• Charles Vidor – Hans Christian Andersen (1952)

    1951-1960Charles VidorMusicalRomanceUSA

    Synopsis:
    Hans Christian Andersen was Sam Goldwyn’s final production for RKO Radio release, and also the producer’s last Danny Kaye vehicle. The Moss Hart-Myles Connolly screenplay largely disregards the facts concerning Denmark’s great storyteller, opting for a fanciful blend of comedy, fantasy, romance and music. As played by Kaye, Hans Christian Andersen starts out as a small-town cobbler whose gift for spinning fairy tales is keeping the local kids from attending school. Asked to leave town, Hans heads to Copenhagen to seek his fortune as a writer.Read More »

  • Hal Barwood – Warning Sign (1985)

    USA1981-1990Hal BarwoodSci-FiThriller

    Quote:
    A woman working as a security guard in an agricultural research facility finds herself and her co-worker Schmidt fighting to survive against their former friends.Read More »

  • Greg Berlanti – The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy (2000)

    1991-2000ComedyDramaGreg BerlantiQueer Cinema(s)USA

    Quote:
    In the palm-shaded oasis of West Hollywood, we meet Dennis, a promising photographer. As he prepares to celebrate his twenty-eighth birthday, he laments, ‘ I can’t decide if my friends are the best or worst thing that ever happened to me.’ The gang includes Benji, the punkish innocent with a penchant for gym bodies; Howie, the psychology grad student who thinks too much and lives too little; Cole, the charismatic actor who accidentally keeps stealing everybody’s guy; Patrick, the cynical quipster, and Taylor, resident drama queen, who, until recently, prided himself on his long-term relationship. Providing sage advice and steady work is Jack, the beloved patriarch whose restaurant is a haven for them all. When tragedy strikes the group, the friendships are put to the test.Read More »

  • Harun Farocki – Serious Games 1: Watson Is Down (2010)

    2001-2010DocumentaryGermanyHarun FarockiShort Film

    Quote:
    In the autumn of 2009 we filmed a drill at the Marine Corps Base 29 Palms in California. Four Marines sitting in a class represented the crew of a tank. They had laptops in front of them on which they steered their own vehicle and watched others in the unit being driven through a Computer-Animation Landscape. The simulated Afghan is based on geographical data out of Afghanistan. Read More »

  • David Lynch – The Amputee (1974)

    1971-1980ArthouseDavid LynchShort FilmUSA

    Quote:
    Made for the American Film Institute while Eraserhead was in financial limbo. The AFI was testing two different stocks of black and white video and enlisted Frederick Elmes to test each one. Lynch asked Elmes if he could shoot something with this stock and so he and Catherine Coulson stayed up all night writing script. The result was a one shot scene with Catherine Coulson about a woman attempting to write a letter while a female nurse (played by Lynch) tends to her leg stumps. (Two versions, 5 minutes/4 minutes)Read More »

  • Marco Bellocchio – Gli occhi, la bocca AKA The Eyes, The Mouth (1982)

    1981-1990DramaItalyMarco Bellocchio

    Burned-out, over-the-hill actor Giovanni returns to Bologna for the funeral of his twin, Pippo, a wealthy suicide unlucky in love. The family tells Pippo’s mother it was an accident, but there’s a problem: Vanda, Pippo’s one-time fiancée, won’t grieve and refuses to come to the funeral. At a family dinner, Vanda talks about the note Peppo left. Again the family tries to keep mom in the dark. They assign Giovanni to persuade Vanda to keep up appearances. He sees her unhappy relationship with her father, who suspects her of sleeping with a doctor. Why she sees the doctor, how Giovanni and she deal with their mutual attraction, and his rebirth become the film’s focus.Read More »

  • Henry Koster – First Love (1939)

    1931-1940ComedyHenry KosterRomanceScrewball ComedyUSA

    In this reworking of Cinderella, orphaned Connie Harding is sent to live with her rich aunt and uncle after graduating from boarding school. She’s hardly received with open arms, especially by her snobby cousin Barbara. When the entire family is invited to a major social ball, Barbara sees to it that Connie is forced to stay home. With the aid of her uncle, who acts as her fairy godfather, Connie makes it to the ball and meets her Prince Charming in Ted Drake, her cousin’s boyfriendRead More »

  • Jean Epstein – La chute de la maison Usher AKA The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)

    1921-1930ArthouseFranceJean EpsteinSilent

    Quote:
    A leading member of the French cinema’s avant-garde movement and the director of the Impressionist classic Coeur fidèle (1923), Jean Epstein broke with his more modernist colleagues in the late 1920s to make documentaries and fiction films grounded in the realities of everyday life. Before that evolution, however, Epstein filmed this adaptation of two Edgar Allan Poe stories: “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839) and “The Oval Portrait” (1850). The film’s significance lies not so much in its fidelity to Poe’s stories as in its atmospheric evocation of the author’s gothic sensibility. Read More »

  • Ciro Guerra – La sombra del caminante aka The Wandering Shadows (2004)

    Arthouse2001-2010Ciro GuerraColombiaSci-Fi

    Two men meet in downtown Bogotá; one is missing a leg, the other is a “silletero,” a man who carries people around for money. Each character bears the burden of a bitter past life.Read More »

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