Drama

This well-acted though conventional comedy-drama by director Luigi Comencini features comic Nino Manfredi in the title role of Giacinto, a father and husband who has been driven to steal in order to survive. His ineptitude lands him in jail where he meets up with slightly more hardened criminals, like Tagliabue (Mario Aldorf), a killer, and Il Sorcio (Raymond Bussieres), an experienced thief. Giacinto is anxious to escape and get back to his family but Tagliabue and the thief also want out as soon as possible. And even if Giacinto escapes, the challenges that wait for him on the other side of the bars may be more than he can handle.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie GuideRead More »

synopsis – AMG:
One young man’s devastating voyage through the Holocaust sets the stage for this powerful drama. Gyorgy “Gyurka” Koves (Marcell Nagy) is a 14-year-old Jewish boy living in Hungary when the Nazi pogroms begin sweeping through the country. Gyura’s father (Janos Ban) has his business taken away from him not long before he’s taken away to a concentration camp, and as he’s led away, Gyura agrees to his father’s request to look after his stepmother while he’s gone. However, Gyurka takes a bus rather than the train to work the following morning, believing it to be safer, but before it can reach its destination, police stop the vehicle and take the Jewish passengers into custody. Read More »

Quote:
Depressed after losing his lover a long time ago, Andre visits a psychiatrist. While in the doctor’s waiting room, he strikes up a friendship with Lois, the doctor’s receptionist, and later with Lois’ husband, Bob. Although the couple want to help Andre recover from his depression, Andre finds himself unable to pull his life out of the past.Read More »

Quote:
A minimalist deadpan comedy involving drifting characters and objects, this film focuses on Silvia Prieto, a rather unexceptional young woman who on her 27th birthday resolves to make some changes in her life — changes that bring out a few eccentricities. When she discovers that there are other women who share her name, she develops a bizarre obsession with the “other” Silvia Prieto, an obsession that involves unraveling the riddle of her own identity. Silvia Prieto is a meditation on what it means, or doesn’t mean, to be yourself. —Anthology Film ArchivesRead More »

Alejandro is a taxi driver about thirty- five years is suddenly in the midst of separations, violent weather changes, sudden wealth and characters who want to return to Argentina.Read More »

Postmen in the Mountains (Chinese: 那山那人那狗; pinyin: Nàshān nàrén nàgǒu; literally “That Mountain, That Man, That Dog”) was a 1999 Chinese film directed by Huo Jianqi. A personal film, Postmen in the Mountains tells the story of an old man (Ten Rujun) who for years served as the postmen for rural mountain communities. On the eve of his retirement, he again sets off to deliver the mail, but this time brings his son (Liu Ye). Together, they deliver mail into the rural heart of China and in the process the son learns from the mails’ recipients more about his father.Read More »

Susana (Susana, demonio y carne or The Devil and the Flesh) is a 1951 film directed by Luis Buñuel. It is the story of a girl of questionable mental stability who escapes from incarceration and ends up at a plantation where she disrupts a working family’s daily routines and chemistry.Read More »

The film is Yasuzo Masumura’s last feature film, based on Mio Saito’s novel which wons him a Seishi Yokomizo Award, shot by Setsuo Kobayashi, principle cinematographers of such Kon Ichikawa & Yasuzo Masumura classics as Fires on the Plain, An Actor’s Revenge, Being Two Isn’t Easy, Ten Dark Women, A Wife Confesses, Red Angel, Blind Beast, Manji, Black Express… (Indeed I think he’s responsible for the look (for example, the tight framing & deep focus) of these films). The film also boasts a fabulous cast, including Tetsuro Tamba, who seems uncredited.Read More »

The rise and fall of a corrupt politician, who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.Read More »