Drama

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Darezhan Omirbaev (Kairat, Kardiogramma) directed this French-Kazakh film about a young man driven to the precipice in an uncaring world. Marat (Talgat Assetov) works as a chauffeur for a well-known scientist. Driving home from the maternity hospital with his wife Aijan (Roksana Abouova) and their new baby boy, Marat is at fault during a minor traffic accident. The damage payments on both cars put him in debt. Unable to cover costs when the baby gets sick, Marat finds it necessary to follow a gangster’s bidding to murder a journalist. Shown in the Certain Regard Section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.Read More »

Based on a historical novel by Antonio Larreta, Volaverunt imagines a number of romantic misadventures that enlivened the court of King Carlos IV, a Spanish ruler of the early 19th century. As the story opens, the beautiful Duchess of Alba (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) is sharing a coach passing through Andalusia with artist Francisco de Goya (Jorge Perugorria), Prime Minister Manuel de Godey (Jordi Molla), and Pepita Tudo (Penelope Cruz), a peasant girl. Goya and de Godey are obviously charmed by the Duchess’s exotic beauty and free-spirited attitude, but the Prime Minister is equally smitten with Pepita. The Prime Minister invites her to the royal court in Madrid, where she becomes his mistress and the subject of several of Goya’s paintings. However, Queen Maria Luisa (Stefania Sandrelli) disapproves of de Godey’s new love, and instead arranges for him to marry the Countess de Chinchon (Maria Alonso), a plain-Jane member of low-level royalty. The Duchess is upset with de Godey’s marriage, as it keeps her away from a collection of royal jewelry she covets. When the Duchess suddenly and mysteriously dies, Goya, de Godey, and Pepita are all murder suspects and must confess where they were and what they were doing at the moments leading up to her death. While the film itself received mixed notices, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon received the Silver Shell as Best Actress at the 1999 San Sebastian Film Festival. The version screened at San Sebastian and several other festivals in the fall of 1999 was director Bigas Luna’s original cut; the film’s producers announced that the film would be re-edited for international release. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie GuideRead More »

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This suspense thriller about a bad relationship concerns Lola (Angela Molina), who is working hard for a living but becomes caught up in a sado-masochistic affair with the vicious Mario (Feodor Atkine). Finally breaking away from her own neurosis and a punishing lifestyle, Lola meets and marries Robert (Patrick Bauchau) and starts a new life with him in Barcelona. They have a young daughter but after a few years, Mario suddenly bursts into their lives claiming that the daughter is really his. Nothing but trouble lies ahead. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, RoviRead More »

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Márcia is a married woman with a son. She finds that her husband has an affair. She cheats him too and decides to go to Itaipava with her son. A black horse, free in the fields, attracts her. In the end, she comes back home and memories come back while watching the footage made by her son.Read More »

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At his execution, Jesus is tempted by an alluring image of a peaceful and pleasant life with Mary Magdelene to try to get him to refuse the sacrifice he must make. The carpenter Jesus of Nazareth, tormented by the temptations of demons, the guilt of making crosses for the Romans, pity for men and the world, and the constant call of God, sets out to find what God wills for him. But as his mission nears fulfillment, he must face the greatest temptation: the normal life of a good man. Based, not on the Gospels, but on Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel of the same name. One of my favorite movies. I like the role of Judas in this portrail when he get angry with Jesus and tells him: Traitor….I loved you so I betrayed you…etc. Without Judas’ betrayal no resurection.Read More »

A film by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Syndromes and a Century, the fifth feature from Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, is a spellbinding Buddhist meditation on the mysteries of love and attraction, the workings of memory, and the ways in which happiness is triggered. Mesmerisingly beautiful to look at, it is also laced with wonderful absurd humour.

Commissioned by Vienna’s New Crowned Hope festival in 2006, the film established Weerasethakul as one of the most exciting talents in world cinema today.

Dubbed ‘a hospital comedy of a somewhat metaphysical bent’, Syndromes and a Century is inspired by the Weerasethakul’s memories of his parents, both doctors, and of growing up in a hospital environment. The two central characters interact with a bizarre array of professional colleagues and patients with their various strange maladies, including an elderly haematologist who hides her whisky supplies in a prosthetic limb, a Buddhist monk suffering from bad dreams about chickens, and a young monk who once dreamed of being a DJ and now forms an intense bond with a singing dentist, whom he believes to be the reincarnation of his dead brother.Read More »

A look at the lives of two teenage girls – inseparable friends Ginger and Rosa — growing up in 1960s London, and the pivotal event the comes to redefine their relationship as the Cuban Missile Crisis looms.Read More »

Clip is not another ‘coming-of-age’ story about the complexities of adolescence. Miloš has made an honest and non-judgmental portrait of teenagers caught in sexual and social turmoil. Sexually explicit and emotionally disturbing, it goes beyond borders and even further.

Jasna is a beautiful girl in her mid-teens. Disillusioned by her life in a remote Serbian town with a dispirited mother and terminally ill father, she opposes everyone, including herself, and goes wild, experimenting with sex, drugs and simply killing time. But gradually, this desperate protest helps her come to terms with painful reality.

In her first feature, Maja Miloš explores the disturbing state of adolescence as bravely and honestly as her protagonist explores herself. Isidora Simijonovic, also a debutant, gives a striking and fearless performance full of contrasts. Together they create a highly dynamic and vibrant portrait of wasted youth lost in the search for identity.Read More »

Synopsis
The three Villasbôas brothers start their quest as young, urban men who are looking for an adventure in the Brazilian hinterland. Adding to the discovery of natural wonders, they end up finding a cause worth defending. But the challenges are vastly overwhelming.Read More »