• Mariano Llinás – Historias extraordinarias AKA Extraordinary Stories (2008)

    2001-2010ArgentinaArthouseDramaMariano Llinás

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    Historias extraordinarias tells the adventures of three men known only as H (Agustin Mendilaharzu, doubling as cinematographer), X (director Mariano Llinás) and Z (Walter Jakob). These adventures come across as self-conscious constructions and journeys happening in the here and now. But though the strongest literary influences on Llinás’ fascinating screenplay are fiction writer Jorge Luis Borges and disciple Adolfo Bioy-Casares, it would be wrong to label Historias extraordinarias as literary per se: Instead, a viewer would have to stretch back to the grand serial silents of Louis Feuillade for something as ambitious as Llinás’ detailed telling of the three separate, intertwined tales, all involving men on quests in situations that force them to question who they really are. Llinás jumps between the storylines over 18 episodes, usually devoting no more than about 15 minutes at a time to any single one. The governing concept uniting the tales is how each man begins with a specific task, and then veers away from the straight-and-narrow, bringing the job’s purpose into question.Read More »

  • Aleksandr Gintsburg – Giperboloid inzhenera Garina AKA Engineer Garin’s Hyperboloid [+Extra] (1965)

    1961-1970AdventureAleksandr GintsburgSci-FiUSSR

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Synopsis:

    The year is 1925. Professor Mantsev invents a weapon of a formidable destructive force never seen before – a hyperboloid that strikes dead with a beam… Engineer Garin steals this prototype of the modern laser gun, with the aim to use it for the realization of his insane idea of become the ruler of the world, with no inkling of the consequences that would be dangerous for him, too. A hunt for Garin and Mantsev’s dangerous invention begins…Read More »

  • Cheyenne Carron – Ne nous soumets pas à la tentation AKA Lead Us Not Into Temptation (2011)

    2011-2020Cheyenne CarronDramaFranceThriller

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    Quote:
    The best movie that I’ve seen so far at Cinequest is the French thriller Lead Us Not Into Temptation. A middle-aged married man does a good deed for a beautiful young woman and finds himself the pawn in a dangerous game. Inventively constructed, we see the story from the perspective of the guy, then from the young woman’s point of view and finally through the prism of another character. Unlike in Rashomon, we don’t see different realities, but, as secrets are revealed, we finally understand the whole picture. It’s a brilliant screenplay by writer-director-producer Cheyenne Carron. In the young woman, Carron has created a character who is both predatory and damaged but who can act charming, vulnerable and sexy. The story hinges on actress Agnes Delachair’s ability to play that complex role – and she delivers a captivating performance.Read More »

  • Syllas Tzoumerkas – I Ekrixi AKA A Blast (2014)

    2011-2020ArthouseDramaGreeceSyllas Tzoumerkas

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Synopsis
    In a striking and courageous lead performance, Angeliki Papoulia plays Maria – a woman who started her adult life with the best of intentions but, ten years later, feels her world falling out from under her.
    Unwilling to reconcile with a reality of unreturned care, lost dignity and a broken-down desire to live, Maria attacks. She attacks herself, her past, the people she loves, her country and the perception of her sex in a relentless battle to find truth.
    Only a day before, she was a caring mother, a loving wife and a responsible daughter. Today, she has gone rogue…Read More »

  • Hans-Christof Stenzel – Obszön – Der Fall Peter Herzl (1981)

    1981-1990ArthouseAustriaEroticaHans-Christof Stenzel

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Synopsis:
    Peter Herzl, social worker and Left sympathizer from Wuppertal is, assaulted and robbed on the way back from Yugoslavia to Germany. Due to some misunderstandings the police examined him as a suspected terrorist. In Vienna, he finds shelter with the prostitute Kathi. Kathi has an incestuous relationship with her adolescent daughter. Fascinated she watched her mother and Peter during lovemaking. Soon they would also participate in the game. Meanwhile the search for Peter is at full speed. And Kathi`s pimp sees an opportunity to get easy money by betrayal…Read More »

  • André Heinrich & Alain Resnais – Le Mystère de l’atelier quinze (1957)

    1951-1960Alain ResnaisAndré Heinrich and Alain ResnaisDocumentaryFranceShort Film

    Quote:
    The role of the doctor in a factory. The investigations he makes to discover the origin of ailments which attack the workers in a large chemical factory.Read More »

  • Nicholas Ray – Born to Be Bad [+Extra] (1950)

    1941-1950DramaFilm NoirNicholas RayUSA

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Synopsis:
    One of the most oft-revived of the pre-Technicolor Nicholas Ray efforts, Born to Be Bad offers us the spectacle of Joan Fontaine portraying a character described as “a cross between Lucrezia Borgia and Peg O’ My Heart”. For the benefit of her wealthy husband Zachary Scott and his family, Fontaine adopts a facade of wide-eyed sweetness. Bored with her hubby, she inaugurates a romance with novelist Robert Ryan. All her carefully crafted calculations come acropper when both men discover that she’s a bitch among bitches. She might have gotten away with all her machinations, but the censors said uh-uh. Originally slated for filming in 1946, with Henry Fonda scheduled to play the Robert Ryan part, Born to Bad was cancelled, then resurfaced as Bed as Roses in 1948, this time with Barbara Bel Geddes in the Fontaine role. RKO head Howard Hughes’ decision to replace Bel Geddes with the more bankable Fontaine was one of the reasons that producer Dore Schary left RKO in favor of MGM. Based on Anne Parrish’s novel All Kneeling, Born to be Bad is so overheated at times that it threatens to lapse into self-parody; though this never happens, the film was the basis for one of TV star Carol Burnett’s funniest and most devastating movie takeoffs, Raised to be RottenRead More »

  • Akio Jissôji – Uta AKA Poem (1972)

    1971-1980Akio JissojiArthouseAsianJapan

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    Quote:
    This is the last film of the ATG trilogy of the director Akio Jissoji, who sought the roots of inner psychology and eroticism. It’s a story of a young man who turns his back on the modern world, seeking to be a protector of a family and heads to his destruction.Read More »

  • Claudia Lorenz – Unter der Haut AKA What’s Between Us (2015)

    Drama2011-2020Claudia LorenzQueer Cinema(s)Switzerland

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    After eighteen years of marriage, Alice finds herself confronted with the fact that her husband Frank feels more and more attracted to men. Not only Frank, but also she and their three children undergo an irreversible change.Read More »

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