Drama

Miguel, the arrogant newspaper columnist at the center of “Madrid, 1987,” has spent decades building up a tough outer shell. Pompous, calloused, dismissive, he’s a parade float begging for a hole to be poked in it. That comes in the form of a would-be acolyte, Angela, and a malfunctioning door lock in this sweet, sometimes dull and certainly overlong film, written and directed by David Trueba. Miguel (José Sacristán) has been spouting literary analogies and trite aphorisms long enough that he believes them; Mr. Sacristán gives him equal measures of confidence and tediousness. But Miguel is lovably smug: when an autograph seeker interrupts his squiring of Angela (María Valverde), he signs her paper, “For Sonia, who has lousy timing.” Before long, he and Angela retreat to an apartment nearby, where the faulty door traps them in the bathroom, disrobed but not entangled.Read More »

Synopsis:
A drama with underlying humor about the shame and despair that 30 year old boy feels on his way to losing virginity.Read More »

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LUMINOUS MOTION is a dreamlike and erotically charged thriller from critically acclaimed director Bette Gordon (Variety). Deborah Kara Unger (The Game) stars as an unnamed hustler who seduces and robs gullible men while criss-crossing the country with her ten-year-old son Phillip (Eric Lloyd, The Santa Clause). Phillip grows accustomed to this outlaw life on the road, but his world is turned upside-down when his mother settles in the suburbs with a carpenter named Pedro (Terry Kinney). Desperate to reclaim his mom’s attentions, Phillip plots Pedro’s violent end, hoping for a return to the road. But this Oedipal dream turns into a nightmare as they are pursued by ghosts from their past, including Phillip’s menacing father (Jamey Sheridan, Spotlight), who seems to be intent on reclaiming his place at the head of this deteriorating family.Read More »

One of the Best Films of 2008 –Entertainment Weekly, Time Out NY, NY Post

modestly scaled movie with a heart the size of the Ritz – New York Times
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Birdy is a 1984 American drama film based on William Wharton’s 1978 novel of the same name. Directed by Alan Parker, it stars Matthew Modine and Nicolas Cage. Set in 1960s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the film focuses on the friendship between two teenage boys, Birdy (Modine) and Al Columbato (Cage). The story is presented in flashbacks, with a frame narrative depicting their traumatic experiences upon serving in the Vietnam War.Read More »

A woman uncovers some unsettling truths about her country and its history in this drama from Spain. Lola (Ariadna Gil) is a writer who feels creatively stifled and hasn’t been able to work out a new idea in months. Looking for something to clear her creative block, She takes an assignment to write a piece about Rafael Sanchez Mazas (Ramon Fontsere), a writer who sided with the fascists during the Spanish Civil War. While legend has it Mazas was killed by Republican troops, the truth is he was given protection and shelter by Friends of the Forest, a group of men who lived in the woods. As Lola tries to search out Joaquim Figueras, one of the last surviving Friends of the Forest, she discovers a soldier who captured Mazas and was prepared to shoot him, but opted to let him go at the last moment. As Lola’s writer’s block dissolves, she digs deeper in search of the truth about this elusive man and his mysterious actions during the war. Soldados de Salamina was based on a true story and the real-life Joaquim Figueras appears in the film, along with several other people who took part in the shelter and capture of Mazas. From AllMovieRead More »

Michurin aka Life in Bloom
The film is about the life and work of the prominent Russian biologist Ivan Michurin. Reports of gardener-Michurin’s extraordinary experiments with plants reach far beyond the borders of the Russian empire. Trying to persuade him to move to the United States, a group of Americans comes to the village where Michurin lives. They promise him all kinds of benefits. But Michurin, despite his lack of recognition by the government, is devoted to Russia. Overcoming obstacles created by the tsarist bureaucracy, the scientist continues with his experiments on natural selection and dreams of the time when all people will be able to take full advantage of his achievements. The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 makes his dreams come true and Michurin’s orchard in Kozlov becomes a center of Soviet experimental biology.
Awards. Stalin National Prize of the Second Degree, 1949. The Labor Prize at the Gottwaldov (now Zlin) Film Festival, Czechoslovakia, 1949.Read More »

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In the devastating first film of the Three Colors trilogy, Juliette Binoche gives a tour de force performance as Julie, a woman reeling from the tragic death of her husband and young daughter. But Blue is more than just a blistering study of grief; it’s also a tale of liberation, as Julie attempts to free herself from the past while confronting truths about the life of her late husband, a composer. Shot in sapphire tones by Sławomir Idziak, and set to an extraordinary operatic score by Zbigniew Preisner, Blue is an overwhelming sensory experience.Read More »

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Not much happens in this film, which is about the disaffected lives of young people in Argentina in the early 60s. They have enough money, but they can’t get no satisfaction if you know what I mean. The strongest statement comes from Roberto, a TV producer, who complains that his bosses won’t let him do what he wants; they call him too young and rebellious. The young people in this film are all rebellious in one way or another, but mostly they are stifled by the social system. So they live somewhat dissolute and listless lives.Read More »