• Hsiao-hsien Hou – Flowers of Shanghai AKA Hai shang hua (1998)

    1991-2000ArthouseAsianHsiao-hsien HouTaiwan

    Quote:
    Based on an 1894 novel by Han Ziyun, and starring Hong Kong film and recording star Tony Leung, Hou’s first film set outside of Taiwan takes place in the elegant brothels of late nineteenth-century Shanghai, a hermetic world with its own highly ritualized codes of behavior. It traces the destinies of the beautiful “flower girls”, whose lives depended on their ability to win, and then hold, the affections of their wealthy callers. A mesmerizing and seductive tale of sexual intrigue.Read More »

  • Anthony Mann – The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)

    1961-1970Anthony MannEpicUSAWar

    Quote:
    Intent on securing peace and prosperity throughout the mighty Roman Empire, the wise diplomat, Emperor Marcus Aurelius, calls together the local governors from all over the Empire, after conquering the Germanic tribes. With this in mind, Marcus has decided to turn over his crown and the much-coveted imperial throne to General Livius, instead of choosing his corrupt son and logical successor, Commodus. As a result, high treason and blind ambition lead to the death of Aurelius by poisoning, paving the way for a new era of oppression, endless machinations, and rapid decline. Now, as darkness prevails on the outskirts of the Empire where the Roman legions struggle to subdue the invading hordes, delusional Commodus declares himself a god, and no one is safe; not even Aurelius’ daughter, Lucilla. Can anyone stop the fall of the Roman Empire?Read More »

  • Bouli Lanners – Les premiers les derniers AKA The First the Last (2016)

    France2001-2010Bouli LannersComedyThriller

    In a vast windswept landscape, Cochise and Gilou, two inseparable bounty hunters, are on the search for a stolen phone containing some sensitive information. On the way, they cross paths with Esther and Willy, a couple on the run. They arrive in a small isolated town inhabited by deadbeats and failures. Is it possible that, in this godforsaken place, that they will discover the best in human nature?Read More »

  • Phil Jutzi – Mutter Krausens Fahrt ins Glück AKA Mother Krause’s Journey to Happiness (1929)

    1921-1930DramaGermanyPhil JutziSilentWeimar Republic cinema

    Quote:
    In the middle of an economic crisis, the workers are living in poverty and struggling to find a little happiness and get a warm meal. Mother Krause lives with her two grown-up children, as well as a shady “bed lodger” and his lover – a prostitute with a child – on just a few square metres. In next to no time, tensions build up, and soon crime is involved too. Mother Krausen’s painstakingly preserved order collapses. This story has lost hardly any of its relevance. In those days, columns of marching workers calling out “Join the ranks!” indicated a possible way out. But the older generation went to the dogs.Read More »

  • Paula Hernández – Los sonámbulos AKA The Sleepwalkers (2019)

    2011-2020ArgentinaDramaPaula Hernández

    Quote:
    Tracking the tandem voyages of a mother and daughter into fraught emotional terrain, Argentinian director Paula Hernández examines the ways desire and expectation clash when familial pressures push women to their limits.Read More »

  • Hlynur Palmason – Hvítur, hvítur dagur AKA A White, White Day (2019)

    Drama2011-2020Hlynur PalmasonIceland

    Quote:
    An off duty police begins to suspect a local man for having had an affair with his recently dead wife. Gradually his obsession for finding out the truth accumulates and inevitably begins to endanger himself and his loved ones.Read More »

  • Elia Suleiman – It Must Be Heaven (2019)

    2011-2020ArthouseComedyElia SuleimanPalestine

    Quote:
    “Where do the birds fly after the last sky?” asks Mahmoud Darwich, and award-winning Palestinian director Elia Suleiman in his latest film asks the same question through his alter-ego, ES. ES escapes from Palestine seeking an alternative homeland, only to find that Palestine is trailing behind him. The promise of a new life turns into a comedy of errors: however far he travels, from Paris to New York, something always reminds him of home. It Must Be Heaven is a comic saga exploring identity, nationality and belonging, in which Suleiman asks the fundamental question: where is the place we can truly call home?Read More »

  • Jean Renoir – La vie est à nous AKA The People of France (1936)

    1931-1940FranceJean RenoirPolitics

    Quote:

    A propaganda film produced by the French Communist Party (PCF) for the campaign for the May 1936 elections – which brought the Popular Front to power – “La vie est à nous”, by Jean Renoir, was shot by a team of militant filmmakers and technicians.Read More »

  • Burt Kennedy – The War Wagon (1967)

    1961-1970ActionBurt KennedyUSAWestern

    Taw Jackson (John Wayne) returns from prison having survived being shot, to the ranch and gold that Frank Pierce stole from him. Jackson makes a deal with Lomax (Kirk Douglas), the man who shot him 5 years ago to join forces against Pierce and steal a large gold shipment. The shipments are transported in the War Wagon, an armored stage coach that is heavily guarded. The two of them become the key players in the caper to separate Pierce from Jackson’s gold.Read More »

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