Drama

The world and a life in four walls, and another portrait of a mother – selfish and generous, mercurial and unchanging. C’est la vie! (1980) takes Pagnol and Renoir’s experiments with open-air theatre to inspired and ecstatic conclusions, especially the latter’s love of depth-framing across windows and partitions, and lays the groundwork for Vecchiali’s later experiments with long-take space and time in Once More (1988). Also a pseudo-sequel to Marie-Claude Treilhou’s exquisite Simone Barbès ou la vertu (1980), reaffirming the Diagonale as not just a production model, but a kind of surrogate family, and a creative universe unto this forged community and itself. With Chantal Delsaux, Ingrid Bourgoin, Jean-Christophe Bouvet, and my beloved Hélène Surgère and Michel Delahaye.Read More »

Quote:
“Prick Up Your Ears” is the story of Orton and Halliwell and the murder. They say that most murderers are known to their victims. They don’t say that if you knew the victims as well as the murderer did, you might understand more about the murder, but doubtless that is sometimes the case. This movie opens with a brutal, senseless crime. By the time the movie is over, the crime is still brutal, but it is possible to comprehend.Read More »

Synopsis:
Larry Gordon, well-known crime writer, is on a train journey when a scream is heard. Upon investigation, the guard had been mugged and a man murdered. Another man is arrested but the full story is yet to be discovered.Read More »

Synopsis:
Liu Xiaochun (Tang Yun), a 13-year-old violin prodigy, and his devoted father, Liu Cheng (Liu Peiqi), leave their provincial Chinese town for Beijing, hoping to find a violin teacher and, ultimately, success. The teenager is at first coached by the eccentric professor Jiang (Wang Zhiwen), but he is soon replaced with the renowned professor Yu (Chen Kaige). The day of the big competition is fast approaching, and Xiaochun must decide if this new, high-pressure life is right for himRead More »

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ne of Emmanuelle Beart’s less known part but one of her most emotionally intense ,”Les Enfants Du Desordre” is a work by Yannick Bellon,once nicknamed the female Andre Cayatte (which ,IMHO ,is no insult for Cayatte paved a reliable way to activist directors ),who was the first in France to tackle the burning subject of rape ,just like a woman would do (she was preceded by American Ida Lupino ).Her work dealing with cancer (“L’Amour Nu”) was not as convincing,taking place in privileged milieus whereas her “La Triche” about homosexuality was downright embarrassing :killing the gay at the end of her movie is not an improvement on the American works of the sixties such as “the fox” or “children’s hour” !Read More »

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A sophisticated social comedy directed by Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, one of Mexico’s most daring, original filmmakers.

Dona Herlinda is a wealthy, fantastically manipulative widow living in Guadalajara who quietly accepts her son Rudolfo’s affair with a handsome young music student, Ramon. After she invites Ramon to live with her family (“Rudolfo has such a big bed,” she says) the situation becomes hilariously complicated by Rudolfo’s marriage of convenience to Olga, a feminist and employee of Amnesty International.Read More »

J. Steed@IMDb wrote:
The original play “Gestern und Morgen” had its premiere in 1930 and was an immediate success. This prompted Carl Froelich to adapt the play for film. Both leading actress of the play Hertha Thiele (her first film) and the original director of the play Leontine Sagan (also her first film) were invited to join. The direction was split into direction of the cast and mise-en-scene by Leontine Sagan and overall direction by Carl Froelich; this means that Froelich was responsible for the overall quality of the film (in German: Künstleriche Oberleitung).Read More »

Based on Jürgen Breests book Wechselbalg (1980.)
IMDB:
A married couple adopts a child. The mother’s relationship with the new family member quickly deteriorates.
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Synopsis
The Traveler is a 1974 Iranian drama film directed by Abbas Kiarostami that tells the story of Hassan Darabi, a troublesome, amoral 10-year-old boy in a small Iranian town. He wishes to see the Iran national football team play an important match in Tehran. In order to achieve that, he scams his friends and neighbors. After a number of adventures, he finally reaches Tehran stadium at the time of the match. The film addresses the boy’s determination in his goal and his indifference to the effects of his actions on other people, particularly those who are closest to him. In its element, the film is an examination of human behavior and the balance of right and wrong.Read More »