Drama

Synopsis:

Told in seven chapters, Käutner’s first postwar film portrays the lives of average people overwhelmed and traumatized by the impact of fascism. Käutner uses the framing device of an automobile whose various owners serve as the film’s protagonists and initiate its episodic structure. The characters represent an interesting cross-section of the German people including a deserting soldier, a Jewish couple and a composer who has been labeled as subversive. During a time when most Germans wanted to forget the past, Käutner eschewed the controlled setting of the UFA studios and chose to film in the bombed out streets of Berlin, crafting a humanistic rendering of recent history.Read More »

Synopsis:

In São Paulo, the greedy Bárbara is not happy with her work in a loan and investment company. When her boss Ricardo invites Bárbara for a meeting at his apartment, he harasses her first and then he fires her. When Bárbara is walking on the sidewalk, a stranger offers a ride to downtown for her. While driving, the driver Rose offers a job in a brothel to Bárbara promising a very high income to her. When Bárbara arrives home, she tells the offer she had to her friends Mariazinha and Ana Lúcia. The trio decides to visit the place but they do not like the situation of being treated like objects. They decide to steal the database of the wealthy clients of Ricardo and offer their services in the own apartment. Sooner Bárbara invests a large amount improving the location that is known as “The Palace of the Angels”. Along the days they raise lots of money satisfying the fantasies of their clients but Mariazinha can’t stand the situation and returns to her hometown. Now Bárbara and Ana Lúcia
— Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (IMDb).Read More »

This third film version of Maxwell Anderson’s play Saturday’s Children stars Claude Rains as the impecunious but proud father of a large brood. Rains’ daughter Anne Shirley marries idealistic John Garfield, a would-be inventor who works for Shirley’s father. Feeling that he’s been tricked into marriage, Garfield gives every indication of turning out to be as much “failure” as Rains. Only when Garfield and Shirley are on the verge of breaking up do they realize that material gain is not the only barometer of success in life. Previous filmizations of this story include Saturday’s Children (29), starring Corinne Griffith, and Maybe It’s Love (35), costarring Ross Alexander and Gloria Stuart. Read More »

Synopsis:

The quiet desperate life of a secretary and her retarded sister depicted in a halting sequence of improvised fragments. The uncompromising cinematic debut of British director Mike Leigh

Review:

“Might be too bleak a look at reality for some but it nevertheless is an uncompromising way of brilliantly telling its harrowing story.”Read More »

Description: Synopsis
Waiting for Happiness depicts life in the seaside town of Nouadhibou in Mauritania. A young man, Abdallah (Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed), visits the town, where his mother lives, before emigrating. He feels disconnected from his people because he dresses in Western clothes, and he does not speak the language, but he connects in small ways during his stay. A taciturn elderly electrician, Maata (Maata Ould Mohamed Abeid), teaches an energetic boy, Khatra (Khatra Ould Abdel Kader), his trade, while a traditional singer (Nema Mint Choueikh) teaches a talented young girl hers. One would-be émigré washes up on the beach amid massive ships long ago run aground. Abdallah’s mother vainly urges him to follow traditional customs while he’s in town. Nana (Nana Diakite) tells Abdallah a sad tale about tracking down the father of her lost child in Europe. The film jumps forward in time at several points, and eventually both Khatra and Abdallah try to leave the village.Read More »

Based on the Short Story by: William Gibson
This film has got alot of mixed reactions. Some hate it, as they most likely expected alot more from a William Gibson adaptation with such a well known leading cast, others feel that it is an excellent science fiction movie that is getting an unncessary amount of criticism. Ill be honest I havent watched it yet, but scrolling through taking the screenshots i noticed that there is lots of Asia Argento titties…and they are spectacular. I’ll let you guys decide how good the film is for yourself.Read More »

User comment from IMDB: Author: ben morris (shiryuo) from Munich, Germany:

First of all I have to say that this film is really tough.

It’s a bit like Rashômon. A widow wants to find out the truth about her husband being apparent executed in the Second World War by Japanese soldiers.

But the administration isn’t ready to hand out the documents about his dead. So the woman (Hidari Sachiko) tries alone to find out what really happened, by questioning four survivors who knew her husband. And everybody tells a different story (that’s why I compare it with Rashômon, although they are set in different sceneries) and they have different opinions about the dead husband. The end turns out to be more horrible than any of you hard-boiled-audition-viewers might expect. Sorry, just kidding. Kinji Fukasaku does its best to disturb the audience. Compared with Battle Royale, Gunki hatameku motoni is much more real and in its way not entertaining at all, what Battle Royale certainly was.Read More »

The movie … is filled with great weariness and sadness; the party has been over for a long time, and these old druggies, now approaching middle age, have been left behind. Because they were survivors, because they were more intelligent and honest than most, this is the thanks they get: They continue to work in the scene long after they should have been replaced by a new generation of losers.
…
This movie isn’t about plot, it’s about a style of life, and the difficulty of preserving self-respect and playing fair when your income depends on selling people stuff that will make them hate you.Read More »

During a bank holdup, an early teenaged boy and girl (Karl Wagner and Marianne Svendsen) are taken hostage by the robbers. After a very pleasant captivity, during which they play Monopoly with their captors, they escape into the countryside. The two consummate their first love and have a number of delightful adventures but eventually must return to their everyday lives.Read More »