1980s

A journalist returns to his home town to discover the tensions that are simmering just below the surface prior to the onset of the ‘troubles’.

Huge amount of unbalanced political messaging in this one.Read More »

Asprin (Mang Hoi) and Strepsil (John Shum), two petty thieves who inadvertently become involved in a murder case when they steal items belonging to a murdered man. The man had hidden an important microfilm in his passport, which the thieves pass onto a forger friend Panadol (Tsui Hark). Inspector Ng (Michelle Yeoh) is assigned to the case, along with Inspector Morris (Cynthia Rothrock) from Scotland Yard. The investigation leads the cops to the bumbling crooks and soon they are on Triad leader Tin’s (James Tien) tail, he will stop at nothing to get the incriminating film back and with his hitman and bodyguard (Dick Wei) at his side, he proves too much for the inspectors to catch using legal means, in frustration they give up their badges and go after Tin alone.Read More »

A previously unknown painting by Vincent Van Gogh, said to have come from Russia, comes up for sale at a London auction of impressionist paintings. The good order of the sale house is disturbed when someone challenges the picture’s authenticity.Read More »

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Ostensibly framed as a postwar melodrama that loosely evokes Leo McCarey’s Love Affair in its story of a shipboard encounter between two emotionally unavailable people, Joseph Morder’s L’Arbre mort is also a tone piece that seeks to reconcile the space between love and death, history and memory, documentary and fiction. This duality is suggested in the diffused opening image of Jaime (Philippe Fano) abstractedly looking out into the open waters from the deck of a ship that plays out against an asynchronous, voiceover narration describing his long-awaited return to South America after completing his medical studies in Europe.Read More »

Woodyanders:
Shy and reserved Los Angeles-based secretary Becky (a solid and appealing performance by fetching brunette Becky Savage) yearns for a more eventful and exciting sex life. Dissatisfied with making due with her carnal fantasies, Becky leaves Los Angeles and moves to Las Vegas to work as a legal prostitute at a brothel where she hopes to find the sensual fulfillment that has eluded her so far in her life.Read More »

In 1981, RAI-TV presented six hour-long films based on stories by 19th century horror/fantasy authors from such directors as Giulio Questi (DJANGO, KILL!), Marcello Aliprandi (A WHISPER IN THE DARK) and Giovanna Gagliardo (STREET OF MIRRORS), starring actors that included Veronica Lario (TENEBRE), Saverio Vallone (ANTHROPOPHAGUS) and Stefano Madia (THE DEVIL’S HONEY). But it was the mini-series’ second episode that remains its most celebrated: The final work of legendary director Mario Bava – and the debut of his son Lamberto Bava as co-director – LA VENERE D’ILLE/THE VENUS OF ILLE stars Daria Nicolodi (DEEP RED) and Marc Porel (DON’T TORTURE A DUCKLING) in an elegantly chilling tale of supernatural love. Five episodes have been sourced from broadcast masters, with Bava’s swansong restored from a 16MM print discovered in the RAI vault by film preservationists Simone Starace and the late Michele De Angelis.Read More »

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A prostitute enters a brothel and establishes a rivalry disguised as affection with the old owner. She manages to take over the business and the old lady’s lover. After disputes with her now lover, she leaves the brothel, only to find out the next day that the old lady has died. Then, due to a passionate outburst, the new owner sets fire to the brothel and dies along with her lover.Read More »

In 1940, during World War II, an officer is sent to investigate rumours of German spies in a sleepy village where various people are the victims of war hysteria.Read More »

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A dysfunctional family in Madrid: Gloria is a cleaning lady, hooked on No-Doze, living in a crowded flat with Antonio, her surly husband, a cabby who adores an aging German singer he used to chauffeur; he’s also a forger. One teen son sells heroin, the other sleeps with men. Her mother-in-law keeps bottled water and cupcakes under lock and key, selling them to the family. Two alcoholic writers cook up a plot to sell a manuscript as Hitler’s memoirs, if Antonio will transcribe it in Hitler’s hand. He agrees, so they ask the German singer to play the role of the original owner since her past affinity for Nazi memorabilia makes her a likely candidate. Meanwhile, Gloria has given away one son to a sex-crazed dentist, and grandma picks up a pet lizard. Can this chaos be tamed?Read More »