Drama

While at War (Spanish: Mientras dure la guerra) is a 2019 Spanish historical drama film directed by Alejandro Amenábar. It premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.

Plot:
Revered author Miguel de Unamuno (Karra Elejalde) decides to publicly support the Spanish coup of July 1936. He is immediately removed from his position as rector at the University of Salamanca by the Government of the Second Spanish Republic. Meanwhile, Nationalists succeed in taking control of Salamanca, and General Francisco Franco moves his headquarters to the city. Some of Unamuno’s colleagues are imprisoned on charges of affiliation. Unamuno, who believes he can have the influence to liberate the innocent, heads to Franco’s Palace, determined to beg him for clemency.Read More »

Cemal, a moustachioed embodiment of awkwardness and anguish, inhabits an Anatolian rural village where everyone is gifted with some sort of super power.

Turkish writer-director Onur Ünlü’s surreal and fantastical fable follows a barber who survives a suicide attempt and finds himself falling in love, succumbing to murderous jealousy, and trying to make sense of life in a village where his neighbours are invisible, immortal, or possess the ability to stop time. In this village, the fantastic is never far from the quotidian. Amongst Cemal’s neighbours are a giant, an immortal, an invisible woman, and a bookseller who can stop time by clapping her hands.Read More »

Imdb:
Burial of a Christian political activist in a Muslim cemetary forces a conflict imbued with religious fervor. A satiric portrayal of religion and politics, sometimes humorous, sometimes deadly serious.Read More »

The Debt is a gripping thriller about two entrepreneurs who become tangled in the web of a Russian thug. Two friends begin a business venture of importing Italian scooters into Poland. With no collateral, they turn to a Russian acquaintance that offers money and support in the beginning and then inexplicably turns violent and vicious. Tension mounts as the two friends begin to understand what must be done. Based on a true story, The Debt is a terrifying tale of ordinary men pushed to their limit.Read More »

Quote:
This little-known first film from writer Paula Delsol was not well-received when it was released in France the 1960s. Thanks partly to its over-18 certification, the film was a commercial failure and Delsol only made one other film (although she later did some work for television).Read More »

This German documentary explores the history of hustler culture at Bahnhof Zoo train station, an unofficial meeting place for male prostitutes from the world over. The film discusses hustler world with male escorts both current and retired about their personal experiences, and discovers surprising undercurrents of strength and compassion. ~ Cammila CollarRead More »

In the last year of the war in his native village he is returned Andrew, who had deserted, returning from the hospital after being wounded. The fact that Andrew returned, knows only one person – his wife Anastasia. She must hide her husband, even from his family, only occasionally visiting him in the shelter. Andrew is now – the eternal fugitive, doomed to loneliness. Eventually Nastya knows that waits for the child. Now it is for the whole village – the wrong spouse, not wait for her husband. Victory comes a day, husbands and sons come home, and only Nastya knows for sure that Andrew would never return. And in the village, meanwhile, rumors say that Andrey is not missing, he deserted and hiding somewhere nearby.Read More »

Quote:
Boldly unconventional and cheerful, that’s how one could describe Babou. Never having cared about social conventions, she is suddenly faced with the realization that her own daughter is ashamed of her and therefore refuses to invite her to her wedding. Hurt in her pride, Babou tries to regain her daughter’s respect by starting anew. She accepts the challenge of selling time-sharing-flats at the Belgian seaside during the off-season, in a desperate attempt to prove her real worth and her motherly love to her daughter.Read More »

«If the last surviving soldier of the first World War wanted to get rid of the terrible burden that kept him alive … his name would be Simon Rosenberg.»Read More »