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Picking up where Lives of Performers left off, Rainer’s second, landmark feature tells the story of a woman whose sexual dissatisfaction masks an enormous anger, with Rainer needling at questions raised by contemporary feminism about the relationship between the representation of romantic clichés and sexual repression. Borrowing techniques from soap opera, the formally fractured yet exuberant Film About a Woman Who… combines voiceover, intertitles, simulated “still” images, and dinner-table discussions to provocative, often contradictory effect. Long silences and Babette Mangolte’s fluid black-and-white images only heighten the darting, doubt-ridden, highly dislocating drama.Read More »

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“The Incredible Melting Man” is a fantastically gross, trashy and energetic Z-grade production that every self-respecting camp-horror freak simply has to see for him/herself! The ideal way to describe this low-budget 70’s gem is like a shameless copy of Hammer’s “The Quatermass Xperiment” …only a thousand times filthier! Astronaust Steve West is the only survivor of a disastrous space-mission, but turns out the carrier of a horrible disease that makes him radioactive and … causes him to melt! In shock after seeing his face in the mirror (can you blame him?), Steve busts out of the hospital, leaving a trail of sticky pus and fallen off body parts behind.Read More »

Eddie wants his dad to find a new wife but disapproves of the women he dates. He thinks their neighbor would make a much better match.Read More »

O Tasqueiro is a somewhat forgotten Aki Kaurismäki short. Originally shot in 2012, then released for the first time in a TV showing in 2018, this dialogue-free short chronicles the tragic and comedic life of a barkeep in an old Portuguese village, attempting to find love and keep up with the changing times. All of this is showcased in the trademark Kaurismäki style, with visual flair and melancholy.Read More »

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Ella Bergmann-Michels’ second film, ‘Erwerbslose kochen für Erwerbslose’ (The Unemployed Cook for the Unemployed), was commissioned by the Frankfurt Association of Soup Kitchens, which had run out of funds to provide thousands of unemployed people with hot meals as the economic crisis worsened. The film was shown as a supporting feature in many Frankfurt cinemas and in street screenings at the Frankfurt Hauptwache.Read More »

Jazz and decolonization are entwined in this historical rollercoaster that rewrites the Cold War episode that led musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach to crash the UN Security Council in protest against the murder of Patrice Lumumba.Read More »

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A father and his son arrive at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco. They’re searching for Mar — daughter and sister — who vanished months ago at one of these endless, sleepless parties. Surrounded by electronic music and a raw, unfamiliar sense of freedom, they hand out her photo again and again. Hope is fading but they push through and follow a group of ravers heading to one last party in the desert. As they venture deeper into the burning wilderness, the journey forces them to confront their own limits.Read More »

letterboxd:
The psychosexual drama Yoji, What’s Wrong With You? examines the identity of women as mothers in Japanese culture, through an Oedipal narrative of a skewed “family romance.” When Yoji announces to his mother that he wants her to meet a new girlfriend, the mother’s jealousy destroys the relationship. Idemitsu’s signature device of using a television monitor within the domestic space works as a powerful metaphor for the ubiquity of the mother in Yoji’s psychological life. Idemitsu’s melodramas always articulate a double-edged irony: With no identity outside of her maternal role, Yoji’s mother fastens onto her son, ultimately destroying him. Yoji himself is seen as emotionally stunted, unable to leave his mother or experience love for any other womanRead More »

Review
In 1942, the breakaway group from Bombay talkies formed itsown Film Studio – Filmistan. As Filmistan grew from strength to strength, Bombay Talkies began to decline and was making huge losses. Ashok Kumar, who used to be Bombay Talkies biggest star and who was part of the breakaway group to Filmistan, returned to his alma mater so to speak in the late 1940s to try and turn the company around. In the wake of this effort came Mahal, perhaps India’s first suspense and ghost story!Read More »