• Philip S. Solomon – Nocturne (1980-1989)

    1981-1990ExperimentalPhilip S. SolomonShort FilmUSA

    Synopsis
    NOCTURNE strongly evokes one of Brakhage’s most exquisite films, FIRE OF WATERS (1965). Its setting is a suburban neighborhood populated by kids at play and indistinct but ominous parental figures. A submerged narrative rehearses a type of young boy’s nighttime game in which a flashlight is wielded in a darkened room to produce effects of aerial combat and bombardment. A sense of hostility tinged with terror seeps into commonplace movements… Fantasy merges with nightmare, a war of dimly suppressed emotions rages beneath a veneer of household calm… In NOCTURNE, found footage is worked so subtly into the fabric of threat that its apperception comes as a shock ploughed from the unconscious. –Paul ArthurRead More »

  • Philip S. Solomon, Mark Lapore – Crossroad (2005)

    2001-2010ExperimentalMark LaporePhilip S. SolomonShort FilmUSA

    Synopsis
    Machinima film made by Phil Solomon and MarK LaPore briefly before his death.Read More »

  • Etienne Périer – Bridge to the Sun (1961)

    1961-1970DramaEtienne PérierRomanceUSA


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    Review Summary

    This combination romance and wartime drama by Etienne Perier was unusual at the time it was released because it portrayed World War II in the Pacific from the perspective of Gwen Terasaki, a woman from the Southern U.S., married to a Japanese diplomat. Based on her autobiography, the interesting story relates how the couple left for Japan after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and remained in Japan throughout the duration of the war. Their experiences and hardships during the war are detailed, as well as the tragedy that separated them once the war was over. Since the suffering of the ordinary Japanese citizen at this time and the racial undercurrents connected to the Pacific war are brought forward, the film stirred some controversy when it was released. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie GuideRead More »

  • Raoul Ruiz – Nucingen Haus AKA Nucingen House (2008)

    2001-2010DramaFranceRaoul Ruiz

    Plot: The story takes place in the 1920s. William, a young aristocrat, has just won a property in Chili, near Santiago, in a poker game. He takes his wife Anne-Marie there so that she can rest. Right from the moment they arrive, they are welcomed by strange and intrusive characters bound together by an oppressive and poetical figure, the ghost of Léonor, who died accidentally. The house, with its suffocating presence, becomes the theater of an incredible substitution linked to the anxieties and desires of an unsatisfied man. (uniFrance)Read More »

  • Peter von Bagh – Helsinki, ikuisesti AKA Helsinki, Forever (2008)

    Documentary2001-2010ArthouseFinlandPeter von Bagh

    Probably writer-director Peter von Bagh’s masterpiece in the documentary genre, a personal love letter to the city of Helsinki as it once was and as it might have been, taking the form of a collage of film clips, photographs, paintings, song and music fragments, quotations from Finnish writers and von Bagh’s own musings, read by himself and the actors Erja Manto and Sulevi Peltola. A real treat, not to be missed by any fan of Finnish cinema or the “city symphony” genre.Read More »

  • Tomás Gutiérrez Alea – Historias de la revolución aka Stories of the Revolution (1960)

    1951-1960CubaDramaPoliticsTomás Gutiérrez Alea

    A look at the cuban revolution told from three different perspectives in
    italian neo- realist style, the first film of legendary cuban film auteur Tomás Gutiérrez Alea.

    Quote:
    Three vignettes about war in Cuba feature a wounded fighter, guerrilla bombardment and a funeral cortege.Read More »

  • Terrence Malick – Together (2018)

    2011-2020Short FilmTerrence MalickUSA

    Together is a VR experience about the power of human connection. The piece fuses dance and technology, putting the viewer in the middle of an emotional narrative about breaking down barriers and bringing people closer.Read More »

  • Shinji Sômai – Sêrâ-fuku to kikanjû AKA Sailor Suit and Machine Gun (1981)

    1981-1990ActionCultJapanShinji Sômai

    Synopsis:
    High school student Hoshi Izumi (Yakushimaru Hiroko) is just a normal teenaged schoolgirl, except for the fact that her father is a yakuza boss. When her father suddenly dies, Izumi inherits his position as the clan head. Pulled into the wheeling, dealing, and fighting of the mob world, Izumi slowly comes into her own as she leads the gang in search of her father’s murderer.Read More »

  • Noboru Iguchi – Kataude mashin gâru AKA The Machine Girl (2008)

    2001-2010ActionHorrorJapanNoboru Iguchi

    Synopsis:
    Ami is a typical college girl. She’s bright, friendly, popular and athletic, with nothing to set her apart from other girls her age other than the fact that she is an orphan, left to care for her younger brother after her father committed suicide after being falsely accused of murder. But while there is tragedy in their past, the siblings’ future looks good, except for one thing. Ami’s brother has racked up a considerable debt to another boy at school, and that boy just happens to be the heir to a clan of vicious ninja-yakuza. Ami’s brother can’t pay, violence breaks out and in the course of trying to avenge her brother, Ami is captured by the clan. They torture her and hack her arm right off. Ami escapes, barely alive, and is taken in by the owners of a machine shop who build her a customized, bullet-spewing arm. From that point, the quest for revenge is on in earnest.Read More »

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