USA

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Serbian national Irena Dubrovna, a fashion sketch artist, has recently arrived in New York for work. The first person who she makes a personal connection with there is marine engineer Oliver Reed. The two fall in love and get married despite Irena’s reservations, not about Oliver but about herself. She has always felt different than other people, but has never been sure why. She lives close to the zoo, and unlike many of her neighbors is comforted by the sounds of the big cats emanating from the zoo. And although many see it purely as an old wives’ tale, she believes the story from her village of ancient residents being driven into witchcraft and evil doing, those who managed to survive by escaping into the mountains. After seeing her emotional pain, Oliver arranges for her to see a psychiatrist to understand why she believes what she does. In therapy, Dr. Judd, the psychiatrist, learns that she also believes, out of that villagers’ tale, that she has descended from this evil.Read More »

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Director Jim Jarmusch followed up his brilliant breakout film Stranger Than Paradise with another, equally beloved portrait of loners and misfits in the American landscape. When fate brings together three hapless men—an unemployed disc jockey (Tom Waits), a small-time pimp (John Lurie), and a strong-willed Italian tourist (Roberto Benigni)—in a Louisiana prison, a singular adventure ensues. Described by Jarmusch as a “neo-Beat noir comedy,” Down by Law is part nightmare and part fairy tale, featuring sterling performances and crisp black-and-white cinematography by the esteemed Robby Müller.Read More »

Dives deep into the art of storytelling by examining the defining principles and inner workings of the most popular and memorable American films of all time.Read More »

A career jewel thief finds himself at tense odds with his longtime partner, a crime boss who sends his nephew to keep watch.Read More »

A rare film from Fred Halsted (known for LA Plays Itself). This encode is based on chef’s upload of the Alpha Blue Archives release.

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Part pseudo-documentary, it switches from group stroking, mutual masturbation, oral sex and a bit of anal intercourse with historic images and art photo set.Read More »

Sidney Lumet’s pretty brilliant film version of Arthur Miller’s play, starring Raf Vallone in a shattering performance as troubled Brooklyn longshoreman Eddie Carbone. Interesting genesis here: The film was actually shot in Italy, its original IMDB title is French, and the cast is a surprising international mix.Read More »

A pack of Rottweilers, bred and trained by the U.S. military to kill humans, escape to ravage the peaceful mountain resort town of Lake Lure. It is up to the local sheriff to protect his small community.Read More »

Technical fetishism and trite philosophy abound in Talking to Strangers, a relatively daring American independent film that, despite its strengths, only points out the creative plague in the rest of American independent cinema. Built around a simple gimmick–nine continuous takes arranged in random order and photographed with bravura camera moves and a one-to-one shooting ratio–the film is, metaphorically, about art and the struggle of the artist. Specifically, it is about a pompous, college-educated artiste who tries to find his material by talking to strangers. His type, played by Ken Gruz, is one of mankind’s most despicable–a condescending, egocentric leech who preys on others in order to serve his own need to create art.Read More »

The Confederate States of America, through the eyes of a faux documentary, takes a look at an America where the South won the Civil War. Supposedly produced by a British broadcasting company, the feature film is presented as a production being shown, controversially, for the first time on television in the States. Through the use of other fabricated movie segments, old government information films, television commercials, news breaks, along with actual stock footage from our own history, a provocative and humorous story is told of a country which, in many ways, frighteningly follows a parallel with our own.

Great social satire, distributed by Spike Lee, believe it or not. Was an audience favourite at Sundance and the Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival.Read More »