• Andrey Chernykh – Avstriyskoe pole AKA Austrian Field (1991)

    1991-2000Andrey ChernykhArthouseDramaUSSR
    Avstriyskoe pole (1991)
    Avstriyskoe pole (1991)

    The action takes place in a strange world of human relationships and broken relationships. And, perhaps best of all it focuses a person who is blind from birth. The film – the story of his dramatic love of a beautiful young woman.Read More »

  • Edward Dmytryk – Obsession AKA The Hidden Room (1949)

    Edward Dmytryk1941-1950Film NoirUSA
    Obsession (1949)
    Obsession (1949)

    Plot Synopsis by Hal Erickson
    Blacklisted in Hollywood, director Edward Dmytryk managed to find work in England. Dmytryk’s Obsession is based on Alec Coppel’s suspense play A Man About a Dog. Ignoring such niceties as subtlety and restraint, Robert Newton stars as Dr. Clive Riordan, the insanely jealous husband of Storm Riordan (Sally Gray). Not content with merely murdering Storm’s American lover Bill Kronin (Phil Brown), Riordan chains up the poor fellow in a deserted building. His reasoning: should the police accuse Riordan of Kronin’s murder, the doctor can always produce the live victim, who is blindfolded and has no idea who his captor is. Once the investigation into the man’s disappearance has subsided, Riordan intends to kill his victim and dispose of the body in an acid bath (something like this actually did take place in London in the postwar years). But the doctor is unaware that his wife’s pet dog has also been locked up with the helpless Kronin. Obsession was released in the U.S. as The Hidden Room.Read More »

  • Josef von Sternberg & Arthur Rosson – Underworld (1927)

    Josef von Sternberg1921-1930Arthur RossonCrimeSilentUSA
    Underworld (1927)
    Underworld (1927)

    Boisterous gangster kingpin ‘Bull’ Weed rehabilitates the down-and-out ‘Rolls Royce’ Wensel, a former lawyer who has fallen into alcoholism. The two become confidants, with Rolls Royce’s intelligence aiding Weed’s schemes, but complications arise when Rolls Royce falls for Weed’s girlfriend ‘Feathers’ McCoy.

    Adding to Weed’s troubles are attempts by a rival gangster, ‘Buck’ Mulligan, to muscle in on his territory. Their antagonism climaxes with Weed killing Mulligan and he is imprisoned, awaiting a death sentence. Rolls Royce devises an escape plan, but he and Feathers face a dilemma, wondering if they should elope together and leave Bull Weed to his fate.Read More »

  • Ari Folman – The Congress AKA Kenes Ha-Atidanim (2013)

    Ari Folman2011-2020AnimationIsraelSci-Fi
    The Congress (2013)
    The Congress (2013)

    Quote:
    Robin Wright plays an aging actress with a reputation for being fickle and unreliable, so much so that nobody is willing to offer her any roles anymore. She agrees to sell the movie rights to her digital image to Miramount Studios in exchange for a hefty sum and the promise to never act again. After her body is digitally scanned, the studio will be able to make movies starring her using only computer-generated characters.Read More »

  • Maria Maggenti – The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995)

    Maria Maggenti1991-2000ComedyDramaQueer Cinema(s)USA
    The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995)
    The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995)

    This enjoyable film combines features of teen movie, coming-of-age film, and lesbian flic. Made by a female director, with attractive actors, it is a role-reversal farce. The appeal is not restricted to lesbians – this is particularly suitable for the male audience, and not only because of the erotically effective love scenes (and the undeniable fact that the two main actresses are well worth looking at). Most importantly the comedy works well. There is an intriguing reversal of roles. The white girl is poor, and the black girl is rich.The poor girl belongs to a sort of “family” of lesbians that is warm and caring, while the black girl’s parents are separated and she lives with her mother. There is the gift from the rich girl of Walt Whitman’s poetry collection “Leaves of Grass” to the poor girl, who reads some of the poems while smoking grass and wakes up to the meaning of the words. The story has a satisfying ending, allowing everyone to get on with their lives.Read More »

  • Jerome Hill – La cartomancienne AKA The Fortune Teller (1932)

    1931-1940ExperimentalJerome HillUSA
    La cartomancienne (1932)
    La cartomancienne (1932)

    Quote:
    In a European seaside village, a maiden takes clean sheets down from the clothesline. Carrying her basket of linens home, she stops to consult a fortune teller, whose been napping the the sun. The cartomancienne sees love in the cards. The young woman pauses to reflect. We then see water, swirling, and into view swims a man, as if just appearing on earth. He arrives on shore – is he just in her mind’s eye, or is he real? She weaves a garland of for her hair. Will they meet?Read More »

  • Vladimir Bortko – Master i Margarita AKA The Master and Margarita (2005)

    Vladimir Bortko2001-2010DramaRomanceRussia
    Master i Margarita (2005)
    Master i Margarita (2005)

    Master and Margarita (2005) is a Menippean film based on the eponymous book by Mikhail A. Bugakov. Set in Moscow under Stalin it has several story-lines that are intertwined. The sacrifices of Master (Galibin), a talented author of a manuscript about the biblical Pontius Pilate, and Master’s muse – Margarita (Kovalchuk), are paralleled by the biblical story of Yeshua in Yerushalaim, and the deceit of the cowardly ambiguous Pilate (Lavrov), whose character alludes to a Soviet leader. The reality is distorted by Satan Woland (Basilashvili), and his lieutenants, who are manipulating public events and people’s lives by pushing the buttons of human weaknesses and sins. Margarita taps into Woland’s power as she becomes the Queen of the Satan’s Ball. She turns into a witch to save Master. Some characters allude to Soviet leaders: Lenin, Stalin, Beria, and their entourage.Read More »

  • Alice Rohrwacher – La Chimera (2023)

    Alice Rohrwacher2021-2030AdventureComedyItaly
    La Chimera (2023)
    La Chimera (2023)

    Synopsis:
    Everyone has their own Chimera, something they try to achieve but never manage to find. For the band of tombaroli, thieves of ancient grave goods and archaeological wonders, the Chimera means redemption from work and the dream of easy wealth. For Arthur, the Chimera looks like the woman he lost, Beniamina. To find her, Arthur challenges the invisible, searches everywhere, goes inside the earth – in search of the door to the afterlife of which myths speak. In an adventurous journey between the living and the dead, between forests and cities, between celebrations and solitudes, the intertwined destinies of these characters unfold, all in search of the Chimera.Read More »

  • Joseph Despins & William Dumaresq – Duffer (1972)

    Joseph Despins1971-1980ArthouseDramaUnited KingdomWilliam Dumaresq
    Duffer (1972)
    Duffer (1972)

    An intense and bizarre study of obsession that is by turns lyrical and disconcerting, Duffer tells the deranged story of a teenage boy torn between the womanly charms of a kindly prostitute, and the relentless, sadistic attentions of an older man.Read More »

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