Drama

  • Sidney Lumet – Network (1976)

    1971-1980DramaSidney LumetUSA

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    Quote:
    “Network” will shake you up. Paddy Chayefsky’s absurdly plausible and outrageously provocative original script concerns media running amok. Faye Dunaway and William Holden, each in two of their finest performances, plus Peter Finch and Robert Duvall star in this superbly cast and handsomely produced Howard Gottfried production. Sidney Lumet’s direction is outstanding. The Metro picture, released by United Artists, is a potent commercial blend of artful tirade, visual excitement and sociological horror.

    In terms of older films about the broadcast media, this is no soap opera film, like MGM’s long-ago “The Hucksters.” Nor is it low-key, intellectual drama like “A Face In the Crowd.” This is a bawdy, stops-out, no-holds-barred story of a TV network that will, quite literally, do anything to get an audience. The strangest thing about the film is that, while often preachy, hysterical, shrill and bizarre, it also makes a compelling statement from amidst its sound and fury. It’s a verbal and visual equivalent of a dozen top-40 radio stations blaring out at you in the same room. In short, it’s just mad.Read More »

  • Mauro Bolognini – Senilità (1962)

    1961-1970DramaItalyMauro Bolognini

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    Based on Italo Svevo’s great novel so admired by James Joyce, this atmospherically photographed film is set in old Trieste and centers on a middle-aged public official and his unrequited love for a flirtatious but unpossessable girl who blithely betrays him. The melancholy hero is played by Anthony Franciosa; Claudia Cardinale is the girl. The man’s sister (Betsy Blair) is a depressive also disappointed in love. Upon her death by her own hand our hero faces a life of continued solitude.
    Bolognini’s misty evocation of perennial “tristezza” (sadness of spirit) and its equivalent in damp gloomy ambiance is the kind of thing he does so well. One only has to think of what he achieved in “La viaccia” and “Fatti di gente perbene”. This is one of his very best films and was only given a limited release in the U.S.A. under the title of “Careless”. Director of photography Armando Nannuzzi gave the “old postcard” look to the city.
    Gerald A. DeLuca @VIMDbRead More »

  • Yimou Zhang – Qian li zou dan qi AKA Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005)

    2001-2010AsianChinaDramaFifth Generation Chinese CinemaYimou Zhang

    A young Japanese film maker is in hospital in Tokyo. His estranged father tries to visit, but the son refuses to see him. So, as a gesture of reconciliation, the father decides to go to China to complete the filming of a Chinese opera, called “Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles,” which the son was working on but unable to finish.Read More »

  • Dag Johan Haugerud – Det er meg du vil ha AKA I’m the One You Want (2014)

    2011-2020Dag Johan HaugerudDenmarkDrama

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    Quote:
    This film tells the true story of a 30-year-old female high school teacher who falls in love with a 15-year-old pupil and starts a relationship with him. Sonja Evang’s script is based on interviews with the real life persons. It was developed and shot to be screened at the Norwegian Drama Festival.

    Sindre Kaspersen @ IMDB wrote:
    Norwegian screenwriter and director Dag Johan Haugerud’s second narrative feature which was written by Norwegian screenwriter Sonja Evang, is inspired by real events and interviews with the person in question. It premiered at the Norwegian Drama Festival in 2013, was shot on location in Oslo, Norway and is a Norwegian production which was produced by Norwegian producer Yngve Sæther. It tells the story about a 32-year-old Norwegian female secondary school teacher who gradually fell in love with her 15-year-old pupil and how she approached and handled this situation.Read More »

  • William A. Wellman – My Man and I (1952)

    1951-1960ClassicsDramaUSAWilliam A. Wellman

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    Plot: Chu Chu Ramirez is a Mexican farm laborer in California, with lofty ideals, who is very proud of his new American citizenship. During his time off, he tries to befriend the alcoholic bar girl Nancy. After working for a month for the subsistence farmer Mr. Ames and his frustrated wife, Chu Chu discovers that his paycheck bounces and Ames stalls in paying him. Just after a confrontation between Ames and Chu Chu, Ames is accidentally wounded by his own shotgun and he and his wife blame it on Chu Chu. Despite the support of his friends and sympathetic sheriff, Chu Chu is given a year’s sentence. Written by Will GilbertRead More »

  • Gianluigi Calderone – Appassionata AKA Passionate (1974)

    1971-1980DramaGianluigi CalderoneItaly

    Ornella Muti Eugenia, the daughter of respected dentist Emilio Rutelli (Gabriele Ferzetti) and former concert pianist Elisa Rutello (Valentina Cortese). Elisa long ago suffered some sort of mental breakdown, and she’s treated shabbily by Eugenia. For his part, Emilio still cares for Elisa, though that doesn’t prevent him from becoming sexually active with his daughter’s best friend Nicola (Eleonora Giorgi). Incest eventually enters into the picture.
    Read More »

  • Yasuo Furuhata – Eki Station aka Station (1981)

    1981-1990AsianDramaJapanYasuo Furuhata

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    A very beautiful film. This is a Ken Takakura vehicle, and as such follows his formula. Takakura plays to type as the laconic brooder who suffers multiple tragedies with manly stoicism. While the variety of his film varied greatly, his films with director Yasuo Furuhata were always of the highest quality, and this is no exception. Takakura is a cop training to be a sharpshooter for the Olympic games, he divorces his wife and abandons his daughter when he discovers she’s had an affair. Later his coach is gunned down by a fleeing criminal. Years later Takakura returns to his snowy hometown and starts an affair with a middle-aged bar owner. The story is a bit thick, with a number of subplots, yet it is extrordinarily melancholic, as Takakura seems to regret everything he’s done in his life and is made over and over again to relive his mistakes. There is very little “action” as such, and no yakuzas of any kind; but beyond that this is one of the most lushly beautiful and emotional films you can see (if you can see it), with an excellent score by Ryudo Uzaki.Read More »

  • Penny Woolcock – The Principles of Lust (2003)

    2001-2010DramaPenny WoolcockUnited Kingdom

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    Synopsis:
    Crippled by his writer’s block, Paul enters into a new, exciting relationship with risk-taking Billy and super-sexy Juliette. As it becomes increasingly tangled, however, he must choose one of them over the other.

    Jamie Russell, bbc.co.uk wrote:
    “Likely to cause a stir because of its explicit scenes of orgies and coke snorting, what really separates The Principles Of Lust from the crowd is its edgy, dark atmosphere that combines conventional Hollywood thrillers about sociopaths – eg. Fight Club, Bad Influence – with a distinctly British, rough and ready feel.Read More »

  • Claude Gagnon – Keiko (1979)

    Drama1971-1980Claude GagnonJapanQueer Cinema(s)Romance

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    Keiko is a 23-year-old lonely virgin who lives in a tiny room, and hopes to meet someone in the cafe she frequents. After a bad affair with one of the other diners, she vows to give up men. She then begins a happy lesbian relationship with her co-worker Kazuyo. However she is under constant pressure from her father to marry.Read More »

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