• Kristín Jóhannesdóttir – Glerbrot AKA Broken Glass (1988)

    1981-1990ExploitationHorrorIcelandKristín Jóhannesdóttir

    Here we have a true rarity, an Icelandic WIP exploitation horror love story. Teenage girl (played by the singer Björk at the time when she was on the brink of becoming a world famous musician) is taken against her will from her dysfunctional home by the authorities and moved to an isolated and strict religious institution in the countryside where she and other girls at her age are kept imprisoned and harassed sexually. The film is loosely inspired by a true case involving the Salvation Army that became very controversial in the country two decades earlier. The film score is by Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, the current Chieftain of the Asa Faith Society in Iceland.Read More »

  • Marcelo Gomes – Estou Me Guardando Para Quando O Carnaval Chegar AKA Waiting for the Carnival (2019)

    2011-2020BrazilDocumentaryMarcelo Gomes

    A small town in the Brazilian outback is considered the nation’s capital of jeans. It’s also a microcosm that depicts modern day capitalism and its transgressions.Read More »

  • David Reynolds – The Beiderbecke Affair (1985)

    1981-1990David ReynoldsDramaTVUnited Kingdom

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Some of IMDb reviews:

    Splendily entertaining and disturbingly prescient.

    This was not the first outing for Alan Plater’s schoolteacher detectives, who in 1981’s Get Lost had been played admirably by Alun Armstrong and Frances Tomelty. However no-one could quibble with the re-casting. James Bolam effortlessly nails each line of the arch dialogue, while the talented Barbara Flynn has that rare quality of looking both believably ordinary and incredibly fanciable. Some wonderful British character actors also get plenty of screen time in what is effectively an ensemble piece. Colin Blakely, Keith Marsh, Danny Schiller, Robert Longden and Keith Clarke all do sterling work, but special mention must be made of Dudley Sutton’s tweedy schoolmaster and Terence Rigby’s saturnine Big Al, while Dominic Jephcott was a real find as the callow university educated detective. A beautifully constructed series, that remains as pertinent as ever in a society increasingly disrespectful of privacy and intolerant of eccentricity.Read More »

  • Hollis Frampton – Manual of Arms (1966)

    1961-1970ExperimentalHollis FramptonShort FilmUSA

    Experimental filmmaker Hollis Frampton shoots a series of portrait shots of each of his fourteen friends, each with half of their face in shadow and each with a different expression. After all fourteen introductions have been made, Frampton then presents a series of brief shots in which each friend shown previously performs an everyday activity for the camera, from smoking to drinking to sitting. The different angles and the varied lighting in each of these lightning-quick shots are used to create a mysterious and sinister atmosphere.Read More »

  • Mads Brügger – St. Bernard Syndicate AKA The Saint Bernard Syndicate (2018) (HD)

    2011-2020ComedyDenmarkDramaMads Brügger

    Subversive satirist Mads Brugger’s latest is an odd-couple comedy about the pitfalls of striking out into the economic frontier; it charts two hapless Danes’ scheme to sell Saint Bernards to China’s rising middle class.Read More »

  • Paul Schrader – Blue Collar (1978)

    1971-1980CrimeDramaPaul SchraderUSA

    Quote:
    Paul Schrader’s directorial debut examines the trials of Detroit autoworkers living at the mercy of a heartless corporation and a corrupt union. Surviving from paycheck to paycheck, Checker Cab assembly linemen Zeke (Richard Pryor), Jerry (Harvey Keitel), and Smokey (Yaphet Kotto) scrape by and take pleasure in a few rounds of beer or bowling (and occasional illicit amusements). But when their money troubles pile up, Jerry and Smokey join Zeke in a desperate plan to steal cash from their local union office. Along with a piddling $600, they unexpectedly swipe evidence of union corruption.Read More »

  • Alix Delaporte – Le dernier coup de marteau AKA The Last Hammer Blow (2014)

    2011-2020Alix DelaporteDramaFrance

    A 13-year old boy who lives with his single sick mom in a trailer near the beach, comes in contact with the father he never knew when the man performs as a conductor at the local music theater.Read More »

  • Janusz Majewski – Wenus z Ille AKA Venus of Ille (1969)

    1961-1970HorrorJanusz MajewskiPolandTV

    Wenus z Ille / Venus of Ille (1967). Part of unofficial TV anthology: Opowiesci Niesamowite (It is the second season of The Amazing Stories – Opowiesci Niezwykle. Written and directed by Janusz Majewski. Based on Prosper Merimee’s short story (Merimee is also the author of Blekitny Pokoj AKA The Ble Room – Majewski TV adaption, 1965; and Lokis which was later adapted by Majewski into a feature film, 1970).TVRip (TVP Kultura broadcast).Read More »

  • Raffaello Matarazzo – La risaia (1956)

    1951-1960DramaItalyRaffaello Matarazzo

    In this heartwarming drama, the life of an Italian rice farmer involved in an unhappy marriage is chronicled. One day, he notices a familiar looking migrant in his field. Upon following the girl, he discovers that she is his illegitimate daughter. To quietly make up for his past indiscretion, he begins giving the girl many gifts, but he does not tell her who he is. Later the girl falls for an auto mechanic who gets jealous of her secret father’s attention to her. This causes the father to tell the mechanic the truth; the fix it man then decides to engineer a reunion. He then goes on to save the girl from getting raped by her father’s deadbeat nephew.

    (Allmovie)Read More »

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