1990s

A semi-autobiography of the first 28 years of the director, the Flemish anarchist Jan Bucquoy.Read More »

Via the New York Times: “The solemn, intent faces of the Japanese schoolboys playing video games in Jun Ichikawa’s “No Life King” bespeak a new type of modern horror. Addicted to their favorite new game (from which the film takes its title), these children have become seriously estranged from the real world. The film’s constant emphasis is on the ways in which this has been allowed to happen, and on how emblematic it is of larger attitudes in a technological society. When a young boy trying to converse with his mother must compete with a home computer for her attention, it’s not hard to see why the boy has retreated into his own computer-dominated world.”Read More »

Set in Los Angeles two days before the end of 1999, Strange Days introduces us to Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes), an ex-cop turned sleazy hustler who hawks the newest underground thrill on the black market: a “squid,” a headpiece that allows one to transmit digital recordings of other people’s thoughts, feelings, and memories into their brain; as Lenny describes it, “this is real life, pure and uncut, straight from the cerebral cortex.” Lenny deals “clips” (the software) as well as “squids” (the hardware) for this new and illegal entertainment system, and while sex and violence are the most popular themes, Lenny refuses to deal in “blackjack” — slang for snuff clips. Read More »

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Surreal love story between Harry and Jeanne, who live in the same appartment block. Harry just came to Brussels and works in a restaurant. Jeanne tries to find out why he never says I love You to her.Read More »

A visceral documentary focusing on the Slovenian collective art movement known as NSK (‘Neue Slowenische Kunst’) and its varied branches: ‘Laibach’, ‘Irwin’, and ‘Red Pilot’.Read More »

Documentary about the making of the sci-fi film _Abyss, The (1989), with commentary by various actors and crew, outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage of the actual shooting of the film.Read More »

A man is greeted as a war hero in his hometown due to a photo from Korea of Marilyn Monroe and him in LIFE magazine. He ends collecting insurance payments – basically conning poor people. He befriends a cute rich girl and a poor old woman.Read More »

In 1990/91 Manfred Eicher and Heinz Bütler co-directed “Holozaen” a film based on the Max Frisch novella “Man in the Holocene”, starring Erland Josephson and Sophie Duez, and with photography by Giorgos Arvanitis. The film was awarded the Special Jury Prize of the Locarno Festival in 1992, but has been little seen, outside the art film festival circuit, since then. Underpinning the striking cinematic images and Josephson’s compelling performance is a rich soundtrack with music of Bach, Bartók, Garbarek, Hindemith, Jarrett, and Shostakovich.Read More »

Det Means Girl focuses on young Schawan, a factory guard and also a caterer. His crippled sister Baloot and his father come to see him to seek medical treatment for the girl. The efforts of Schawan and his father however prove futile. They even resort to magic and talisman rituals to save the girl’s life.The film emphasises Jalili’s narrative style, which is becoming less conventional. Metaphors and symbolic references make the ending open to interpretations. In this film, Jalili’s main concern is a pictorial language, which results in powerful images that would inspire other artists, such as Shirin Nishat’s images of women inscribed with texts. Det Means Girl was only distributed on a limited scale and has been screened only a couple of times in Teheran, strictly during festivals. The film won awards in Venice and at Le Festival des Trois Continents in Nantes.Read More »