Drama

Variety review :
“Is Gallic helmer Jean-Stephane Sauvaire hooked on violence? Almost everyone appearing in his documentary “Carlitos Medellin” was dead by the time it was edited, while his fictional “Johnny Mad Dog” headlined a murderous child soldier. Next to these earlier offerings, the violence in “Punk” seems relatively mild, though the rage and frustration fueling its teenage protagonist fairly explode off the screen. Released in France as a TV movie under another title, this vibrant evocation of the contemporary European punk scene impresses, but looks oddly, unavowedly time-warped, as if unfolding in punk’s ’70s/’80s heyday, considerably lessening distrib possibilities.Read More »

Synopsis:
Rare is the film in movie-history that can announce the entire movement of it’s ‘plot’ with its title alone. But Pialat’s second feature, Nous Ne Viellirons Pas Ensemble does exactly that, encapsulating all the turmoil, and the final end-point, of a couple who among themselves once made a commitment – and living together will come to make another one yet. Jean (Jeane Yanne, of Godard’s Weekend) and Catherine (Marlene Jobert, of Godard’s Masculin Feminin) are the couple whose every move charts an advancement deeper into an emotional warzone. Theirs is the classic and the tragic case of an emotional abuse centered around a perplexing, but powerful, interdependency. Read More »

Martha Hayes, a woman fanatically devoted to Jesus Christ, ekes out a meager existence in Montreal, Canada. As a singer in an Anglican Church choir, Martha meets and is fascinated by Father Michael Ferrier, an Augustinian monk who’s the guest conductor for an interfaith concert. How far is Martha willing to go to show her devotion to God?Read More »

Newly wed arrives at her husband’s family house, in the country. The heavy atmosphere of the house frightens her, and she takes refuge in her homosexual son-in-law’s room, who is kept locked and hidden from society. A tragedy occurs, causing her departure. She’s only to return seventeen years later, and sick.
Based on the great novel “Crônica da Casa Assassinada” by Lúcio CardosoRead More »

Synopsis:
At the end of 1972, con artist and thief Simon receives a remission to celebrate the New Year outside La Santé Prison. While heading to his apartment in Paris to meet his mistress Françoise, Simon notices that a car is chasing his cab. In the apartment, Simon leans that Françoise has a lover and he leaves the place without being noticed. Simon recalls the Christmas of 1966, when he travels out-season to Cannes with his partner and friend Charlot to heist the jewellers Van Cleef and Arpels. While plotting a scheme to rob the jewellers, Simon meets the intellectual antique dealer Françoise whose shop is the next-door neighbor of the target and he falls in love with her. But his scheme does not work as planned and Simon is arrested.Read More »

Synopsis:
A village on the border between Galicia and Portugal, hidden deep in the woods, a world out of time. Documentary moments of everyday life stand alongside dramatized scenes acted by the villagers working in the fields, sitting in the pub, singing traditional songs in the local dialect and telling old tales. Scenes of their own lives are interwoven with quotes from the play „O bosque” (The Woods) by the Galician writer Marinhas del Valle, a parable about the Franco dictatorship. When a fire breaks out in the woods, there are growing signs of an impending apocalypse. Arraianos is a film about remembering and the disappearance of a way of life.Read More »

Quote:
The singer Marta Velez decides to retire to make-up her marriage. Her husband, a vividor, tries to cheat her a large sum of money. Unable to get it, he thinks of a plan to kidnap his daughter and that the mother pay a ransom.Read More »

It’s summertime in Athens and Nikos, a 30-year-old broke musician, is taking care of a luxurious villa in the suburbs that belongs to a friend of his. Between poolside cocktails and fooling around with the dog that he is meant to take care of, Nikos has a plan. Still unable to get over his recent break-up with Sofia, he figures this is a unique opportunity to get some much-needed answers and he invites her over for the weekend. Sofia delightfully accepts not knowing, of course, that Nikos’ plans are not as innocent as they seem. Nikos locks himself up in the house with Sofia and refuses to let her leave until she provides some rationale for the break-up, turning their alleged carefree holiday into a mess of games, fights, laughs and introspection. Is Nikos ever going to get the answers he was looking for? Is Sofia ever going to be able to explain why they broke up? Afterlov is a funny, poignant and scathing post-love story between two people who refuse to grow up.Read More »

ClarkeFountain-AllMovieGuide wrote:
Utamaro was an artist who lived in Edo (which was later to become modern-day Tokyo) in the late 18th century. This film, which has a complex and wide-ranging storyline, recreates the world of that time, as it appeared in Utamaro’s paintings. In one the many scenes captured by the story, Utamaro watches the goings-on in a brothel while hidden in its attic.Read More »