On March 16, 1978, the Red Brigades kidnapped the head of Christian Democracy, the party in power in Italy since the end of the war. Fifty-five days later, his corpse was found in the trunk of a red Renault. Moro was not only the victim of the Brigades but also of the struggle for power between the Italian parties.Read More »

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Richard Linklater’s follow-up to Slacker, Dazed and Confused, flopped at the box office, but Dazed and Confused went on to become a huge cult hit. It’s set somewhere in suburban Middle America (filmed in Texas) on May 28, 1976, on the last day of school, and everyone’s looking for something exciting to do. First, however, the incoming freshmen students must spend the day fleeing from bizarre initiation rituals from paddle-wielding, abusive seniors – while everyone else does their best to get stoned or get laid. Set over the course of 24 hours, Linklater’s observations about the rituals of teenage life, and about small town mentality, is spot on – as is his attention to the smallest details of time and place. The camera swerves between some two dozen youngsters and a handful of stories, but Linklater keeps everything and everyone on the same level. All parties congregate at a huge beer bust in the middle of the woods, but amidst the keg parties, fights, dope-smoking, classic rock tunes, and endless partying, not much happens.Read More »

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Another stunning Tuesday Suspense Theater movie from Obayashi. I love how there is some music playing almost every second of the film. That gives the movie an special feeling of drama and I think of it as another way to telling the viewer like Hey, don’t forget you’re watching a movie!

And the fact that this is a cat monster movie about making a cat monster movie featuring Takeko Irie, also known as the cat monster actress, and her daughter playing a character inspired in herself! I will sure give a rewatch to this after I watch some of Takako Irie’s cat monster movies.Read More »

Synopsis
Two lives cross in New York. Lamis, a Lebanese woman, has just moved to the city and describes her impressions while the Brazilian man Wilson has already lived there for 10 years. We never see them on the screen, but their relationship is described in poetic Arabic and Portuguese voice-overs, which contrast starkly with the images, shot in New York, Berlin and Brazil. In this way, the film speaks literally to the imagination: the events take place between what we see and what we hear. This hybrid form of documentary, fiction, travelogue and letters makes this ‘film diary’ reminiscent of News from Home (1977) by Chantal Akerman. Whereas Akerman brings together two different worlds based on letters from her mother in Belgium and images of New York, While We Are Here adds macro and geopolitical issues, such as globalisation and migration, to this approach. The main thread remains intimate and human: desire, love, fear and memories.—International Film Festival RotterdamRead More »

A sensitive, well-observed film, beautifully lensed and acted… ~ Deborah Young, Variety

Pietro Di Leo, security officer of a department store in Milan, where the girl he is dating also works as a make-up artist, is separated from his wife and with a son that he only sees on weekends. He is a very dissatisfied man, whose psychosomatic suffering (loss of nose bleeds, outbursts of anger, visions) reveals a situation of profound discomfort. One day, however, he meets Pabe, a young Roma who has to get rid of the warehouse and who will then let go when she is caught stealing a perfume. At first intrigued, but then increasingly fascinated, Pietro decides to help her…Read More »

Dries Vermeulen:
Blonde,busty Jennifer Welles is one of the all time great porn superstars and not just because of her obvious physical qualities. In addition to those,she possessed striking screen presence and – as Armand Weston’s EXPOSE ME, LOVELY clearly attests – honest to goodness acting ability. This lavishly produced semi-documentary, but one (though perhaps the best) in a long-running series, is a present to her fans who should be legion. The wonderful Ms. Welles appears in every single sex scene and what sex scenes they are. Whew! Of special note is her smoldering Sapphic slurp with lanky cross-dresser Marlene Willoughby, which was allegedly Jennifer’s first foray into same sex territory. Horse-hung Peter Andrews turns up for the boy next door/banana pie scene, double-teaming our hot heroine with swarthy stud muffin Pepe. The number of partners seems to multiply with each successive sexual encounter. Rumour has it that the four Oriental guys she finishes her climactic orgy scene with were not professional porno people but just happened to be catering on the set!Read More »

Originally titled Pane, Amore, e Fantasia when released in Italy, Bread, Love and Dreams contains what some regard as Gina Lollobrigida’s best and most naturalistic performance. The film’s popularity resulted in two sequels, both with Lollobrigida: Pane, Amore e Gelosia (US title: Frisky) and the open-ended Pane, Amore e… (released in the states as Scandal in Sorrento). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideRead More »

THE PIED PIPER (KRYSAŘ), 1986, Czechoslovakia, 53 min. Director Jiří Barta’s stop-motion animated masterpiece, based on The Pied Piper of Hamelin, is set in a dark and twisted medieval village of narrow streets and weird Gothic arches, half-CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI and half-Jan van Eyck. The money-obsessed citizens, carved out of wood blocks and speaking in an onomatopoeic babble, are like George Grosz caricatures, literally spouting coins from their mouths instead of words. The rats are far more organic and sympathetic, made of real fur and whiskers, constantly tunneling and burrowing under the towering arches and cobblestone streets above. (In one of the film’s many surreal moments, a rat emerges from a gargoyle’s gaping maw.) Fans of fellow Czech animation legend Jan Švankmajer and the Brothers Quay will adore Barta’s eerie, Expressionist gem, recently restored for its first-ever U.S. Blu-ray release through Krátký Film Praha, Deaf Crocodile and Comeback Company. “Barta’s mastery of all aspects of filmmaking are evident: staging, production design, lighting, animation, editing, sound and music combine into dark worlds of repression and revolt with ironic conclusions.” – Phil Tippett (MAD GOD).Read More »

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A motorcycle cop and a freelance photographer, having learned the location of 1 billion yen’s worth of the Imperial Navy’s gold, team up to salvage it.Read More »