• Kazuo Hara – Yuki Yukite shingun AKA The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (1987)

    Documentary1981-1990AsianJapanKazuo Hara

    Synopsis:
    The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On is a brilliant exploration of memory and war guilt, a subject often ignored in modern Japan. In this controversial documentary, Kazuo Hara follows Kenzo Okuzaki in his real-life struggle against Emperor Hirohito. He proudly declares that he shot BBs at the Royal Palace, distributed pornographic images of the Emperor, and once killed a man for the sake of his strange crusade. As the film progresses, Okuzaki reveals a gruesome mystery: why were some Japanese officers killing their own soldiers during WWII? What happened to their bodies? Okuzaki begs, cajoles, and occasionally beats the story out of elderly veterans.Read More »

  • Marie Luise Droop & Muhsin Ertugrul – Das Fest der schwarzen Tulpe (1920)

    1911-1920DramaGermanyMarie Luise DroopMuhsin ErtugrulSilentWeimar Republic cinema

    This silent film rarity has turkish intertitles only. Reason is that it was restored and shown for a turkish film festival about Muhsin Ertugrul.

    Muhsin Ertugrul is a legendary turkish film director who was a pioneer of the turkish cinema.
    He started as an extra and minor actor in early german film industry and later learned directing films at the german Ustad Film company, which was specialized in directing films based on the books of famous ( at least in Germany) adventure and travel author Karl May. Lot of his books played in then Turkish Empire and therefore Muhsin Ertugrul seemed to be predestined for these films.Read More »

  • Raj Kapoor – Awaara aka The Vagabond (1951)

    1951-1960ClassicsDramaIndiaRaj Kapoor

    This much-discussed film was Kapoor’s first to feature his trademark Chaplinesque character “Raj/Raju” (“little Raj,” though the homage to Chaplin is less pronounced than in the sunnier SHRI 420), here a hapless “vagabond” (avaaraa) who, as the film opens, is on trial for the attempted murder of a pillar of society, Judge Raghunath (brilliantly played by Prithviraj Kapoor, R. K.’s real-life father). He is defended by a beautiful young lawyer, Rita (Nargis), an orphan who also happens to be the Judge’s ward. Read More »

  • Tomu Uchida – Jinsei-gekijô: Hishakaku to kiratsune aka Theater of Life: Hishakaku and Kiratsune (1968)

    1961-1970AsianClassicsJapanTomu Uchida

    Quote:
    Hishakaku (Koji Tsuruta), a kyakubun (visitor) with the Kokin gang, frees his lover Otoyo (Junko Fuji) from a brothel run by boss Oyokota (Tatsuo Endo), accompanied by Miyagawa (Ken Takakura) and other Kokin gangsters — and consequently brawls with Oyokota’s gang. After killing several of Oyokota’s men, including a former anikibun (elder brother) who has betrayed him, Hishakaku flees, with the police in close pursuit, and takes refuge in a strange house. There, he encounters Kiratsune (Ryutaro Tatsumi), an old man who calmly invites him in, gives him sake, and advises him to give himself up. Struck by the nobility of the old man’s character and the sageness of his advice, Hishakaku does as he says.Read More »

  • Wes Craven – The Fireworks Woman (1975)

    1971-1980DramaEroticaUSAWes Craven

    Angela (Jennifer Jordan) has a problem, she has a magnetic sexual quality that causes other people to be filled with desire for her. The first victim is her brother Peter (Eric Edwards). Ashamed of their behavior, Peter becomes a priest.
    Angela, confused by her persistent infatuation with her brother, goes to him for counseling. Peter sends her to work for Mrs. Walters (Erica Eaton), a wealthy member of his congregation. Employed as a maid, Angela is abused by Mrs. Walters and her friend Roger. She leaves and tries to sort things out by sailing alone. After three days at sea and tormented by visions of Peter, Angela falls off the boat and is rescued by a couple who immediately engage her in a three way.Read More »

  • Marine Atlan – Daniel fait face AKA Daniel (2018)

    2011-2020DramaFranceMarine Atlan

    Strange things are happening at a school in France, something unknown is approaching, something enchanting and dangerous. In a dream-like timelessness, children dance the tango and recite poems. All at once, Daniel is alone with Marthe.Read More »

  • Aleksandra Niemczyk – Polka-Dot (2020)

    2011-2020Aleksandra NiemczykBosnia HerzegovinaExperimentalShort Film

    An impressionistic emotional struggle between a girl with a prefabricated heart and a mysterious puppet-master. Inspired by the chapter “The Girl with the Pre-Fabricated Heart” from the surrealist film “Dreams That Money Can Buy” (1947) by avant-gardist and dada artist Hans Richter.

    Aleksandra Niemczykholds a Master of Fine Arts (Painting and Lithography) and also a Master’s degree in Film Directing. Her short films and debut feature film have been selected for film festivals around the world including Locarno Film Festival, New Horizons, IndieLisboa, Pesaro, and Sarajevo. She has exhibited her paintings and video installations internationally since 2001.Read More »

  • Teo Hernandez – Cristaux (1978)

    1971-1980ExperimentalFranceTeo Hernandez

    The tetralogy pieces are dominated by the concept and presence of death, foreclosure, fetal vertigo. As such, CRISTAUX is a real descent into an inner labyrinth, which we do not know if it is organic or cultural. At the same time, the film contains a dialectical break that initiates other semantic directions in Hernandez’s work. Under the influence of Michel Nedjar, the filmmaker abandons his traditional method of editing based on rushes. The operation is now completed inside the camera, filming. This more flexible way of proceeding (“the camera must become a second eye”) is already reflected in the clear openings of Lacrima Christi: the Christian myth seems to be on the way to exorcising. The pantheistic intoxication – close to that evoked by Nietzsche – seizes places, objects and participants.
    -LetterboxdRead More »

  • Heinrich Breloer – Brecht (2019)

    2011-2020DocumentaryDramaGermanyHeinrich Breloer

    Hollywood Reporter:
    Director Heinrich Breloer mixes drama with documentary in his marathon TV biopic of radical playwright and leftist icon Bertolt Brecht.

    Interweaving glossy dramatic scenes with interview clips featuring former Brecht associates, some specially shot and others dredged from the archives, Breloer provides a wealth of material but never quite breathes life into his charismatic, contradictory subject. The blend of fictionalized and documentary elements is often deftly done, with interlaced scenes that rhyme and chime like music. Read More »

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