Drama

Commissioner Bonavia has hygiene-obsessed mafioso Lipuma release from the insane asylum where he has been incarcerated for the past six years knowing fullwell that Lipuma’s first action once released will be to make an attempt on his former rival Dubrosio’s life.

Indeed this is what Bonavia, who is pursuing his own personal vendetta against Dubrosio is counting on; he knows that there is no point in pursuing legal channels when just about the entirety of the Palmero administration and judiciary is in league with Dubrosio.Read More »

As his first assignment, lieutenant Drogo is sent to an isolated fortress on the borders of a desert and of a range of high mountains. The mission of the garrison is to prevent a possible incursion by the fearsome Tartars, coming from beyond the desert. Some fellow officers are eagerly awaiting an attack; some no longer want to believe in it; others take advantage of the vague threat to further their career. All of them are sacrificing everything — health, youth, friends, family — for a distant military ideal: leading the defence against the onslaught of the enemy. But in the vast emptiness surrounding the fortress, nobody has ever sighted the Tartars…Read More »

Synopsis:
Satoko is a mistress by trade, or fate: when her master, the silkscreen artist of the Kohoan Temple in Kyoto, dies, she is given to the temple’s lascivious head priest Kikuchi. She is drawn to a melancholy young acolyte, Jinen, who has observed the profligacy of his cruel master and Satoko’s utter dependence on the man. Jinen is both fascinated and disturbed by Satoko’s interest in him; he is similarly caught between loathing of Kikuchi and of the dark circumstances of his birth and his own moral weakness. The story unfolds in a dreamlike manner, a flashback inspired by a now-infamous image on a silkscreen in the souvenir shop at the so-called Temple of the Wild Geese.Read More »

Quote:
The heroine of the film is a proletarian wife and mother. Her husband, a coalminer, seeks solace in alcohol and neglects his work. After he is sacked, he spends most of his time in the pub with his friends and his lover, a waitress. He wastes the money his wife earns as a washerwoman. The woman, with her work and her worries, doesn’t even remember it is her birthday but her neighbours come to visit her to wish her happy birthday. Even this happy day ends in sadness: her husband comes home drunk. When he starts destroying their meagre furniture in a fit of rage, she throws him out. The man moves in with his lover. One day the wife badly scalds herself while washing some linen and after a few days she dies. The man comes home and prepares her a simple funeral which is attended by all the neighbours. After the funeral the husband holds a wake in the local inn. Then they all return to their homes as if nothing had happened. Such is life.Read More »

A man tries to find out who his real mother is after the woman who raised him tells him the truth.Read More »

Set in 1946, this movie deals with the planning and execution of the January, 1942 Novi Sad massacre of 4,000 Yugoslavian Serbs and Jews by Hungarian army units. It was undertaken as a reprisal for a partisan ambush (in which 17 soldiers were gunned down). And it is mainly explored through the reminiscences of four participants–Major Buky, Lieutenant Tarpataki, Ensign Pozdor, and Corporal Szabonow–cell-mates awaiting trial. Ultimately, however, what you get is an extended debate over issues of individual responsibility.Read More »

Synopsis:
‘Papusza’ is a film based on a dramatic story of Bronislawa ‘Papusza’ Wajs – the first Romani poet, who wrote down their poems. It is also a story about the meeting between two poets: Papusza and a Polish poet Jerzy Ficowski, who noticed her great talent, encouraged to record her works and who then translated them into Polish. In 1956 Papusza’s first poetic book was published. It wouldn’t be possible without the help of a third poet, Julian Tuwim. Papusza’s songs permanently enriched Polish culture, providing it with an insight into the Roma soul.Read More »

Betelnut Beauty is the english for 槟榔西施 (bīnláng xīshī). It refers to women selling betel nuts and cigarettes along the roads in Taiwan.
The betelnut beauty is usually half naked, waiting for customers in a small glass-fronted kiosk. It’s a very common sight in Taiwan.
Betel nuts (binlang in chinese) is popular among a certain population (truck drivers, taxi drivers, construction workers…). You chew it, spit the red juice and it makes you somehow stoned.

This film is, in my opinion, a very average drama, not the best film from director Cheng-sheng Lin. But its background shows a realistic image of Taipei’s street life.Read More »

A soldier suffering from PTSD befriends a young volunteer hoping to restore peaceful energy to a war-torn society.

13 wins & 11 nominations.Read More »