Ari, a paramedic, is a chronic womanizer; he makes it a point of pride to never sleep with the same woman twice, and his nights are a long series of brazen one-night stands. But when Ari meets Tiina, something unexpected happens – he falls in love.Read More »
Tamiko works as a live-in maid in a modest ryokan, while her bed-ridden husband, Kanji, slowly deteriorates due to a cerebral disorder. He makes her home life increasingly miserable, but Tamiko keeps up appearances. One day, Kotani, a well-to-do hotel manager visits the ryokan, is struck by Tamiko, and hints that he wants to help her to escape from her current life.Read More »
This is a brilliant short documentary made by the infamous Peter Greenaway for Thames Television program “Take 6” in 1980. For this project, Greenaway tackles the task of interviewing British subjects that have been struck by lightning…and survived to talk about it. The documentary displays Greenaways signature touches, such as the element of Dark Comedy (Greenaways editing, the Monty Pythonesque narrator, the witty writing, that transitory music, and the nature of their stories in general) and, of course, his trademark attention to detail regarding mise-en-scene and framing. First Greenaway gets his subjects to reflect upon their experiences. He also interviews friends, family, doctors and other witnesses whom fill in the blanks where the strikee may have been unable to remember or recollect.Read More »
Athena becomes bored with life in the heavenly realm and decides to have a little fun playing tricks on a mortal couple. When she accidentally breaks the couple up, she enlists the aid of another immortal in setting things right again.Read More »
In ancient Bagdad, the young prince Ahmad (John Justin) is betrayed, deposed, and imprisoned by his vizier Jaffar (Conrad Veidt), an evil and calculating man who is also a master of the Black Arts. But Ahmad is saved from prison, and certain execution, by Abu (Sabu), a young thief who has made his way in life by stealing whatever he needs. Together they escape from Bagdad and make their way to the port city of Basra, where they hope to sign to sail with the renowned sailor Sinbad. But Ahmad chances to catch a glimpse of the daughter (June Duprez) of the Sultan (Miles Malleson, who also co-wrote the screenplay), and falls hopelessly in love with her. Read More »
Colombian filmmaker Theo Montoya opens his latest doc, Anhell69, with an extreme juxtaposition. There is grainy video footage of politicians signing the landmark peace agreement in 2016, which meant years of civil violence would be put to an end. But we also see an image taken in a car, something so dark it’s unclear to understand precisely what it is. After a few moments it becomes clear it is an open casket, and we see the face of a corpse.Read More »
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This major rediscovery creates a bridge between the social realism of G. W. Pabst’s The Joyless Street and the dark lyricism of F. W. Murnau’s Sunrise. The extraordinary Ita Rina (Erotikon) is the title character, a prostitute whose act of pity—keeping chaste company with a condemned man through the night before he is to be hung—returns to threaten her unexpected chance of happiness, as the bride of a young farmer from her native village.Read More »
“It feels that friendship between girls is the most intimate, dependent relationship there is – even stronger than a marriage…” ~Aino SuniRead More »
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The British Film Institute has been unable to locate a print of the film for inclusion in the BFI National Archive, and classes it as “missing, believed lost”. There is increasing interest by film historians in Gréville’s directorial career, with the same year’s Noose being particularly highly regarded. The current absence of But Not in Vain represents a crucial gap in Gréville’s filmography, and the BFI lists the film as one of its “75 Most Wanted” missing British feature films.Read More »