Espionage, war and romance in the Far East in 1904: Russian naval officer Boris Ranewsky marries Youki, the sister of a fanatical Japanese officer – but war is imminent…Read More »

STRANDED is a lightweight but enjoyable romance starring George Brent and Kay Francis.

A world of girders and cable – that’s where Mack Hale works, supervising the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. In its shadow is a world of hopes and fears. That’s where Lynn Palmer works, aiding travelers stranded in an unforgiving city during the depths of the Depression. In this fast-paced romantic drama directed by two-time Academy Award® winner* Frank Borzage, Kay Francis and George Brent portray a young couple threatened by gangsters eager to muscle in on the construction payroll. The plot is crisp but Stranded is equally engaging as a snapshot of time and place as Lynn does her best for an unwed mother, a destitute boy, four giggling mail-order brides and more bewildered folks grateful for her helping hand.Read More »

Citizen Kane was an American saga about a giant who brings ruin to all, including himself. As fate would have it, it is through this film that both Orson Wells and William Randolph Hearst are remembered today. In telling the tale of these two flawed and fascinating men, The Battle over Citizen Kane also sheds light on the masterpiece over which they fought, the fiction that fuses them both: the enduring film character of Charles Foster Kane.Read More »

A young man neglects the ritual offerings to the voodoo deities and invokes their anger. His family suffers the consequences: house burned, crops destroyed. He leaves for the city to try to help them, but finds himself caught up in drugs. He ends up meeting a young girl who encourages him to return to the village. They marry in the voodoo tradition and the curse is lifted.Read More »

“Nothing but drink and sex – drink and sex – one long, never-ending effort to
escape from reality”. That just about sums up the characters who inhabit
La Vie en Rose, a nightclub viewed one month after the end of the
Second World War, which only closes when everyone falls over. Judging by
its bohemian clientele, one imagines that the club, run by Dame Judi
Dench’s hard-nosed but beneath the surface sensitive Christine, must
have been in Soho.Read More »

A Run for Money concerns the quandary faced by an Istanbul clothier when he discovers half a million dollars languishing in a paper bag in the back of a cab. After a minor attempt to find its owner, Selim (Taner Birsel) absconds with the cash and hides it in his home, keeping his family in the dark about his newfound riches. As news of the missing cash spreads throughout the city, Selim becomes more and more insular, alienating those around him. When his business is robbed, he blames his assistant; as his paranoia mounts, he lavishes riches on his suspicious wife.Read More »

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Kazuo Hasegawa has wild friends and hates being compared to his stepbrother, Reikichi Kawamura, who is steady, works hard at his taxicab business, and is amiable. That’s why he left home a year ago. Now he has heard his mother is ill, and wants to come home, but thinks she hates him. That’s nonsense, says Kawamura. Hasegawa agrees to reform. Just then two men come in and want to hire a cab. Everyone has gone home for the evening, so Hasegawa shows his willingness to reform by taking the fare. They drive to a distant house. They ask him to wait. While he does so, Kinuyo Tanaka pops out, begs him to help her escape. He does so. The two men are her step-brother, and the man everyone wants her to marry…. except her, of course.Read More »

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Kiarostami’s fascination with both Tehrani car culture and the uses of power in post-revolutionary society come together in this documentary about a traffic officer assigned to enforce driving restrictions in central Tehran (a locale near the director’s Kanoon office). The officer, a rock star in his own world, remains coolly authoritative as he faces a steady stream of exasperated motorists.Read More »

One of the most beautiful versions of Yotsuya Kaidan. Tamiya, an egomaniacal samurai, determines to reunite with his wife Oiwa, who’s left him after a murder scandal. When her sister Osode is tricked into prostitution by a masseuse, Tamiya is joined by his friend Naosuke in turning the situation into a plot to win back Oiwa, which complicates as a new girl enters the picture. Tamiya’s scheming injustices backfire in the form of an onryo, a vengeance-seeking ghost, and yet the movie’s horror is entirely of human contrivance.Read More »