Four Black American slaves, freed in Civil War, make their way to California and set sail for Africa, only to land in feudal Japan. They are held prisoner of the emperor, who also has a passion for music. The prisoners get out their own instruments and bring Dixieland Jazz to Japan.Read More »
Musical numbers highlight this story of a wealthy widow who disowns her daughter after a new man enters her life.Read More »
A woman leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to the children of a Naval officer widower.Read More »
Music icon David Byrne was inspired by tabloid headlines to make his sole foray into feature-film directing, an ode to the extraordinariness of ordinary American life and a distillation of what was in his own idiosyncratic mind. The Talking Heads front man plays a visitor to Virgil, Texas, who introduces us to the citizens of the town during preparations for its Celebration of Specialness. As shot by cinematographer Ed Lachman, Texas becomes a hyperrealistic late-capitalist landscape of endless vistas, shopping malls, and prefab metal buildings. In True Stories, Byrne uses his songs to stitch together pop iconography, voodoo rituals, and a singular variety show—all in the service of uncovering the rich mysteries that lurk under the surface of everyday experience.Read More »
Jazz and decolonization are entwined in this historical rollercoaster that rewrites the Cold War episode that led musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach to crash the UN Security Council in protest against the murder of Patrice Lumumba.Read More »
A nightclub waiter and a manicurist share the same room, she sleeps there by night and he by day. They’ve never met, but they can’t stand each other. Then one day, they meet by chance…Read More »
THE DEVIL’S BRIDE (VELNIO NUOTAKA) – 1974, Lithuanian Film Centre, 78 min. Imagine a wildly surreal early 1970s Lithuanian rock opera directed by Ken Russell circa TOMMY that is equal parts JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (wailing guitar-heavy ballads, religious theme), FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (rural village setting) and THE WICKER MAN / BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW (folklore / folk magic), and you have some idea of the elemental strangeness and beauty of director Arūnas Žebriūnas’ THE DEVIL’S BRIDE. The film opens with one of our favorite musical sequences ever: a long-haired flower child God sits on his throne in the heavenly mountains, adored by angelic hosts in white robes and wings. Read More »
Musical about the “Blue Star,” a struggling jazz band led by pianist Takarada and trumpet player Takashima and their love interests. Done very much in the style of a Fox musical of the same 1940s, complete with an elaborate “History of Jazz” finale.Read More »
Leila Mourad one of the Orient’s Divas stars in this classic musical romance as a poor girl who marries a wealthy young man while others try to break them apart.Read More »