz) is a low-level criminal severely lacking in both luck and skill, and his wife (Ceyda Duvenci) has had just about enough of his life outside the law. In desperation, Altan strikes upon an idea for one big score — his brother (Mazhar Alanson) is the manager of a pharmaceutical warehouse, so Altan grabs his bother, nabs a large cache of drugs, and heads to the seashore where he can sell his ill-gotten wares. However, just as business starts to pick up for Altan, a gang of rival drug dealers decide they would also like a piece of the action. Her Sey Cok Guzel Olacak /Everything’s Gonna Be Great was a major box office success in Turkey, partly due to the presence of Mazhar Alanson as Altan’s brother, who is a major Turkish pop star.Read More »

Quote:
The Caretaker was the play that made Harold Pinter’s name when it was first performed at the Arts Theatre, London in 1960, and it remains probably his most famous. Two years later, Clive Donner’s film version began shooting, after producer Michael Birkett had raised the finance from figures such as Noel Coward, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Sellers, Peter Hall and Leslie Caron – all passionate admirers of the play. For the film, two of the cast of that original production – Donald Pleasence as Davies and Alan Bates as Mick – are joined by Robert Shaw as Aston, allowing us to see on film three of the greatest stage interpretations of Pinter’s characters. Donner’s sensitive film becomes a study of shared illusion, tragic dispossession and a fraternal bond of unspoken love, combining mesmerising performances and the magic of Pinter’s dialogue into a spellbinding film.Read More »

The spirit, hopes, and failures of a troupe of itinerant performers in the 1950s create a poignant, humorous leitmotif in this drama by Fernando Fernan-Gomez. The story of the wandering players is told in flashbacks, as Carlos Galvan (Jose M. Sacristan) reminisces about the good times while under therapy with a psychiatrist in a senior citizens’ home. Carlos and his lover Juanita (Laura del Sol), his teenage son, his father, and a few other actors try to eke out a living by putting on shows in small towns and villages. No one has very much money, but life is lived to the hilt, and Carlos himself has some pretty tall tales.Read More »

Quote:
A tough kid comes to a new high school and begins muscling his way into the drug scene. As he moves his way up the ladder, a schoolteacher tries to reform him, his aunt tries to seduce him, and the “weedheads” are eager to use his newly found enterprise, but he has his own agenda. After an altercation involving fast cars, hidden drugs, and police, he’s accepted by the drug kingpin and is off into the big leagues. A typical morality play of the era, filled with a naive view of drugs, nihilistic beat poetry, and some incredible ’50s slang.Read More »