Drama

  • Ted Kotcheff – Split Image (1982)

    1981-1990CultDramaTed KotcheffUSA



    Young man is sucked into an unnamed religious cult by beautiful girl and gets increasingly under the mind control of the cult leader. After his parents fail in their efforts to talk him out of it, they hire a guy who kidnaps and then de-programsRead More »

  • Yôichi Higashi – Mo hozue wa tsukanai aka No More Easy Life (1979)

    1971-1980DramaJapanYôichi Higashi

    Quote:
    Mariko (Momoi Kaori) is living the life of a typical Japanese college student in the 70’s, spending far more of her time balancing boyfriends and part-time jobs than on her schoolwork. She finds herself torn between a former boyfriend (Morimoto Leo) who’s the tough, insensitive-but-sexy, type, and a new acquaintance (Okuda Eiji) who’s more sensitive to her feelings, but who still acts childishly selfish at times. Will she choose one of them, or decide to go her own way?Read More »

  • Paul Verhoeven – De worstelaar AKA The Wrestler (1970)

    1961-1970DramaNetherlandsPaul VerhoevenShort Film


    Synopsis: A man fools around with the wife of a wrestler.
    Read More »

  • Yûya Ishii – Yozora wa itsudemo saikô mitsudo no aoiro da AKA The Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue (2017)

    2011-2020DramaJapanYûya Ishii

    Quote:
    A love story between a building-site labourer, whose best friend suddenly drops dead, and an overstressed, underpaid nurse.Read More »

  • Ewald André Dupont – Cape Forlorn AKA The Love Storm (1931)

    1931-1940DramaEwald André DupontUnited Kingdom



    William Kell, the keeper of a lighthouse a lonely stretch of coastline in New Zealand, marries cabaret dancer Eileen. His young wife, however, goes on to have an affair with Henry Cass, the handsome assistant. Later on she begins to flirt with a stranger from a wreckage. A chain of events is set in motion…

    Also filmed by Dupont in German (Menschen im Käfig) and French (Le cap perdu) versions with different casts.Read More »

  • Ingmar Bergman – Törst AKA Thirst (1949)

    1941-1950ArthouseDramaIngmar BergmanSweden



    A couple traveling across a war-ravaged Europe. A disintegrating marriage. A ballet dancer’s scarred past. Her friend’s psychological agony. Meanwhile, a widow resists seductions from two different persons – her psychiatrist and a lesbian friend. Told in flashbacks and multiple narrative threads, Ingmar Bergman’s Thirst shows people enslaved to memory and united in isolation.Read More »

  • Abel Ferrara – Bad Lieutenant [+Commentary] (1992)

    1991-2000Abel FerraraCrimeDramaUSA


    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Description: This provocative film has an almost documentary-like feel in its depiction of New York lowlife, and another credible performance by Harvey Keitel, but at times it’s as stagnant as the “hero’s” life – Ferrara holds the shots too long, as if we’re supposed to look for something more into them than what is actually there. Still, the film is certainly not the exploitive trash that some have labeled it as, and deserves a solid “7”.Read More »

  • Bo Huang – The Island (2018)

    Drama2011-2020Bo HuangChinaComedy

    Quote:
    Chinese comedy superstar Huang Bo (“Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons”) makes a good first stab at directing with “The Island,” an entertaining if overlong dramedy about company workers splitting into rival factions after being shipwrecked on a desert island. This mix of broad humor, survivalist drama and romance opens brightly and ends with a bang but stutters a little in the middle. Huang’s name and a cast including box-office draws Shu Qi and Wang Baoqiang should ensure strong domestic business, while the universally accessible “Lord of the Flies”-like premise ought to help attract audiences in offshore markets. “The Island” opens in China, North America, and several other international territories on Aug. 10.Read More »

  • Xavier Dolan – Laurence Anyways (2012) (HD)

    Drama2011-2020CanadaQueer Cinema(s)Xavier Dolan


    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    Montreal-based actor-turned-filmmaker prodigy Xavier Dolan’s third feature is a terrific character study for its first two hours — and then there’s the third one. That’s starting to be a routine for the young director: Dolan’s gently affecting debut, “I Killed My Mother,” was a remarkably insightful portrait of a young gay man’s relationship to his mother, but his two follow-ups have suffered from an overindulgence in style in spite of their many strengths. In the case of “Laurence, Anyways,” Melvil Poupaud delivers a stirring performance in the title role as a high school teacher who confesses to his hip girlfriend Fred (Suzanne Clément) that he has a penchant for cross-dressing. The story tracks Fred’s transition from anger to acceptance as the couple attempts to keep their relationship intact. Dolan’s screenplay is sharply attuned the nuances of human behavior, and strikes an intelligent note between intimacy and a grandly expressionistic vision that dramatizes the emotion of the scenario with boisterous music cues, fantasy sequences and a lavish color scheme.Read More »

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