Drama

  • Alain Tanner – No Man’s Land (1985)

    Alain TannerArthouseDramaSwitzerland

    “Alain Tanner’s sparse, beautiful film is a philosophical reflection on and a poetic, atmospheric representation of human homelessness.”

    Synopsis:
    “No man’s land” tells the story of four people trying to fulfil their most basic desires in life. A group of young people meet up regularly in a nightclub situated in a former customs house on the Swiss-French border, as a means of escape from their drab lives. No Man’s Land is an “in- between” film. Between staying and leaving, between Paul and Jean, about friendship, between Paul and Madeleine, Jean and Mali, Jean and Lucie, about love. Between Paul and his route of escape, Jean and his territory, Madeleine and her music, Mali and her exile.Read More »

  • Werner Schroeter – Deux AKA Two (2002)

    Werner Schroeter2001-2010ArthouseDramaFrance

    Quote:
    A young woman named Magdalena (Isabelle Huppert) retrieves a postcard that had been cast into the wind by her biological mother (Bulle Ogier) from a seaside town in Portugal and discovers that she has a twin sister named Maria. From this seemingly introspective opening premise on identity, connection, and history, Deux diverges into unexpectedly abstract, non-intersecting trajectories that involve a schoolgirl attraction with a fellow classmate, a mother’s wartime romance, a serial killer who leaves a tell-tale rose on the bodies of his victims, a lonely woman who adopts a fox as a household pet. Composed of asequential and dissociated vignettes, the film evokes the baroque tableaux of Sergei Paradjanov, the formalism of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and fractured surrealism of Luis Buñuel infused with quasi-religious iconography and Actionism of Otto Mühl (most notably, in the image of disemboweled figures such as ornamental cherubs).Read More »

  • Roberto Santos – A Hora e a Vez de Augusto Matraga (1965)

    1961-1970ArthouseBrazilDramaRoberto Santos

    IMDB:
    Augusto Matraga is a violent agressive farmer who after being betrayed by his wife and trapped by several enemies is bitten up and left for dead. He is rescued by a couple of humble small farmers who nurse him for a long time until he is well again. Influenced by the couple Augusto Matraga turns to a religiosity a long time neglected, believing he is atoning for past sins. Then he starts a long penitent life while waiting for his hour and chance. As time goes on he comes strong again but he only realize this after meeting Joaozinho Bem Bem, a famous chief of “jaguncos” who sees in him the violent man he was. Augusto Matraga starts a fight between his violent nature, his hidden desire of vengeance and the mysticism and goodness which is also part of him. This conflict lasts until the moment when his hour and his chance comes, the hour and chance to fight, to struggle an to use his strength and courage in the name of faith and humanity.Read More »

  • Claude Chabrol – Les bonnes femmes AKA The Good Time Girls (1960)

    1951-1960Claude ChabrolDramaFranceRomance

    Four Parisian women navigate the world of romance and daily life looking to fulfill their dreams but often find real-life to be inescapable.

    Ginette, Rita, Jacqueline and Jane try to find fulfillment and love in their lives. Rita has a fiancé whose family is obsessed with social distinction; Jane has a boy-friend in the army, but does not hesitate to enjoy herself with chance encounters; Ginette has a mysterious passion that keeps her away from her colleagues at nights. Jacqueline is lonely; but who is that mysterious bike-rider who is constantly following her?Read More »

  • Jean-Paul Salomé – La Syndicaliste AKA The Sitting Duck (2022)

    2021-2030DramaFranceJean-Paul SaloméThriller

    In 2012, the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse becomes a whistle-blower, denouncing top-secret deals that shake the French nuclear sector. Alone against the world, Maureen Kearney fights government ministers and industry leaders to bring the scandal to light and defend more than 50,000 jobs.Read More »

  • Nobuhiko Ôbayashi – Confession (1968)

    1961-1970AsianDramaJapanNobuhiko Obayashi

    Quote:
    This is probably a forgotten masterpiece of Japanese underground cinema, though I think I’d need subtitles to know for sure. It seems to be a very personal and autobiographical film for Obayashi. There isn’t much dialogue, but subtitles would be necessary to fully understand the story. Much of the film’s running time consists of creatively edited montages of the young main characters having fun, high on life, wreaking havoc 1968-style in the town of Onomichi.Read More »

  • Filip Renc – Requiem pro panenku AKA Requiem for a Maiden (1992)

    1991-2000Czech RepublicDramaFilip RencThriller

    This film is based on the story which happened in 1984 in Czechoslovakia. The main hero is Marika, 14th years old girl who was by mistake of authorities sent to madhouse for young. Here she founds that wards are terrorized by their tutors. Those tutors are also responsible for deaths of several wards due overdosing of medicaments. Marika tries to escape several times but she is always caught and sent back. She also tries to protect other kids against of tyranny. When she doesn’t see a chance how to change the situation she lights fire and the madhouse burns.Read More »

  • Per Blom – Mors hus AKA His Mother’s House (1974)

    1971-1980DramaEroticaNorwayPer Blom

    From IMDB:
    After breaking up from his studies Petter and his fiancee, he comes back to his home town and mother. Mother takes him in with great enthusiasm, because she wants him all to herself – in all ways.Read More »

  • Florian Gottschick – Nachthelle AKA Bright Night (2014)

    2011-2020DramaFlorian GottschickGermany

    A drama with a supernatural edge, this genre-crossing gem finds two couples visiting a home from their past, and sexual tension that brings out the worst in each other. Long-buried grudges resurface and it seems unlikely the couples will return intact. Faced with an outcome that will upset their delicate balance of happiness, the world offers them a bizarre opportunity to correct it.Read More »

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