This adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel ‘Farewell, My Lovely’, renamed for the American market to prevent filmgoers mistaking it for a musical (for which Powell was already famous) has private eye Philip Marlowe hired by Moose Malloy, a petty crook just out of prison after a seven year stretch, to look for his former girlfriend, Velma, who has not been seen for the last six years. The case is tougher than Marlowe expected as his initially promising enquiries lead to a complex web of deceit involving bribery, perjury and theft, and where no one’s motivation is obvious, least of all Marlowe’s.Read More »

This tragicomedy from 1939, directed by Martin Frič, is among the most popular Czech films of all time. The reason behind this is the intriguing protagonist – Alois Novák, the seemingly banal married office clerk. Novák works in a travel agency, but once a month he spends an evening in the luxurious Orient Bar playing the seducer Kristian, always to disappear for ever at the key moment when his enticed female prey is about to fall for his charms. Alois/Kristian has become an integral part of Czech popculture and one iconic depiction of the country’s national character. Read More »

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Sometime in the mid to late sixties, Doris Day got saddled with the “Oldest Living Virgin” label, something which seemed somewhat a propos considering her squeaky clean, almost asexual screen persona. Day was always the girl next door, even when she traversed in unusual territory like Julie or the 1956 Hitchcock remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much. With her slightly raspy voice and inherently sweet disposition, Day was the Eisenhower Era’s answer to Marilyn Monroe, another stunningly beautiful blonde that you wouldn’t be worried about bringing home to meet Mom. This generic labeling of Day often underestimates her real skill as an actress.Read More »

Original title: 不倫
A wife, bored with her husband, meets one of his old friends at a party. He manages a strip club. Intrigued, she goes with him to visit one of his clubs. One of the strippers is upset and the manager has to pleasure her to calm her down. The wife is aroused by the sight of this and later invites him to her house. There they begin a passionate affair behind her husband’s back.Read More »

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Tonya has just graduated from the trade school and found a job as a cook in a Siberian village. She is naive but open hearted and kind. When Ilya starts flirting with her she takes it as a true romance only to discover that Ilya had a bet with his friends to seduce her. She stops talking with him but Ilya has already fallen in love with her.Read More »

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Lionhearted Leo doesn’t know what to do. He simply can not decide between the fragile Michelle and the fatal Daisy. How can he decide between his two loves and at the same time remain a reliable blood donor and an accurate architect? The problem is solved by the two ladies without even consulting Leo.Read More »

Two students of a theological seminary in totalitarian Czechoslovakia must decide if they’ll choose the easier way of collaboration, or if they’ll subject themselves to the surveillance of the secret police.The year is 1980. Michal and Juraj are students at a theological seminary in totalitarian Czechoslovakia. Fearing the dissolution of their school, the tutors are moulding the seminarians into a shape satisfactory to the ruling Communist Party. Each of the young students must decide if he will give into the temptation and choose the easier way of collaborating with the regime, or if he will subject himself to draconian surveillance by the secret police.Read More »

Documentary on the making of “fotoromanzi”, popular comic strips using live action photgraphs instead of drawings. Early morning in an Italian town. Magazines are delivered to a kiosk. People buy the magazines which depict love stories and romances in cartoon styles using photographs. Men and women from all walks of life are shown reading the magazines. We are introduced to four people who go to a basement studio and there pose for photographs for the magazines. The photos are developed and various props and dialogues are painted in. The actors read the finished produce and are seen returning to their everyday lives. One of the fotoromanzi stars, Sergio Raimondi, is seen being idolised by the women in a tenement building.Read More »

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It’s tough to find something redeeming about Jean-Claude Brisseau’s Exterminating Angels, a conflated, borderline pornographic, and execrable projection of the female psyche as seen through the murky gaze of a successful, middle-aged filmmaker, François (Frédéric van den Driessche) whose encounter with an actress recounting her sexual fantasy during an interview triggers his own personal and creative journey into capturing the intersection of desire and intimacy.Read More »