Dick Powell plays a murdered dog reincarnated as a rumpled gumshoe–nuff said! (well, not quite, because a lead role for Peggy Dow is always worth a mention! What a shame that she retired so early–she and Powell make an excellent pair…Read More »

Director Joe Swanberg (Nights and Weekends) goes beyond the mumblecore movement with this revealing drama about marriage. For Alexander the Last, Swanberg reigns over an experienced cast of actors — including Jane Adams, Jess Weixler, and Josh Hamilton — but still incorporates his usual improvisational techniques. Margot at the Wedding director Noah Baumbach serves as one of the film’s producers. —IFC FilmsRead More »

In what must be the longest lapse of time between a film and its sequel, 70-year-old Abel Gance continues his nearly legendary, 1927 historical drama Napoleon with this tale of Napoleon’s life after his victories in Italy. The first half of Austerlitz delves into the private life of Napoleon Bonaparte (Pierre Mondy), the prodigal son of Corsica. The supreme commander of the French armed forces goes about his family life and dallies with Josephine (Martine Carol) and mistress Mlle. de Vaudey (Leslie Caron). He occasionally displays bursts of temper that presage some of the macho violence of the battle scenes in the second half of the film, after Napoleon has proclaimed himself Emperor. This sequel shows that Gance has not lost his directorial touch. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie GuideRead More »

A young French woman returns to the silence of West Africa to contemplate her childhood days in a colonial outpost in Cameroon. Her strongest memories are of the family’s houseboy, Protee – a man of great nobility and beauty – and the intricate nature of relationships in a racist society.Read More »

Synopsis:
A Palestinian bomber has killed an Israeli diplomat and his family and the Israeli plot to neutralise him becomes convoluted as they select an American Actress (Charlie) to impersonate the Bomber’s brother’s girlfriend after the Israeli’s capture and kill the brother. Charlie is placed into a world where she begins being an actress, then becomes a spy, then is trained by the Palestinians as a guerrilla and finally is sent to deliver a bomb. She is chronically confused by how far she is really supposed to go in her impersonations and how much of herself she must give up.Read More »

After a bad breakup, Ariane moves home and gets a job as an interpreter for seasonal migrant workers. Witnessing workplace abuses, Ariane must decide how far she is willing to go to speak out against injustice.

10 wins, 3 nominationsRead More »

In the Swedish city of Lethe, people from different walks of life take part in a series of short, deadpan vignettes that rush past. Some are just seconds long, none longer than a couple of minutes. A young woman (Jessica Lundberg) remembers a fantasy honeymoon with a rock guitarist. A man awakes from a dream about bomber planes. A businessman boasts about success while being robbed by a pickpocket and so on. The absurdist collection is accompanied by Dixieland jazz and similar music.Read More »

Ex-Green Beret hapkido expert saves wild horses from being slaughtered for dog food and helps protect a desert “freedom school” for runaway.Read More »

Quote:
Yumeji is the final film in youth-gone-berserk auteur Seijun Suzuki’s acclaimed Taisho Trilogy. Sensual and absurdist, it spins a ghost story around the character and work of real-life painter and poet Yumeji Takehisa (1884-1934). The eponymous character — conjured by Suzuki as a chronic philanderer and dreamer played by former rock star Kenji Sawada — is plagued with ideals of perfect beauty and the terror of his own demise. He falls in love with women, but can never capture their hearts. He is constantly escaping his rivals, but can never face them down.Read More »