Synopsis:
The central characters are elderly men, former soldiers in the Pacific War, one of whom is still haunted by guilt for abandoning a wounded colleague to die. When the ‘religious’ cult Utopia turns up and starts swindling old people out of their savings and homes, the veterans are goaded into action one last time.Read More »
Between Dorothy Lange and Walker Evans, a realistic and sensitive snapshot of the 1965 rural world in the South of West Germany.Read More »
Quote:
143 RUE DU DESERT is a portrait of Malika, an elderly woman who runs a rest-stop café on the side of National 1, Algeria’s main highway. Through the various patrons who stop for eggs, coffee or tea, we become intimately acquainted with this eccentric woman, whose opinions on a variety of subject matters entertain, enlighten, and baffle in equal measure. Most of the customers know her so well that we suspect they perhaps stop not for the tea, but for her company. The film almost never leaves the inside of her small café, which serves also as her home. However, with every new shot, Ferhani manages to reveal a new fragment of this minuscule space, which keeps the film surprisingly dynamic. Ferhani does not hold sway over Malika’s representation, which is one of the most satisfying elements of the film. Malika seems aware of her character’s cinematic construction, and even dares to contradict statements about her life from one moment to the next, in a scene that is as performative as any fiction. Even though the film provides us with real-time access to this woman’s world, she retains a sense of privacy, which is the main source of the film’s mystery. (Nico Pereda)Read More »
Quote:
Sayoko has moved away from the city centre and into the suburbs. She gets her hair done at a beauty salon. When she replies to a courtesy follow-up e-mail from the stylist things take an unexpected turn involving her visiting the home of the stylist, her husband and the barber’s girlfriend.Read More »
18-year-old Caspar wants to reach the top, no matter what. He carries out small-time break-ins for Jamal, before moving on to work for big player Björn. All goes well, until Jamal’s gang decide they want revenge. What starts with pushing and shoving soon escalates into armed conflict. This is a big test for Caspar: is he ruthless enough for this battle? And will he drag his younger brother into it?Read More »
Synopsis
Shinjuku Mad is about a desperate father’s search for the killer of his son. The father has rushed from the countryside to comb the seamy, filthy gutters and alleys of Tokyo. He meets some no-good, pot-smoking, guitar-playing, orgy-having hippies who knew his son but just won’t cooperate. Eventually, he discovers that “Shinjuku Mad” killed his son for the sake of some social revolution. The father tracks down the man and his group — if he can’t get a satisfactory answer as to why his son was killed, he wants to at least understand the “revolution” that claimed his son’s life.Read More »
Synopsis:
“A man plans a hold-up with a group of trusted fellows, he gets his hands on the money, and the girl – what could go wrong? Almost everything.”
– IMDbRead More »
A love-triangle in a Dutch fishing village results in the Pietr (wealthy) stranding the Dirk (poor) at sea. The latter ends up in foreign lands with his little pooch. Drama ensues. Lots of lovely outdoor/at sea shots in this one!Read More »
François and Hélène Faustin have been happily married for 12 years. One day, Hélène takes a sudden interest in psychoanalysis and she becomes persuaded that her husband’s apparent fidelity is a subconscious attempt to compensate for a terrible personal drama in his past. Determined to cure François of his deep-seated and potentially dangerous neuroses, Hélène decides to manoeuvre him into having an affair with his secretary.Read More »