Maleficarum (2011) directed by Jac Avila is a good screen play by an independent Bolivian film company. It is good historical fiction loosely based on María Francisca Ana de Castro, a Spanish immigrant to Alta Peru, who was renowned for her beauty and wealth. She was arrested and accused of “judaizing”. After many days of torture she confessed and was burned at the stake in 1726. This event was a major spectacle in Lima, but it raised questions about possible irregular procedures and about the corruption within the Inquisition, this lead to the end of The Holy Office (The Inquisition) in Peru. The director and actors do an admirable recreating the actual realistic suffering in great detail of what the victims of the Spanish Inquisition had to endure. The best was the director’s use of the actors’ facial and body language, it was very cerebral and visual at the same time. This viewer marveled at the simplicity of that movie and how it got its complex message across, the script and the story plot was very well thought out. The dialogue of the accusers and witnesses did well in showing the bias and superstitions of that time.Read More »

The Power of Kangwon Province traces, one after the other, the trajectories of a man and a woman traveling separately through the mountainous eastern province of South Korea known as Kangwon. Both have left Seoul for the weekend to get some perspective on their lives and to assuage a common sense of loss and loneliness. As they wander, the pair just misses crossing paths with each other. Their separate encounters, however, reveal to the spectator links between the two drifting characters. This resonant work firmly announces Hong’s fascination with chance, the tenuousness of connection and the ability of narrative cinema to orchestrate the two. – DP (Harvard Film Archive)Read More »

A French diplomat must escape an FSB plot in Siberia.

Based on incredible true events, Jérome Salle’s gripping new espionage thriller depicts the remarkable story of a French public servant who unwittingly finds himself in conflict with one of the modern era’s most powerful and dangerous forces: Russia’s FSB. Gilles Lellouche stars as Mathieu, a gregarious and dedicated diplomat who accepts a posting to Irkutsk as the head of Siberia’s Alliance Francaise. He hopes the change will be good for his family and struggling marriage, but before long Mathieu’s staging of cultural events and support of artistic expression sees him fall afoul of local authorities. Accused of a terrible crime, he soon realises someone has fabricated a case with Russia’s Federal Security Service – he has been framed. Arrested, imprisoned and isolated, Mathieu has nowhere to turn. Defending himself is impossible, the French authorities are helpless – it seems he has no choice: to try and escape.Read More »

Also known as “The Prison Heat”, this is one of the most notorious and sought-after titles in the so-called WIP or “women in prison” movie genre. Japanese cinema has produced many classic examples, such as the renowned “Scorpion” series. Here, the director of the infamous “Wife To Be Sacrificed” turns his hand to the genre and the result is a Grindhouse-style gem. Packed with many eye-opening and unforgettable moments, the movie tells the classic story of the innocent new fish who finds herself trapped in a world of brutality and exploitation. Fighting to preserve her sanity and her life, she soon finds that the very worst offenders are the ones who run the prison. With no one but herself to trust, she decides to fight back, with spectacular results.Read More »

A husband and wife, drifting apart, reflect on the events leading up to the worst argument of their marriage.

Quote:
“It’s the rawness of the film that makes us believe we are unquestionably seeing the truth.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A heavy going realistic slice of life domestic drama that is filmed in black and white. It’s a followup to Béla Tarr’s other domestic strife tales Family Nest and The Outsider. This one keys in on marital strife. It’s about a struggling young couple’s confrontations and their own inability to freely communicate with each other. Tarr was evidently influenced by the works of Ranier Werner Fassbinder and John Cassavettes.Read More »

A short film made for “Venezia 70 – Future Reloaded.”

The day will come

We shall set sail from the mysteries of mythologies
And i shall be singing hymns to set you free
All of the effort I put into 70 Hours Of Diaz and I somehow forgot that he had a short in Venice 70: Future Reloaded…

Outside of experimental affair like Let Your Light Shine or Brakhage’s hand painted affair where the film is 100% dedicated to an aesthetic and that’s what the film must be judged on alone it’s hard to muster the same enthusiasm on a narrative level you would for a 77 second short that you would for say, a 9 hour film for example.
GrimsChild (letterboxd)Read More »

Jean-Luc Godard’s first film. After returning to Switzerland, Godard went to work as a manual worker at a dam building site, using the money he earned to buy a camera, and making a short documentary about the building of the Grand Dixence Dam.
(Also known as Operation ”Concrete”.)Read More »

Quote:
Maria Chapdelaine, a young woman of 16, lives with her family on land they are clearing near the Péribonka River in rural Québec in early 1900. True pioneers, the Chapdelaine family struggles to push back the forest. In a home where even physical exhaustion cannot diminish the warmth of family life, Maria finds herself faced with a deep dilemma. François Paradis, a free-spirited fur trapper and logger, promises Maria to return in spring to marry her, while Lorenzo Surprenant arrives at the farm offering a comfortable existence in an American city, and Eutrope Gagnon, a quiet and determined young farmer has staked a claim on the land next to the Chapdelaine’s. Thrust into the adult world, and juggling with thoughts of land, family and love, Maria will suddenly be forced to choose her future as a woman.Read More »

Mariña, Ada and Tomás form an irregular triangle of bodies, intentions and vibrations. Mariña has an intense love affair with Ada when Tomás, a mutual friend, enters the couple’s intimacy.Read More »