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Jane Arden’s The Other Side of the Underneath is a seriously disturbing film. It is also an uncharacteristically bold one. I think that in a lot of ways it is quite similar to Bernardo Bertollucci’s Partner (1968), a film about a young revolutionary, played by Pierre Clementi, whose life changes dramatically when a double appears and foils his plan to commit suicide. In the opening scene of The Other Side, a schizophrenic woman (Sheila Allen, The Legend of Spider Forest) is pulled out of a lake and placed in an asylum.

The film is based on director Arden’s “A New Communion for Freaks, Prophets and Witches”, a play she staged with the Holocaust women’s theatre troupe. It is comprised of a number of different episodes, each exploring a specific theme – female exploitation, voyeurism, sexual deprivation, etc. The Other Side is also a reflection of its creator’s brush with madness.

The key concept behind The Other Side is intriguing. The film argues that madness is part of a cycle that leads to sanity. It also stresses that this complex process is often misunderstood by those who have never experienced madness. Cultural and societal taboos are cited amongst the main reasons for its existence.Read More »

Quote:
The film develops as the author’s diary, where unbiased narration is dissolved in the lyrical intonation. You watch the real persons in the particular circumstances on the screen. They are Russian frontier–guards on the Tadjik–Afghani border. But it is also a piece of art, where aesthetic laws give the theme and arrange the facts taken from life.

That is why the film begins with the story about Mozart, about death concealing under the poor cover of the daily routine, about music, breaking through this cover and absorbing spiritual voices of the Universe. And that’s why the northern landscape is being shown during a long while, motionless and at the same time subtly changing.
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A group of rogues steal a scroll granting its bearer the property of the land of Aurocastro in Apulia (south of Italy). They elect a shaggy knight, Brancaleone from Norcia, as their leader, and decide to get possession of this supposedly wealthy land. Many adventures will occurr during the journey.Read More »

Synopsis
Ruza left Serbia, her country, over 30 years ago and lives in Zurich. Her daily life is a string of repetitive moments until, one day, Ana arrives on the scene and upsets Ruza’s painstakingly organized world. A subtle friendship develops between the two strong willed women.Read More »

From allmovie.com
What makes an athlete compete? How can he be made to endure the gruelling training most sports require? In this image-rich combination documentary and poetic drama, participants in sports including foot-racing, wrestling, speed-skating, swimming and gymnastics are seen in their daily lives and in all stages of training and competition. Their regimens are contrasted with the efforts of ordinary people to train some life into their limbs as they exercise to lose weight, or, as aging people, in order to stay active. In one episode, a marathon runner competing on a hot summer day in Philadelphia literally runs himself to death, and in a later dramatic re-enactment, medieval warriors hold a competitive joust. As one image piles upon another in this unique film, answers to questions about competition begin to suggest themselves.Read More »

Russian master Aleksandr Sokurov has produced another majestic achievement with ALEXANDRA. In a rare instance of working from his own original script, Sokurov tells the simple tale of a woman in the twilight of her life who embarks on a special journey. As the story unfolds, Sokurov’s deeper purpose is revealed, resulting in a work that speaks profoundly about the corrosive nature of war. Opera star Galina Vishnevskaya is Alexandra. She hasn’t seen her grandson in seven years and, understanding that her life is coming to an end, she decides to visit him at his army camp in war-torn Chechnya. Read More »

Sam (Joe Swanberg) has feelings for Juliette (Josephine Decker), the lead actress in a sexually explicit drama centered on a couple’s one night stand. He must maintain a professional relationship while directing her. All is going well until Juliette and her co-star Eric (Kent Osborne) develop feelings for each other that they explore off-camera. Sam is happy that his actors have such great chemistry, but simultaneously feels jealous. Juliette senses Sam’s shifting moods and does her best to show him affection, but his own inner struggles threaten to derail the production.Read More »

Aleksandr Sokurov creates a visually poetic, elegant, and unforgettable synthesis of art and life in Mariya. The lush and textural initial sequence, shot using color film, presents the austere life of the titular Mariya – a robust, genial, and hard-working middle-aged collective farmer with an engaging smile – during an arduous flax harvest season in the summer of 1975: operating heavy machinery, sharing a meal at a communal table with fellow workers, visiting her young son’s grave, enjoying a lazy afternoon by the lake with her family on her day off, and proudly (and uninhibitedly) describing her responsibilities and work ethic before the camera.Read More »

Plot:
Father (Andrej Shetinin) and Son (Alexei Nejmyshev) live together in a rooftop apartment. They have lived alone for years in their own private world, full of memories and daily rituals. Sometimes they seem like brothers. Sometimes even like lovers. Following in his father’s footsteps, Alexei attends military school. He likes sports, tends to be irresponsible and has problems with his girlfriend. She is jealous of Alexei’s close relationship with his father. Despite knowing that all sons must one day live their own lives, Alexei is conflicted. Alexei’s father knows he should maybe accept a better job in another city, maybe search for a new wife. But who will ease the pain of Alexei’s nightmares?Read More »