Drama

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Based on an introspective feminist book by Ingeborg Bachmann which I haven’t read but is described as a difficult fragmented work that exposes emotional reactions and stream-of-consciousness meditations on her identity vs. three men in her life, two lovers who try to control her or take over her identity, her obsessive love, and her scary father. The author, Bachmann, died in hospital after a fire in her house. Schroeter takes these real-life and written elements and applies his own treatment to the whole mess, showing scattered fragments of her life mixed with many and endless emotional breakdowns, fire and mirrors used as artsy symbols, a writer’s block, existential explorations on identity, some references to her interests in Wittgenstein, and various surreal imagery involving violinists, her father in a Nazi uniform, and lots of flames, all together in one jumbled emotional mess, like the inside of a schizophrenic woman’s mind. Unrewarding arthouse piece.Read More »

A spacious apartment in the centre of Bucharest and a large family gathered together to celebrate the birthday of its frail, 94-year-old patriarch: anything could happen in Dan Chişu’s overcomplicated family drama The Anniversary [+], which is competing in the International Competition of the Warsaw International Film Festival (13-22 October). What emerges from so many bubbly relationships and effervescent reactions is the fact that Romania’s society is still struggling (and is still far from succeeding) to redeem, fight or at least forget its communist past, with death and old age being powerful allies in this endeavour.Read More »

from slate.com:
The unabashedly teensy-budgeted Funny Ha Ha, written and directed by Andrew Bujalski, is actually more like Funny Strange—or even Funny Unsettling. You might be tempted to walk out in the first 20 minutes, which seem artless and aimless: not very fascinating people making not very fascinating small talk in drab settings. The by-default protagonist, Marnie (Kate Dollenmayer), is a listless 23-year-old between jobs and quietly smitten with an old friend, Alex (Christian Rudder), who has just broken up with his girlfriend. Does Alex like her? Other friends, among them Alex’s sister, don’t quite know. Alex, it seems, doesn’t quite know. Marnie doesn’t communicate her affections very forcefully. In fact, she does nothing very forcefully. She drinks a little at parties, she lies around, she hangs out with laid-back friends, and she floats.Read More »

Plot:
It is tale of two teenage girls who develop an intense and dangerous friendship. Charlie is a 17-year-old girl tortured by doubt, disillusionment and solitude. When the beautiful and self-confident Sarah arrives and the two become inseparable, Charlie is thrilled to feel alive, fulfilled and invincible in their intense friendship. But as Sarah tires of Charlie and begins to look elsewhere for a new friend, their friendship takes an ominous turn.Read More »

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The managers of a textile enterprise use various scams to obtain all kinds of personal benefits, until the machinations are exposed.Read More »

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Who directed Jane Eyre? The credits clearly state Robert Stevenson, but a cult of sorts has sprung up over the decades since the film’s 1943 release to claim that it was really helmed—in spirit if not in letter-by its star Orson Welles. Stevenson’s wife and kids argue quite vociferously to the contrary, and certainly the public record, while tantalizingly ambiguous about what (if anything) Welles contributed, does not seem to support this thesis. But there is simply no denying that there is a huge Wellesian influence looming over the film like one of its intrinsically Gothic shadows. Stevens and cinematographer George Barnes often frame things in much the same way Welles and his cinematographer Gregg Toland did in Citizen Kane or how Welles and Stanley Cortez approached The Magnificent Ambersons. Read More »

A dynamic woman who aspires to be a writer, living a wild life in constant search of freedom while indulging in lust with four men.Read More »

To a Manga artist, or a comic book fan, the name Tatsumi conjures up adult themed comics. Tatsumi began his comic book career as a teenager, but it wasn’t until the late 1950’s that he coined the term gegika (dramatic pictures) which redefined the manga landscape. Gegika dealt with the grown-up, painful consequences of post war Japan and began to grapple with the darker aspects of life, this was the kind of comic definitely not aimed at children. TATSUMI is set over five tales, starting with the horror of the second world war and taking in sexual desire, murder, familial tensions, betrayal and consuming passion.Read More »

“It seemed to me that on the other side of that forest, I would find a completely different life, the kind I could only dream of.” ~International Cinephile Society

Synopsis:
Lera is a young student of sociology by day and moonlights as a dancer in a strip club under the moniker Gerda to make a living. She is taking care of her ill mother while protecting her from the outbursts from her partner, Gerda’s father, who left them for another woman.Read More »