Gai Dimanche is a 1935 three reel film written by and starring Jacques Tati and his friend Rhum. The pair star as down-and-outs (very much their situation in reality at the time) who try to generate funds by providing an impromptu leisure tour in a rickety bus they wangle use of for free. Released in 1935 and rarely seen today, the film offers brief glimpses and hints towards methods Tati would begin to perfect on the big screen a decade later.Read More »
featuring Andrey Konchalovskiy on the script
Quote:
[…]Andrei Konchalovsky had, together with Eduard Tropinin, written the script for The End of the Ataman, directed by the renowned Kazakh film-maker Shaken Ajmanov. The film dealt with the special task of the Red officer Chadiarov (played by Asanali Ashimov), who in 1921 has to kill the ataman Dutov,a collaborator with the Whites.Chadiarov discloses during this operation the spy in the Red headquarters in his Kazakh home town. In order to fulfill this task, Chadiarov, who is a Chinese prince, has to get himself arrested as a spy by the Soviet commander; then he escapes, crosses the border and sides with the ataman, who resides in China. Chadiarov fulfills the secret mission successfully, while its full scale and significance transpire only at the end of the film. In its use of cavalry chases, escapes and hide-outs in the steppe, this film is fully within the genre of the ‘Eastern’.Read More »
Hanna is a young woman with a dysfunctional family background who becomes addictive to heroin and takes up with a guy who pimps her out. As her life begins to slide, she meets a nice young man who falls in love with her and she tries to get clean but her old life will hunt her down.Read More »
Vladimir Leon on a quest for a forgotten man in the annals of history. Guessing the film-maker’s Russian connection, the Indian historian Hari Vasudevan showed Leon the iconic photograph shot during the second Communist International (Comintern) Congress in 1920. Amidst the tall Bolshevik leaders of the time such as Grigory Zinoveiv, Vladimir Lenin and Maxim Gorky, there was an Indian face in the picture. It was that of Manabendra Nath Roy, or M.N. Roy, one of the founders of the Communist Party of India in 1920. “Here was a man about whom the world hardly knew anything,” says Leon, who found in Roy’s life the perfect plot for a film. “Roy was a part of incredible moments in history. Imagine a person from a rural family in colonial India being witness to three of the most revolutionary periods of the 20th century.”Read More »
Retour à l’aube is like Russian (or should we say Hungarian) dolls dreaming of each other : when the dream seems a dead-end or a nightmare, a new one begins in another tone. Danielle Darrieux being the unforgettable doll and key leading to the following dream, following film : drama, comedy, romance, musical, crime, oniric tale, etc… a perfect rainbow directed by Decoin. A film that could be compared to Pierrot le Fou for this rare quality of going through genres and tones as lightly as the air, which I tend more and more to attribute to people having penetrated the secret of cinematic life… or is it just love ? MaybeRead More »
A tale of lies and revenge. A local Kung fu master hopes to monopolise, but family in his way is protected by a great martial artist. The evil lord hires 4 local beggars all masters in their own arts (pole, swords, kicking, axe) and tells them lies about the young fighter to sour their feelings on him causing them to challenge him to a duel. But after countless fights between them they all realize that they are much better friends then enemies, until one of the fighters is sabotaged and kills the young fighter. Being mistakin for a killer the other 3 turn their backs on him and chase him off swearing revenge until they find out what the real story is. Amazing weopon work that only the venoms could show you. Another first class story line, hands down just another great venoms movie period.Read More »
Synopsis:
Based on a science-fiction novel by Sakyo Komatsu. Tokyo is suddenly covered by a dome shaped electromagnetic cloud for an unknown reason and is totally blocked and isolated from other parts of the world. The temperature inside the cloud is slowly increasing. The Soviet Pacific fleet is getting closer. The U.S. is forcing Japan to form a new government. Scientists and research workers outside Tokyo have to race against time to find out how to get through the cloud in order to rescue the 12,000,000+ lives in Tokyo and the fate of the country.Read More »
It is June 1940. France has fallen and the Germans are posed to invade England. In this desperate hour, British Intelligence has recruited Babette, a pea-brained young woman who has just been evacuated from France. The dim blonde bears a striking resemblance to a former mistress of General von Arenberg, the man responsible for the feared invasion. The plan is that she will use her womanly charms to lure the General into an ambush. Things soon go wrong when Babette is separated from her handsome associate, Gérard de Crécy, and ends up in the hands of the infamous Gestapo chief Shultz. Coincidentally, the latter also wants to have von Arenberg out of the way, and realises that Babette is just the woman he needs…Read More »
MARCH 22, 1965: CASTRO OPENS.
Warhol’s film, The Life of Juanita Castro premiered at the Film-Makers Cinematheque. (DB217) It was filmed at WALDO BALART’s apartment on West 10th Street. RONALD TAVEL wrote the script, inspired by Waldo who also appeared in the film and whose sister had been married to FIDEL CASTRO. Fidel had divorced her just before he became Premier. (POP111)Read More »