• Awtar Krishna Kaul – 27 Down (1973)

    Arthouse1971-1980Awtar Krishna KaulIndiaRomance

    SYNOPSIS
    Sanjay wanted to study art, but his domineering father, an engine driver in retirement after a crippling injury, insisted that a railway job, with its security, was the best thing for him. So Sanjay ended up as a train conductor, unhappy with the career forced upon him, and the mechanical, meaningless life that he lives. In the course of his duty on the train, he runs into a working girl, Shalini and feels attracted to her. His father hears about his interest in Shalini, strongly disapproves of it and intervenes in Sanjay’s life once again. Unable to stand up to his father, Sanjay soon finds himself married to a village girl. Life becomes even more unbearable for Sanjay. He takes to wandering and seeks comfort in drink and brothels. One final chance comes his way to break loose from his shackles and plan a new life with Shalini…Read More »

  • Kenji Mizoguchi – Naniwa erejî AKA Osaka Elegy (1936)

    1931-1940ClassicsDramaJapanKenji Mizoguchi

    PLOT:
    Ayako becomes the mistress of her boss so she can pay her father’s debt and prevent him from going to prison for embezzlement.Read More »

  • Doo-yong Lee – Pong AKA Mulberry (1986)

    1981-1990Doo-yong LeeDramaEroticaSouth Korea

    Sam-po is a gambler living without concern for how his wife will manage their household without his earning money. In order to get food and provisions, his wife An-hyeob, sleeps with various merchants in the village…

    Mulberry is a 1986 South Korean erotic drama film directed by Lee Doo-yong. Based on the eponymous classic story by Na Do-hyang, the film became known for its erotic subject matter, made possible by the government’s gradual relaxation of censorship and control over the film industry during the 1980s.Read More »

  • Mike De Leon – Signos (2008)

    2001-2010DocumentaryMike De LeonPhilippines

    Summary:
    “Signos” features interviews of courageous personalities who challenged the autocratic rule of the Marcos family.Read More »

  • Kenji Mizoguchi & Tatsunosuke Takashima – Ojo Okichi AKA Miss Okichi (1935)

    Tatsunosuke Takashima1931-1940ClassicsDramaJapanKenji Mizoguchi

    Quote:
    A bit like The Downfall of Osen (Orizuru Osen, 1935), this film centers on a woman who’s a cat’s paw for a gang involved in shady dealings. Okichi, played by Yamada Isuzu, is pulling scams for the sake of her lover. But she falls out with the gang and takes pity on one of the young men whom she victimizes.

    I can’t comment on the film after only one viewing, and the fact that Mizoguchi is credited after Takashima suggests that he may have had little input. Still, it’s another tale of a woman who sacrifices herself for more or less unworthy men. Miss Okichi also has some typically Mizoguchian scenes that dwell on chiaroscuro melancholy. Much of the film takes place at night, and this strategy reinforces the somber atmosphere. There are some remarkably opaque long shots and one moment that includes Okichi turning toward the camera in a sort of plaintive challenge.Read More »

  • Norman Z. McLeod – Topper (1937)

    1931-1940ClassicsComedyNorman Z. McLeodScrewball ComedyUSA

    Quote:
    Thorne Smith is a name one hardly ever hears these days, and that’s a shame. In the 1920s and early ’30s, he was the popular author of a genre-defining series of novels in which mortal men broke out of their humdrum lives to embark on comic-erotic, supernaturally tinged adventures in the company of an exciting woman (or women). The most popular of these, Topper, was filmed in 1937, three years after Smith’s death. (Smith’s novel The Passionate Witch also became the basis for a classic film comedy, I Married a Witch (1942), and later the TV series Bewitched.)Read More »

  • Martin Ritt – The Front (1976)

    Drama1971-1980Martin RittPoliticsUSA

    Synopsis:
    In the early 1950s Howard Prince, who works in a restaurant, helps out a black-listed writer friend by selling a TV station a script under his own name. The money is useful in paying off gambling debts, so he takes on three more such clients. Howard is politically pretty innocent, but involvement with Florence – who quits TV in disgust over things – and friendship with the show’s ex-star – now himself blacklisted – make him start to think about what is really going on.Read More »

  • Hugo Vieira da Silva – Body Rice (2006)

    2001-2010ArthouseDramaHugo Vieira da SilvaPortugal

    Quote:
    Since the 1980’s German institutions have sent adolescents to Southern Portugal to participate in experimental projects of social re-education, and our main character, Katrin, arrives in the Alentejo region of Portugal unable to establish a relationship with her new environment. The situation worsens because of the sheer emptiness of the region, the social desertification of Alentejo. Katrin plans to create a refuge in the middle of nowhere, with Julia and Pedro: in a physical and mental desert.Read More »

  • Zoran Tadic – Treca zena AKA The Third Woman (1997)

    1991-2000CroatiaMysteryThrillerZoran Tadic

    Storyline:
    In the autumn of 1991 Croatia is fighting for independence and the capital Zagreb is plagued by air raid alerts and blackouts. Hela Martinic is a reporter, who returns to her home town from Australia, called by her old friend Vera Kralj. Soon after arrival, she is told her friend was killed in a traffic accident. At the funeral she meets some people who Vera was involved with in some sinister activities and she begins her own investigation…Read More »

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