Quote:
At the age of 20 Michel was going out with Sonia and was the charismatic leader of their group of friends, and the one that everyone thought would “go far”. But Michel did not live up to their expectations. Ten years later, the friends meet up again…
In 1987, Patrice Chereau had been heading up the Theatre des Amandiers for two years. The previous year he staged a contemporary production of Chekov’s Platonov with his students from the Ecole des comediens de Nanterre-Amandiers. It was them, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Vincent Perez, Marianne Denicourt, Agnes Jaoui, that he brought onto the film set to adapt his own theatrical adaptation for the cinema. It is a great pleasure to see the first steps in front of the camera of these as yet unknown actors in Hotel de France.Read More »

Lakha comes from a family of bird catchers, but questions the value of catching birds. He, and the older Bhushan, sell their caged birds to the local dealer. Lakha’s wife, Sari, complains that he is not ambitious enough because he cares more for the birds than for her, and she starts meeting Natobar. Kalicharan, a city dealer, suggests they sell their birds directly to him. So Bhushan and Lakha take their next catch of birds on the train to Calcutta. Kalicharan invites them to a feast for the ceremony of the birds, with disastrous consequences.Read More »

An ill man’s dying wish reunites four old friends. (IMDb)
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Friends brought together by tragic circumstances discover how sad their own lives have become in this bittersweet comedy-drama from German filmmaker Michael Klier. Harry (Henry Hübchen), Justus (Burghart Klaussner) and Bernhard (Armin Rohde) were close when they were young but haven’t seen each other in many years. However, they meet for the first time in decades when they learn another member of their circle, Manni (Peter Lohmeyer), has fallen ill and has only a short time to live. Manni has done well for himself and has a fine house with a pool as well as a vintage Ferrari, but as his life draws to a close he wants to spend time with his pals and asks them to help him with his one nagging regret. Manni used to date a beautiful girl named Rosi (Sibylle Canonica), but he treated her badly and she left him; all these years later, Manni asks his pals to find her so he can apologize and beg her forgiveness.Read More »

Jonathan Romney, Vienna IFF wrote:
A relatively concise example of Lav Diaz’s expansive essays on Filipino history and imagination, HISTORY OF HA is a period drama set in 1957, although Diaz is characteristically cavalier about authenticity, with modern wheelie suitcases visible and references to algorithms sprinkled across the dialogue. But the past is always visible in the present in his films, and vice versa. This is often expressed by the idea of living in the wake of something, in this case, the death of the Philippines’ then president Ramon Magsaysay in a plane crash.Read More »

A documentary-essay, Țara moartă shows a collection of photographs from a small Romanian town in the 1930s and 1940s. The soundtrack, composed mostly of excerpts taken from the diary of a Jewish doctor from the same era, depicts what the photographs do not: the rising of antisemitism and eventually the harrowing depiction of the Romanian persecution of the Jews, a subject rarely talked in contemporary Romania.Read More »

After years of black plague, Venice shines again. Angela and Valeria, two women from noble families, set their heart on a man in the Venetian crowd and decide to seduce him.Read More »

More Chase, this time two plotlines are merged, first Charley meets a new girlfriend then finds a job working for a man who just escaped from a mental hospital.Read More »

SYNOPSIS:
by Unkabunk of Cinematic
Spectacular battles, rollicking humor, and lavish production values frame a sweeping romantic drama that all audiences will enjoy. At the time of its release, this lavish historical epic was the most expensive Polish film ever made. Based on the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz this grand drama is set in 17th century Poland during the Cossack uprising against the Polish nobility. As the violent confrontation builds, a battle for the heart of a beautiful girl rages between a dashing Pole and a brutish Ukrainian. This is a special full-length version, including footage not in the original theatrical release.

This is the first film from a trilogy of books on which the movies are based. The second is ‘Potop [Deluge] (1974)’ and the final one being ‘Pan Wolodyjowski [Colonel Wolodyjowski] (1969)’.Read More »

Mausam (Seasons) is a 1975 Indian film directed by Gulzar and loosely based on the novel, The Judas Tree, by A.J. Cronin. Sharmila Tagore for her acting received The Silver Lotus Award at the 23rd National Film Festival and the movie was honoured by presenting an award for 2nd Best Feature Film. The movie bagged two of eight nominations at the 24th Filmfare Awards. The background score for the movie was composed by Salil Chowdhury and the songs were composed by Madan Mohan.Read More »