Musical

Quote:
Gracinda, a young laundry washer, lives with her godfather, “Uncle” Jacinto, and together they run a family business, doing the laundry for residents of Lisbon in their small village in the outskirts of that city (Canecas). Unfortunately, the business is not going very well, but that changes when Gracinda decides to go to the city to try to convince Chico, “Uncle” Jacinto’s son, with whom she is in love, to return to the village and give new life to the business. The village is preparing for the annual festivities and a dispute erupts between “Uncle” Jacinto and his business rival , the widow Quiteria, when each of them invites different bands to play at the same time during the party and dances.Read More »

A documentary which traces the life of the magnetic, world-conquering, Jamaican musician, model and party queen Grace Jones.

Larger than life, wild, scary and androgynous – Grace Jones plays all these parts. Yet here we also discover her as a lover, daughter, mother, sister and even grandmother, as she submits herself to our gaze and allows us to understand what constitutes her mask. The stage is where her most extreme embodiments are realised and her theatrical imagination lets loose: this is where the musical of her life is played out. The film includes Grace’s unique performances singing iconic hits such as Slave To The Rhythm, Pull Up To The Bumper, as well as the more recent autobiographical tracks Williams’ Bloods and Hurricane. Read More »

A young Shaolin follower reunites with his discouraged brothers to form a soccer team using their martial art skills to their advantage.Read More »

After spending the 1930s as the Third Reich’s principal cinematic chronicler, Leni Riefenstahl returned to fictional films with Tiefland. According to Riefenstahl, she had refused to make any more propaganda pictures–“for good reasons,” she explained enigmatically–choosing instead to direct a period romance, based on an old Spanish play and opera by Eugen d’Albert. Riefenstahl cast herself as the central character, Marta, a Spanish dancer who becomes the romantic bone of contention between humble shepherd Franz Eichberger and imperious marquis Bernhard Minetti. While the material seems to cry out for music, Riefenstahl plays the story straight, though much of the acting can certainly be described as operatic.Read More »

Masahiro Makino’s attempt at a Busby Berkeley-style musical. Quality is mediocre (much better than the older version we had though), but the film is a true revelation! It combines the elaborate kaleidoscopic choreography of Berkeley musicals with a charming down-to-earth comedy narrative.Read More »

Pet Shop Boys Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant embark upon a journey across England – but which England? Is it the half-remembered England of their childhoods, or the brutal reality of Mrs Thatcher’s late-eighties England? Along the way they come across many familiar (and sinister) faces. The movie also features some of the Pet Shop Boys’ most popular records.Read More »

A convent girl school’s music teacher has composed an operetta. He has to escort his best student to an arranged marriage, but they head for his theater premiere instead.Read More »

The story of how a young black boy from working class 1950’s Dublin, became Ireland’s Greatest Rock Star. As lead singer of Thin Lizzy, Phil Lynott was a songwriter, a poet, a dreamer, a wildman.Read More »

How African Americans created the upbeat musical form that started out as gospel quartet music and became rock and roll.Read More »