1990s

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For those interested in Chinese cinema, here is something a bit different.
Centre Stage is about the life of Ruan Lingyu, Chinese silent movie legend of the 1930s. She was without equal in the depiction of the emotions of a woman seeking independence. Students worshipped her as a cult symbol. Men looked at her with dreamy eyes, and women looked at her sideways and full of hate. Her roles were typically of characters like girl student, rustic maid, factory hand, prostitute, socialite, and authoress. Ruan’s personal life often mirrored those of the tragic characters she portrayed on screen.
The recreation of sets, costumes and inclusion of original footage from films that have survived in which Ruan appeared have combined to produce a high quality and stylish film, giving the viewer a docudrama about an interesting woman from an interesting period of Chinese film history.Read More »

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Cheryl is young, Black, and lesbian, working in Philadelphia with her best friend Tamara and consumed by a film project: to make a video about her search for a Black actress from Philly who appeared in films in the 30s and was known as the Watermelon Woman. Following various leads, Cheryl discovers the Watermelon Woman’s stage name and real name and surmises that the actress had a long affair with Martha Page, a White woman and one of Hollywood’s few female directors. As she’s discovering these things, Cheryl becomes involved with Diana, who’s also White. The affair strains Cheryl’s friendship with Tamara. More discoveries bring Cheryl (and us, her audience) to new realizations.Read More »

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Ryuich, the survivor when bombing in Nagasaki has the amazing document of those tragic at the order, it is record of explosion of an atomic bomb on August 9, 1945 11:02. He has made this record at five-year age on the tape recorder of the father. The sound of a bomb injures mentality of the young man, causes him almost physical pain, but gradually he finds in is mute also a consolation. Over time Ryuichi becomes we will gain the idea to recreate this awful sound that his mind and its life threatens.Read More »

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The saga of an Armenian family that immigrated to France after the break-up of the oppressive Ottoman Empire.Read More »

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Based on an introspective feminist book by Ingeborg Bachmann which I haven’t read but is described as a difficult fragmented work that exposes emotional reactions and stream-of-consciousness meditations on her identity vs. three men in her life, two lovers who try to control her or take over her identity, her obsessive love, and her scary father. The author, Bachmann, died in hospital after a fire in her house. Schroeter takes these real-life and written elements and applies his own treatment to the whole mess, showing scattered fragments of her life mixed with many and endless emotional breakdowns, fire and mirrors used as artsy symbols, a writer’s block, existential explorations on identity, some references to her interests in Wittgenstein, and various surreal imagery involving violinists, her father in a Nazi uniform, and lots of flames, all together in one jumbled emotional mess, like the inside of a schizophrenic woman’s mind. Unrewarding arthouse piece.Read More »

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A compilation of episodes from the lives of several of the amateur actors’ (who are ‘bad teens’ and the homeless of Seoul) own experiences, this film sheds light on the dark side of Korean society. Feeling alienated and persecuted, they wonder about and come into conflict with the ‘good people’ who persist in trying to reform them. They have their own reason for remaining as they are and resist attempts to reform them: they cannot change simply because they are bad.Read More »

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A fantasy story based on the relationship between Kenji Miyazawa and his younger sister Toshi. This is the first 35mm film written and directed by Isao Yamada, who has created a unique world with his 8mm and 16mm short films. Tomohiro Aso is in charge of photography, and Simon Turner of “The Garden” is in charge of the music.Read More »

Set in the north of Syria, a village idiot with an enormous nose (Ismail) falls in love with his beautiful neighbor (Salma), thus he sends his handsome friend – who also falls in love with her- to deliver her oral love letters.Read More »

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This movie is a declaration of love to cinema that is used as a metaphor for the universe itself. We are the films and God is projecting them, including this one with Rachel and Leopoldo, who in a former life literally co-invented cinema as an assistant of Thomas A. Edison named William K.L. Dickson.Read More »