Drama

Movie serial “Vendemiaire” depicts a registering nationalist and regionalism concerns about the effects of the First World War.

« Réalisé dans les derniers mois de la guerre (sa sortie eut lieu en janvier 1919), en décors naturels, dans le Languedoc, ce film est une œuvre maîtresse de Louis Feuillade. Sous couvert d’un drame patriotique sur les civils en temps de guerre (les combats restent hors champ), structuré en un prologue et trois parties (« La vigne », « La cuve » et « Le vin nouveau »), il propose un film dont le réalisme quasi documentaire n’est cependant pas dépourvu de lyrisme et de poésie. Le récit, non chronologique, s’organise selon une narration présent/passé où alternent des séquences concernant les vendanges et le conflit au moment de l’invasion des régions du nord par les troupes allemandes.Read More »

An enigmatic young woman in conflict – torn between reason and passion; between her woman’s body and being raised as a prince; between the ancient and modern worlds and between the brilliance of her educated mind and the conservative forces around her. Crowned Queen at the age of six, Kristina of Sweden was thrust into a labyrinth of power and tradition, where a court of austere, Lutheran men pressure her to marry and produce an heir to fulfill her destiny. She finds sanctuary and love with her lady-in-waiting, the beautiful and elegant, countess Ebba Sparre, although the Chancellor, Axel Oxenstierna, pressures her to pair with his son, Johan. Soon the forces around the Queen realize that Ebba is the key to controlling her, but they underestimate Kristina’s brilliant mind and her drive to be free.Read More »

Synopsis:
Greenwood has a truly debilitating stutter but we hear his inner thoughts through voiceover and his online conversations with his only friend and love of his life, Ellie. Outwardly a mute, Greenwood is sweet, witty and charismatic on the inside. Ellie surprises Greenwood with the news that she has travelled to his city for a few days and he is suddenly faced with the truly daunting task of meeting her in person for the very first time.Read More »

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James, a twenty-something New Yorker, struggles to take control of his self-destructive behavior in the face of momentous family challenges.Read More »

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If Joaquin Phoenix met Carole Lombard in their twenties by the sea you would get the sizzle we feel in Jakob Lass’ Love Steaks.

Clemens (Franz Rogowski) arrives as a trainee at a Northern German seaside spa. He does massages, aromatherapy, and is being taught how to suck bad energy from the guests by circling his hands above their bodies. Lara (Lana Cooper) is a playful cook in the resort kitchen, constantly initiating acts of mayhem for her colleagues to react to.

As living quarters, Clemens is allotted a spacious storage room at the spa, where laundry carts are kept moving about and unused replacement garbage cans sit ominously. He has no private bathroom – no privacy to speak of at all, as there is no door – but a fabulous view of the ocean. Clemens is shy, sincere and in over his head on all accounts. Lara is bold and sexy-stupid, not in the dumb-blonde romantic comedy vein, rather mad-cap provocative. She seduces with a daring absurdity and her tango with Clemens is superb. Rogowski, a trained dancer, gives Clemens the fragility he needs to balance her shenanigans.Read More »

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This acerbic biographical comedy subtitled “I Think You Should Calm Down, Ladies…!” is loosely inspired by the life of renowned photographer and celebrity Jan Saudek, outstandingly portrayed by Karel Roden. The film, appealing in its theme and treatment, focuses on the maestro’s relationships with women, specifically the devoted Líba, who enjoys subtle yet complete control over Jan (her character is undeniably inspired by his former partner Sára Saudková). In addition to numerous indelicate scenes, the brief flashbacks also reveal Jan’s ill-fated past (conflicts with the police and state security agents, a nightmare from his childhood), and there’s also room for staging Saudek’s famous photographic nudes, for which the models were usually morbidly obese. Pavlásková also exposes the artist’s quirky personality, where exhibitionism and vanity go hand in hand with Saudek’s fragility and male naivety, and his desire to extricate himself from his private solitude.Read More »

A director in existential and creative crisis tries to find the script of his new film. Thus he invents a story about a successful man in an existential crisis, who separates from his wife. He then meets another woman, lives with her a possible love affair and seeks the continuation of their love story on a trip with disappointing results.Read More »

Plot
Most is the story of a single father who takes his eight year-old son to work with him at the railroad drawbridge where he is the bridge tender. Just as an oncoming train approaches, his son falls into the drawbridge gear works, leaving the father with a horrific choice. While the film is produced from a completely secular viewpoint, parallels are drawn with the sacrifice a young boy and his father make to that of God and Jesus. Other relevant narratives run in parallel, namely one of a female drug-addict, and they all meet at the climax of this tumultuous film. Critics gave rave reviews for this unique, subtle, and brilliantly produced work. Many reviewers had deep and moving reaction to the film. Christianity Today magazine called it “life changing.”Read More »

Synopsis:
A taxi driver takes a young woman at a small Iranian hospital. As long as he gets there he realizes that he must take crucial decisions that may change his life.

Review:
Too few risks have been taken in Iranian mainstream cinema to depict the oppression of Iranian women but Reza Mirkarimi’s film Emrooz (Today, 2014) subtly chronicles a day in the life of a pregnant single mother named Sedighe who desperately looks for support from a taxi driver named Younes. The film’s portrayal of the pregnant woman can be seen as evidence of the lack of social support for single mothers in Iran and how Iranian women have no legal right to defend their motherhood without the support of a child’s father.Read More »