Drama

  • Judit Elek – Sziget a szárazföldön AKA The Lady from Constantinople (1969)

    Drama1961-1970HungaryJudit Elek

    An old lady, living on memories among the cluttered objects of her past, decides to exchange her apartment for a smaller one. She is thus temporarily brought into contact with other people until, resettled, she once again retreats into isolation.
    In this gem of a film, Judit Elek, making her feature debut, builds up a character study and a picture of life in Budapest by the simplest of means: observation of small details. Unlike most Hungarian films seen abroad, it is not a political piece but a study of loneliness and human foibles, given truthful and unsentimental life by one of Hungary’s leading stage actresses.
    -Review from Bloomsbury Foreign Film Guide, by Ronald Bergan and Robyn KarneyRead More »

  • Jaime Humberto Hermosillo – La pasión según Berenice AKA The Passion of Berenice (1976)

    Jaime Humberto Hermosillo1971-1980DramaMexicoThriller

    Berenice (Navarro) is a woman with a mysterious past. A scar crosses her face and nightmares of fire and horses fill her lonely nights. She maybe killed her husband but nobody can be sure. In the present, Berenice lives with her godmother (Roldán) a money lender so fragile that she’s always resting in her bed. The two women live in an almost perpetual seclusion, except on Sundays when they go to the church and to the movies. One day, the godmother’s doctor dies and she asks Berenice to go to his velatory. There they meet Rodrigo (Armendáriz Jr.) the doctor’s son, a handsome and free-spirited young man for whom Berenice falls in love.Read More »

  • Bob Balaban – Georgia O’Keeffe (2009)

    Drama2001-2010Bob BalabanRomanceUSA

    Biopic of American artist Georgia O’Keeffe and her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz.Read More »

  • Jean-Louis Comolli – L’Ombre Rouge AKA The Red Shadow (1981)

    Drama1981-1990FranceJean-Louis ComolliThriller

    Synopsis
    April, 1937. Anton, a Communist Party member living in France, is involved with trafficking arms to left-wing activists in Spain. He is captured by the Gestapo but is subsequently released when is friend, Léo, head of a Communist network in Europe, arranges an exchange. Anton is recruited in the struggle against fascism but ends up being a victim of the Stalinist purge…Read More »

  • Nadia Tass – Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story (2001)

    2001-2010DramaNadia TassTVUSA

    The life, laughters, and luck of one of the most famous and beloved child stars, Shirley Temple.Read More »

  • Sun-Woo Jang & Wan Sunwoo – Seoul Hwangje aka Seoul Jesus (1986)

    1981-1990AsianDramaSouth KoreaSun-Woo JangWan Sunwoo

    Quote:
    Escaping from the sanatorium for the insane, a man who calls himself Jesus goes to Seoul. He is indulged in the illusion that he should save Seoul from the judgement of fire by finding a woman. He looks for an angel but nobody cares about him, and only a child selling the chewing gum follows him whose wish is to have mother. Finally, he finds a beautiful woman and gains her love through incessant persuasion. Seoul becomes a blessed land and, though Jesus is dragged to the hospital again, the woman becomes the child’s mother, and thus, Jesus promise for the child comes true.Read More »

  • Usama Muhammad – Stars in Broad Daylight (1988)

    Drama1981-1990ArthouseSyriaUsama Muhammad

    A double wedding in a small village turns to high drama when one bride runs away and the other refuses to go on with her marriage. The drama unveils the fragile balance holding together a family strained by an abusive father now replaced by the successful but corrupt eldest son, a pathologically enraged second son, and the troubles of the youngest son, rendered deaf by a violent blow his father dealt him as a child. Ultimately tragic, the film is rife with biting humor and sharp political critique as it exposes how the violence of arbitrary and absolute power in a patriarchal society seeps into the unit of a family. Stars in Broad Daylight, Ousama Mohammad’s first long feature, remains banned from screening in Syria because of its subversive representation and critical voice. Selected at the «Quinzaine des Réalisateurs» at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988.Read More »

  • Kenneth Branagh – Henry V (1989)

    1981-1990ClassicsDramaKenneth BranaghUnited KingdomWilliam Shakespeare

    A 1989 British drama film adapted for the screen and directed by Kenneth Branagh, based on William Shakespeare’s play of the same name about Henry V of England. The film stars Branagh in the title role with Paul Scofield, Derek Jacobi, Ian Holm, Emma Thompson, Alec McCowen, Judi Dench, Robbie Coltrane, Brian Blessed, and Christian Bale in supporting roles.

    The film received worldwide critical acclaim and has been widely considered one of the best Shakespeare film adaptations ever made. For her work on the film, Phyllis Dalton won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design and Kenneth Branagh, in his directorial debut, received Oscar nominations for Best Actor and Best Director.Read More »

  • Majid Majidi – Baran (2001)

    2001-2010ArthouseDramaIranMajid Majidi

    Young Lateef works on a construction site in Tehran with some Turks and a few illegal Afghan workers. When Lateef is given heavier tasks to compensate for new Afghan worker Rahmat, he resents his displacement and treats Rahmat cruelly. After one of his pranks, however, Lateef discovers Rahmat’s secret–he is a girl named Baran. Latif’s heart softens towards Baran and he shows his new affection for her by doing what he can to ease the hardships she suffers at work. When government inspectors force all Afghans to be fired from the site, Lateef discovers he cannot bear to be without her. Jeopardizing social standing and endangering his own well being, Lateef stops at nothing to save his love.Read More »

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