Drama

Quote:
Claes Fellbom’s Skottet [The Shot] is about two young people fleeing from the police through a wintry Sweden. 18-year-old Ronny (Peter Schildt) has been expelled from his parents’ house and family business since it was discovered that he had abused heroin. When he meets “Kompis” [“Friend”] (Kent-Arne Dahlgren) who has just escaped from prison, Ronny is quickly drawn into old bad habits. The film begins with an almost mute sequence where the two guys break into a weapons depot and drive out into the woods to “test” the automatic weapons in a dreadful war game, which ends in horror. Ronny is forced to seek refuge with his girlfriend Len (singer Cia Löwgren) and with the police on his heels, the young couple escapes.Read More »

Synopsis:
It is the first round of the national high school baseball tournament but we’re less concerned with what goes on in the baseball diamond, rather, it is the people in the stands who we watch. A former baseball team player named Fujino and two members of the theater group, Yasuda and Tamiya, have come to cheer the team. Miyashita, once the smartest person in the grade, has just lost her position to the captain of the brass band and is on her own. As these characters interact while watching a baseball game, their hidden thoughts also become apparent – “On The Edge of Their Seats” is based on an award-winning stage play created by a theatre group from a high school in Hyogo Prefecture. —Jason MAHER, OAFFRead More »

A human drama that provokes contemplation on the essence of “family” and local “shops”.

Upon entering university, Haruka leaves her hometown and goes on to excel at a venture company. However, her willingness to use any means necessary to achieve her goals becomes her downfall as she is forced to resign due to accusations of harassment. Struggling with funding after attempting to start her own business, Haruko returns home following her mother’s passing and proposes selling the family’s shop. Her sister shows little interest, while her brothers vehemently oppose the idea. Haruka leans forward a plan to make her family members self-sufficient. Praised for its comedic touch and non-intrusive script, the film shines with the actors’ remarkable performances. Their collaborative efforts with the local community align well with Cinekoya’s mission. Besides the entertainment value of a family drama, the film also presents an intriguing aspect of indirectly criticizing the Japanese economy through the lens of local “shops”. It prompts us to contemplate the significance of local “shops” in our towns.Read More »

Quote:
“C’est un film simple sur des choses compliquées”, this is how J.L. Godard once described Le mépris : “It’s a simple film about complicated things.”

I. “Totalement, tendrement, tragiquement”
II Cinecittà, “All kinds of real human beings.”
III. Prokosch’s villa in Rome – “About the money and your wife”
IV. In the appartment – “I’m not going, I’m not going”
V. In the theater (where one sells lies)
VI. Capri – “I have to know why you despise me”
VII. “Adieu”
VIII. Ithaque – “Silenzio!”Read More »

Ground control has been receiving mysterious transmissions from the three remaining residents of the Solaris space station. When cosmonaut and psychologist Kris Kelvin is dispatched to investigate, he experiences the same strange phenomena that afflict the Solaris crew, sending him on a voyage into the darkest recesses of his consciousness. With Solaris, the legendary Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky created a brilliantly original science-fiction epic, adapted from the famous novel by Stanislas Lem. Much more than a sci-fi film, Solaris is a meditation that challenges our conceptions about love, truth, and humanity itself.Read More »

Synopsis
Simone 23-year-old studies criminal law and advocates for women’s rights and at night she performs in front of a live sex cam. One night watching a film awakens her dark impulses for a more dangerous means of sexual gratification.Read More »

A fascinating and human portrayal of a once-famous fighter pilot and loyal Stalinist named Nadezhda Petrovna. Now a 41-year-old provincial schoolmistress, she has so internalized the military ideas of service and obedience that she cannot adjust to life in peacetime.Read More »

Synopsis:
A biographical film of Otto von Bismarck, the Prime Minister of Prussia, and how he and his policies – including aggressive war – helped to unite Germany.Read More »

The high-profile case of serial killer Ludovic Chevalier has just gone to trial, and Kelly-Anne is obsessed. When reality blurs with her morbid fantasies, she goes down a dark path to seek the final piece of the puzzle: the missing video of a murdered 13-year-old girl, to whom Kelly-Anne bears a disturbing resemblance.
An element of the film I found most intriguing were the various people who were defending Chevalier. Whether it’s the very misguided Clementine, or even his defense lawyer, its uncomfortable to hear people supporting someone who so obviously did the crime. Yet there are people out there like this, so I think its nice to spotlight them. There were a ton of parallels between Clem in particular, as the Manson followers who stood outside his trial. So there’s a bit of catharsis that reveals itself as both Clem and Kelly-Anne are forced to reckon with their feelings as more evidence is unveiled.Read More »