Drama

Synopsis:
‘Two men, arty though somewhat staid, are drawn to the spirited and quixotic Rosemonde, a young working-class woman whom they meet because they’re writing a teleplay about a minor but curious event in which either her uncle was wounded while cleaning his rifle or she shot him. Pierre is a free-lance journalist hired to write the script; he’s short of time so he asks a Bohemian novelist friend, Paul, to help. Pierre wants facts and tracks down Rosemonde for interviews that lead to other explorations; Paul only wants to imagine her and needs little more than her name to do so. But he does meet her, and she entangles him, too. Did she cause the shooting? Is she venomous or innocent?’Read More »

Quote:
In the palm-shaded oasis of West Hollywood, we meet Dennis, a promising photographer. As he prepares to celebrate his twenty-eighth birthday, he laments, ‘ I can’t decide if my friends are the best or worst thing that ever happened to me.’ The gang includes Benji, the punkish innocent with a penchant for gym bodies; Howie, the psychology grad student who thinks too much and lives too little; Cole, the charismatic actor who accidentally keeps stealing everybody’s guy; Patrick, the cynical quipster, and Taylor, resident drama queen, who, until recently, prided himself on his long-term relationship. Providing sage advice and steady work is Jack, the beloved patriarch whose restaurant is a haven for them all. When tragedy strikes the group, the friendships are put to the test.Read More »

Burned-out, over-the-hill actor Giovanni returns to Bologna for the funeral of his twin, Pippo, a wealthy suicide unlucky in love. The family tells Pippo’s mother it was an accident, but there’s a problem: Vanda, Pippo’s one-time fiancée, won’t grieve and refuses to come to the funeral. At a family dinner, Vanda talks about the note Peppo left. Again the family tries to keep mom in the dark. They assign Giovanni to persuade Vanda to keep up appearances. He sees her unhappy relationship with her father, who suspects her of sleeping with a doctor. Why she sees the doctor, how Giovanni and she deal with their mutual attraction, and his rebirth become the film’s focus.Read More »

A poor but great violinist is invited to stay at an aristocrat’s house. It is based on a short story by Lev Nikolaevic Tolstoj.Read More »

This movie is about one of the worst periods for the Brazilian people. Shows the days of military dictatorship when the Brazilian people against the government were put in jails, tortured, and some of them assassinated by the military and para-military people. At the same time, the same government censored the press and didn’t allow anything but news about three times-champion soccer team. While the people made parties, etc for the soccer team, in the underground, people suffered all kinds of torture.Read More »

Quote:
In the 1950s two films were directed by a woman [in Sweden, the other one being Mimi Pollaks Rätten att älska]. Barbro Boman had worked as a production assistant in the 1940s after which she wrote scripts herself and was also head of Svensk Filmindustri’s script department for a period. She directed two films, of which It’s Never Too Late (Det är aldrig för sent) (1956) was her first. It tells the story of a couple who are planning to divorce. The film is based on flashbacks that recount three generations of women: the main character Görel, her mother and grandmother, and their methods of solving their problems. As a new director, Boman was treated well and the reviewers wished her the best for the future.

Nordic National Cinemas (1998)Read More »

Quote:
Structured in elegantly fluid and elliptically interconnected episodes from a roving, multiple student point-of-view, Elephant is an incisive and poetic, yet relevant and deeply disturbing portrait of the unfolding of a fictional, modern-day high school massacre in suburban America. Van Sant presents a richly textured and complexly interwoven series of mundane student interactions and astute slice-of-life observations (except for a scene of sexual experimentation between the plotters that seems improbably out of character) that are intrinsically linked together through long and sinuous tracking shots of the school’s cold and impersonal labyrinthine corridors and rooms. Inevitably, what emerges is a profound sense of alienation and the oppressive, inescapable, and moribund institutionalization of its adrift and desperate characters.Read More »

A good social movie of the early 70’s. It shows us the life of a man from Valparaíso, and how his religious beliefs are in conflict with his environment. Finally he discovers catholicism not always are in opposition with social issues. As usual in Aldo Francia’s movies, there are some documental scenes showing us the problems of poverty in his beloved Valparaíso. I think the last scene (where the protagonist sees the policial repression to a social meeting and suddenly gets a rock and throw it to the cops) was shot in a real demonstration. The actings are very natural and good, and Francia portrayed some typical people from the port (as “Cristo’e palo” and “Gitano” Rodríguez). The documental look and cinematography are very good in relation with the movie.Read More »

*** BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM – Oscar winner, 1972 ***

Plot
The film is set in Ferrara, northern Italy, between 1938-1943, and shows the lives of the Jewish Finzi-Contini family and their friends as they struggle against Mussolini’s fascism and anti-Semitism in wartime Italy. The Finzi-Contini family is one of the leading families in the town. The adult children, Micòl and Alberto, gather friends for tennis at their villa with its lovely grounds, keeping the rest of the world at bay. Into the circle steps Giorgio, a Jew from the middle class who falls in love with Micòl.Read More »