PLOT – short version
A Thai tale of the legendary Krasue (also known as the ‘P’ Graseau, or the Penanggalan in Chinese), a Southeast Asian Ghost, composed of a disembodied witch with a flying head and entrails dangling beneath. Political intrigue, black magic, unrequited love and disembowlment all fit together perfectly for an evening of family fun with the witch with the flying head. Written by J.W. CaseRead More »
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One of Raul Ruiz’s most obscure and enigmatic films, very loosely based on a novella by Sadeq Hedayat, “The Blind Owl”
In French and other languages. (Roughly halfway through the movie, the spoken language shifts from French (with snatches of German and Italian) to Old Spanish and Arabic—both of which are subtitled in fake Old French, but, not in a manner that corresponds to anything remotely resembling a correct translation. )
Jonathan Rosenbaum has said that this films “defies synopsis”.
Recorded almost 20 years ago from a cable broadcast, and obviously poor quality.
Much of the film is very dark, but what we see is Ruiz at his most visually imaginative. Transferred from a Betamax recording.Read More »
It began as a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between two of the greatest icons of the fantasy genre: Controversial animator Ralph Bakshi (director of FRITZ THE CAT, WIZARDS and the original THE LORD OF THE RINGS) and legendary illustrator Frank Frazetta (creator of the iconic CONAN THE BARBARIAN, VAMPIRELLA and Edgar Rice Burroughs book covers). It became – and remains – one of the most startling animation epics of all time. Now experience a world unlike any ever seen, where savage warriors, horrific monsters and luscious maidens battle for the soul of a civilization in a time of good and evil, pleasure and pain.Read More »
Kosmos is a thief who works miracles. He arrives in this timeless border town from the wilds weeping, as though a fugitive. No sooner is he there than he rescues a small boy from drowning in the river, and is recognized as a man who works miracles.
Kosmos, is a rather uncommon person. He never appears to eat nor sleep. His single form of nourishment is the granulated or lump sugar he consumes by the fistful. One of his more striking skills is the ability to scale the tallest trees with uncommon agility. He is also frank in declaring his wish that startles the townspeople: He is looking for love. Soon Kosmos and Neptun, the teenager sister of the rescued boy, grow closer in the most bizarre of ways: imitating the screech of birds in trees and on rooftops.Read More »
IMDB:
User Review
A great fairy tale from a great storyteller
26 May 2005 | by simon-bensasson (Greece)
This is the story of a woodcutter in Bohemia during a war between Austria and Turkey. Wandering in the forest he finds a golden fern whose seed turns into a beautiful young woman – they fall in love. After a village feast in which he gets drunk he gets to sign up to the army. The fairy gives him a shirt to wear and asks him to swear he will never part with it. At the war front he falls in love with the the colonels daughter; cold beauty who asks him to perform various feats in order to respond to his courting (bring her the horse of the grand-vizier, then the necklace of the grand-vizier’s wife and finally his nightingale). In performing these feats he proves invulnerable to bullets, swords and other calamities – protected by the fairy’s shirt. Before performing the last feat, however, the colonel’s daughter asks him to throw away his ugly shirt, which he does. He returns, wounded and disguised in Turkish clothes to escape from the enemy camp. He gets arrested as a spy and condemned to death by a thousand strikes. His comrades who are assigned to throw his body at the river discover he’s still alive and let him go. Returning to his village he does not find Sylvana (the fairy of the golden fern) and the film ends with him wandering in the forest shouting her name in a beautiful photograph in which the camera moves high up the trees.Read More »
Generally thought of as a monster movie (not difficult to understand when your title character is a 50-foot-tall gorilla with a habit of killing people who get in his way), King Kong is actually an old-fashioned adventure story on the grand scale, complete with fearless hunters in search of uncharted islands, angry natives appeasing their god, damsels in distress, and a dashing hero on hand to save said damsel. Much of this story probably seemed a bit cliché even when King Kong was first released in 1933, but directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack tell their tale with two-fisted gusto, leavened with a genuine sense of wonder, and the result captures the imagination from the start and never lets go. It also helps that they had a cast capable of handling the heroics in grand form while knowing how to play the abundant comic relief in appropriate style; Robert Armstrong’s Carl Denham is ham at its tastiest, Bruce Cabot’s Jack Driscoll is a hero with his feet planted solidly on the ground (and his tongue just entering his cheek), and has any screen heroine ever screamed more eloquently than Fay Wray? Willis H. O’Brien’s stop-motion effects animation was legendary in its day, and it retains its magic today; while technology has progressed considerably since King Kong, O’Brien was able to give his great ape a personality, and Kong’s moments of fear, curiosity, pain, and occasional goofiness gave him a sympathetic, ultimately tragic dimension that adds immeasurably to the picture’s effectiveness. And Max Steiner’s bombastic score is always there to cheer the picture along when its energy starts to flag. While the 1976 remake already seems hopelessly dated, the original King Kong remains rousing entertainment with brains, brawn, and a heart. — Mark DemingRead More »
Sidney Lumet’s 1978 adaptation of Broadway’s all-black musical resembles
Saturday Night Fever more than The Wizard of Oz.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader wrote:
Sidney Lumet’s 1978 adaptation of Broadway’s all-black musical resembles Saturday Night Fever more than The Wizard of Oz. There is the same dark disco lighting, the same romanticization of urban rubble. And the theme is no longer “There’s no place like home,” but a learning-to-love-yourself homily that might have been lifted from Werner Erhard. Still, it’s one of the more competent neomusicals of the period, if only because of Dede Allen’s punchy editing and Tony Walton’s cavernous sets. A lot to look at, little to contemplate, and nothing to hum. With Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, and a curiously restrained bit by Richard Pryor.Read More »
Bab’Aziz, AKA The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul, is the story of a blind dervish named Bab’Aziz and his spirited granddaughter, Ishtar. Together they wander the desert in search of a great reunion of dervishes that takes place just once every thirty years. With faith as their only guide, the two journey for days through the expansive, barren landscape. To keep Ishtar entertained, Bab’Aziz relays the ancient tale of a prince who relinquished his realm in order to remain next to a small pool in the desert, staring into its depths while contemplating his soul. As the tale of the prince unfolds, the two encounter other travelers with stories of their own, including Osman, who longs for the beautiful woman he met at the bottom of a well, and Zaid, who searches for the ravishing young woman who fled from him after being seduced by his songs. A fairytale-like story of longing and belonging, filmed in the enchanting and ever-shifting sandscapes of Tunisia and Iran.Read More »
A 2009 internationally co-produced romantic drama film co-written and directed by Niki Caro. It is loosely based on the novel The Vintner’s Luck by Elizabeth Knox. The film had its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 12 September 2009.
The film stars Jérémie Renier, Vera Farmiga, Gaspard Ulliel, and Keisha Castle-Hughes. The film marked the second time Caro worked with Castle-Hughes, a New Zealand actress and Academy Award nominee.Read More »