Drama

  • Ming Zhang – Ming wang xing shi ke AKA The Pluto Moment (2018)

    2011-2020ArthouseChinaDramaMing Zhang

    Quote:
    Tracking an independent film crew on a difficult field research trip in Southwest China, Sixth Generation writer-director Zhang Ming’s “The Pluto Moment” ponders the relationship between life and death, nature and society, art and commercialism. Unlike many films about filmmaking, which lend themselves to a kind of meta self-awareness, this deceptively simple yet quietly revelatory drama features engaging characters and offers wryly ironic comments on the unpredictable nature of film production.Read More »

  • Philip Gröning – Die Frau des Polizisten AKA The Police Officer’s Wife (2013)

    2011-2020DramaGermanyPhilip Gröning

    Quote:
    The pursuit of truth is a demand that cannot be fulfilled through seeing alone. An encounter with cinema resides through a locale of turbulent openings that allow a mental space for future thought still to be developed. Our very idea of narrative enjoyment is a misnomer, a cul­-de-­sac that needn’t answer anything other than enjoyment. Yet there exists an avenue where the idea of enjoyment is something only to be savoured retrospectively; the experience of this achievement is of the moment – painful, meditative and transcendental. Philip Gröning’s The Police Officer’s Wife (2013) arrives burdened by existing on its own terms, a film experienced but not particularly enjoyed by most at Venice last year.Read More »

  • Veit Harlan – Opfergang AKA The Great Sacrifice (1944)

    1941-1950DramaGermanyThird Reich CinemaVeit Harlan

    Quote:
    Albrecht Froben, though married to Octavia, falls in love with his neighbor, Äls Flodéen. She, however, is slowly dying from a debilitating disease. During an epidemic, Albrecht goes to bring her daughter to safety but he catches typhoid and is quarantined in hospital. Octavia, realising the love match, and hearing that Als is now bedridden and dying, dresses up as him and rides by her gates every day to keep her spirits up – her bed is next to the window. Albrecht returns. Äls has a dream in which she talks to her projection of Albrecht and concludes that she does not wish to take part in this union and accepts death. Albrecht is reconciled with his wife.Read More »

  • Mika Kaurismäki – Paperitähti AKA Paper Star (1989)

    1981-1990DramaFinlandMika Kaurismäki

    Synopsis:
    Anna, a former top model, is relegated to second-rate modeling jobs. Her lover, Ulf, a drug dealer and pimp, leaves her to settle in Stockholm. Anna gets involved with Ilja, a middle-aged fashion photographer who treats her badly and violently. The police arrest Anna and hold her in custody for a fortnight. After she is released from the prison, Ilja continues his disgusting behaviour towards her. Supported only by Taukka, a young biker with a good heart, Anna leaves for Stockholm to rejoin with Ulf. After a fatal shooting incident in the beautiful Gamla Stan, the old town district of Stockholm, Anna meets up with Taukka who has been released from the prison and together they ride towards a better future on Taukka’s gleaming bike.Read More »

  • Makoto Shinozaki – Sharing (2014)

    2011-2020AsianDramaJapanMakoto Shinozaki

    Two girls experience anxieties of their own in a story set in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and subsequent nuclear disaster in Japan. One girl is a professor studying the dreams related to the earthquake. The other is a student who has a nightmare while rehearsing for a play about the disaster.Read More »

  • Vera Storozheva – Puteshestvie s domashnimi zhivotnymi AKA Travelling with Pets (2007)

    Drama2001-2010RussiaVera Storozheva

    Quote:
    Natalie was 16, living in a foster home, when she was bought by a rough and unstable man. They lived at a remote station, and their loveless marriage lasted 19 years, until he died. Now free, Natalie is discovering her first love when she meets Sergei.Read More »

  • Sophie Fillières – Arrête ou je continue (2014)

    2011-2020DramaFranceSophie Fillières

    Their grown-up son has left home, the draw in her office desk is full of ants, and her husband runs off after the bus leaving her standing on the street. Pomme’s life has become a series of disappointments. Over the years, Pomme and Pierre have drifted apart and their relationship, though not yet dead, is no longer really alive. Even their attempt to drink champagne together fails when the bottle explodes in the freezer. They are out hiking together one day when Pomme suddenly decides to stay behind in the forest, alone …Read More »

  • Akihiko Shiota – Gaichû AKA Harmful Insect (2001)

    2001-2010Akihiko ShiotaAsianDramaJapan

    Eiga Wiki wrote:
    Harmful Insect follows a girl named Sachiko after her father dies, her mother attempts suicide, and her entire class is gossiping about her possibly having an affair with her sixth grade teacher who recently moved away. Because of all this, Sachiko stops going to school and hangs out with a street-dweller named Takao and his mentally disabled friend. When Takao is beaten to death Sachiko is forced to return to her former life, only to face more unwanted trauma at the hands of adults who never seem to have her best interests in mind.Read More »

  • Mikhail Kalatozov – Neotpravlennoye pismo aka The Letter Never Sent (1959)

    Drama1951-1960ArthouseMikhail KalatozovUSSR
    Неотправленное письмо

    This film is based on the eponymous book by Valery Osipov. Four geologists are searching for diamonds in the wilderness of Siberia. After a long and tiresome journey they manage to find their luck and put the diamond mine on the map. The map must be delivered back to Moscow. But on the day of their departure a terrible forest fire wreaks havoc, and the geologists get trapped in the woods.Read More »

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