Synopsis:
A desolate, restless small town lost in the industrial wastelands of Kyrgyzstan. Plagued by boredom, confusion and sex–all the usual agonies of adolescence–17 year-old “Chimp” (so-called because of his ears) and his friends are killing time by fighting, partying, and working in the railyard before undergoing their military service. Chimp has more than his share of problems: his pretty and capricious girlfriend causes him nothing but heartache, his father is a self-loathing chronic alcoholic, and his long-suffering mother has had enough. She leaves, taking Chimp’s kid sister with her.Read More »

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Breathtaking, poignant and mesmerizing, MANAKAMANA is a documentary shot entirely inside the narrow bubble of a cable car, high above a jungle in Nepal, as it transports villagers and tourists to an ancient mountaintop temple. Filmed in 16mm and comprised of 11 rides (each a single take corresponds to the length of a roll of film), MANAKAMANA is a tender, ephemeral character study of its passengers and a window onto the lush, rolling landscape of a country in transition from ancient tradition to modernity. This evocative and rigorously structured documentary presents a rich sensory experience that ignites the viewer’s imagination to fill in the past, present and future of each moment as they watch. The New York Film Festival calls it, “…an airborne version of an Andy Warhol screen test…an endlessly suggestive film that both describes and transcends the bounds of time and space.”Read More »

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A horrifying series of murders, committed by a teenaged killer in 1968, prompted a group of filmmakers to chart his path, capturing the things he might have seen before committing his crimes. Their result is this provocative, rarely-screened meditation on geography and society.Read More »

Ten years have passed since Elena’s son, then six years old, has disappeared. Today Elena lives and works at a seaside restaurant until she meets a teenager who reminds her of her missing son.Read More »

Agustina discovers that her late father, previous to his marriage and family life, was involved with insurgent leftist groups during the era of the Argentinian military dictatorship, had a long term romantic relationship with another man and was a prominent member of the underground LGBT scene.
She reconstructs her father’s life through interviews with people that knew him and a treasure trove of family films to produce a moving portrait of a multi-faceted, fascinating and mysterious figure.Read More »

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Suzanne has had enough of her boyfriend Albert. The drama unfolds in fifteen tableaux, in which she goes over to Albert’s friend Emile. Still, these romantic worries go hand in hand with insatiable boredom. Through a delicate storyline and minimalist cinematic gestures, an ironic game of temporality is played. In this headstrong masterpiece, filmmaker Jean-Marie Buchet makes fun of cinematographic etiquette. La fugue de Suzanne is a rare gem in Belgian film history. Self-financed by the director, it creates an absurdistic reality with minimal cinematic gestures.Read More »

At her 70th birthday celebration, the aged mother of the Gu family suffers from a stroke, which precipitates her decline into dementia. Who will take care of her? The four brothers face crucial changes in their relationships to one another, as they deal with their own family problems.Read More »

As a monetary rater of movies, you can tell that I have leanings. My film studies background is rooted in films noir and gritty westerns and at heart, The Getaway is a pulp crime drama with a southwestern flavor. Of course I love it; there’s a heist, a duel, a shootout, a con and every other genre staple that I’ve written about before (not to mention it played a pivotal role in my graduating thesis). It’s true that these details ingratiate the film to me, but it’s also true that The Getaway is a fantastic film. It’s a Steve McQueen movie, after all! That alone makes it a classic and worth watching.Read More »

Synopsis:
Mikko Niskanen’s famous new wave film about the ’60s urban intellectuals who get faced in the Finnish countryside with loads of beer.Read More »