1970s

Nine closely related episodes featuring the erotic escapades of a young New York heiress and the people associated with her.
Wealthy heiress Pauline (Pauline LaMonde) is bored with the “cold detachment” her Husband shows during sex and spends her time in various sexual encounters with other men, and women.
Pauline writes about her experiences to a woman named Gypsy, mysterious opium smoking, Tarot Card dealing ex lover of Pauline’s (who talks directly to the viewer about Pauline and their times together).
As Gypsy reads the letters we see Pauline’s encounters and learn about her history…..Read More »

Extremly beautiful avant-garde film by Philippe Garrel, one of his silent ones. Nico, Zouzou and (almost a cameo) Jean Seberg are portraited by the camera with mistical intimacy. Is the last of the seventh garrel’s films with nico, and the last aparition of Seberg on a screen before her death.Read More »

An androgynous poet/dreamer sits and writes and meditates on the aching void that is her life.Read More »

BAROCCO, from director André Téchiné is an entrancing and operatic take on a political thriller that invokes the plot twists and bizarre narrative elements of Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO as it creates a world of crooked politicians, virtuous prostitutes, doppelgangers, and destiny.

On the eve of a local election in Amsterdam, Samson (Gérard Depardieu), a boxer, is paid to create a scandal by saying he had a homosexual affair with one of the candidates. Although Samson is reluctant to get involved, his girlfriend, Laure (Isabelle Adjani), persuades him to agree and use the money to escape the city. As Laure and Samson are attempting to leave the city, a gangster who looks exactly like Samson (played also by Depardieu) emerges from nowhere and murders him. An intricate chase ensues as the assassin tries to find Laure (and the money), the politicians and gangsters try to find the assassin, and Laure attempts to re-create her lost love in the form of the look-alike killer. The characters’ dancelike movement through the shadow world of Amsterdam and the evocative settings (a gleaming storefront brothel and a sinister underworld spa) provide austere backdrops to this metaphorical thriller. The dark side of politics and human nature are uncovered as Laure begins to love the assassin and the government attempts to control it all.Read More »

When Arthur Davis, a junior bachelor in the British secret service’s African section, is seen taking a file with him -to meet his girlfriend Cynthia- the brass fears he may be the leak to Moskow, and allows Dr. Percival to terminate the ‘risk factor’ by poisoning to avoid a scandal. In fact Davis’s desk chief, Maurice Castle, is the double agent since the South African communists helped him smuggle out his black lover Sarah M., meanwhile his wife and mother of schoolboy Sam, to force him to cooperate with the Apartheid government. When Cornelius Muller, the South African official who failed to get him in Pretoria’s power, visits London for the anti-communist operation Uncle Remus, he points out Castle still is the natural suspect…Read More »

Quote:
Otto Preminger was not spared the brunt of bad reviews and publicity towards the end of his career. At times, the critics were quite savage in their analysis of his latter films. In my opinion, this was a time where he shined the most, and was in top form. He tackled new ground and continued to break taboo without audiences knowing. From TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME JUNIE MOON to SUCH GOOD FRIENDS to ROSEBUD and finally to THE HUMAN FACTOR, this was another renaissance for Preminger. Agreed, ROSEBUD was not a masterpiece. Elements such as Cliff Gorman’s atrocious acting, loose ends and implausibility hold it back from reaching its ultimate goal, but it was not the turkey that Leonard Maltin (et al.) made it out to be. Read More »

Starting as a documentary on the sexually liberated culture of late-Sixties Denmark, Sexual Freedom in Denmark winds up incorporating major elements of the marriage manual form and even manages to squeeze in a montage of beaver loops and erotic art. All narrated with earnest pronouncements concerning the social and psychological benefits of sexual liberation. Tame by the standards of 1971, when hardcore loops and features would begin to flood certain metropolitan markets, the film was shocking enough in 1970 to instigate media attention and long lines at the box office.Read More »

The exam movie of Béla Tarr.

Documentaristic subject picture about a worker’s hostel. An old worker is suspected with stealing a motor, he’s been fired from the factory and he has to leave the hostel. First he offends and attacks all of his roommates, then he starts to cry and tells that he was a pilot in WWII and he’s left his soul there. An interesting portrait of human reactions and changing emotions.Read More »

A playful boy heads for home after buying bread, only to find out the road is blocked by a frightening stray dog. As no passerby stops to offer assistance, it finally occurs to the boy to be friend the dog by throwing it a piece of bread. Kiarostami’s first film is a wordless, bittersweet classic. 1970, b&w, 10 minutes.Read More »