1990s

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coming-out, coming-of-age tale (from a novel by Jaime Bayly) set within a predominantly homophobic religious Peruvian society, this is by turns sensitive, touching, funny, alarming and, for the most part, very enjoyable. For just under two hours, we witness all the ups and downs of a young man, Joaquin (Magill), struggling to come to terms with his sexuality in a country where being gay is akin to being a leper, and violence towards gays is an almost daily occurrence. Joaquin’s mother is over-bearingly protective and very religious, while his father just wants to see his lad grow up to be a huntin’, shootin’, drinkin’ type. Joaquin, though, is unsure of whether he’s gay or het, and this dilemma stays with him right from the moment he leaves home, through his off-the-rails period as a coked-out dope fiend right up to the – admittedly, mostly unfulfilling – final reel.Read More »

When two American sisters travel north from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, conversations with Vietnamese strangers and friends reveal to them the flip side of a shared history. Lynne and Dana Sachs’ travel diary of their trip to Vietnam is a collection of tourism, city life, culture clash, and historic inquiry that’s put together with the warmth of a quilt. Which Way Is East starts as a road trip and flowers into a political discourse. It combines Vietnamese parables, history and memories of the people the sisters met, as well as their own childhood memories of the war on TV.Read More »

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“Living Utopia is a unique documentary that blends the historical account of the origins and development of the Spanish anarchist movement, focussing on the 1936 war. A reflection on the philosophical underpinnings of such a movement and their practical application. As both an informative and inspiring piece of research it is considered a jewel amongst historians and rebel hearts.”Read More »

Djoflaeyjan takes place in Reykjavik in the years following World War II. The British and American occupation army has left their bunkers behind. They became homes to hundreds of lower-class people who were pouring into the capital during those years. Djoflaeyjan tells the story of the struggle and often humorous life of people in the bunkers in those difficult times.Read More »

51-year-old Herbert Strehlow, a furniture restorer, falls in love with 21-year-old Lea, who has not spoken a word since childhood when her father killed her mother. She bears a striking resemblance to Herbert’s dead wife. They get married, but their relationship seems doomed, until gradually each one manages to penetrate the mysterious world of the other, and they begin to realize that they are bound by a kind of spiritual relationship. For Lea it is the death of her mother, for Herbert it is the death of his first wife. His hard exterior slowly beings to thaw, and he starts to show feelings and responses that soften Lea’s initial hatred and fear of him, and which put their relationship in a more positive light.Read More »

A nightmare creature haunts a young girls dreams. Her friends refuse to believe her when she tells them that the fiend has entered the real world and they are all to die a horrible death. Soon her fears start to come true.Read More »

Like its predecessor (De l’origine du XXIe siècle), The Old Place examines the role of art in history, only this time in still rather than moving images. Says Michael Althen of this piece, commissioned by the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1999, “[T]he aim is not to give an overview of art history but to cut a path through the forest by asking how art relates to reality and its horrors.” Throughout its mid-length duration, reflections on art and its traces cross swords with future-oriented impulses. The questions it poses are not meant to be answered, but taken as wholesale embodiments of cultural memory, which tends to account for reality via myths and legends. As in the opening image of a monkey dangling from a tree, it is dependent on the presence of gravity to give hierarchical sensibilities a grounding from which to suspend our inhibitions.Read More »

Narrated by Shirley MacLaine
User Commentary From IMDb.com:
Exceptional documentary about a singular actress
“Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu” is an exceptionally well-crafted and emotionally moving documentary. It is one of the best film documentaries I have ever seen. Barry Paris (author of the definitive biography of the actress) has written a masterful, sympathetic script. And director Hugh Munro Neely has fashioned a well-researched, balanced and finely documented study of this 20th century icon.Read More »

Rien que des mensonges is a French film comedy-drama first released in 1991, directed by Paule Muret. The film stars Fanny Ardant, Jacques Perrin, Alain Bashung and Stanislas Carré de Malberg. It has also been released under the title: Nothing But Lies.

Muriel et Antoine vivent dans le mensonge. Sans se le cacher ni se l’avouer, ils vont chercher avec d’autres la séduction et le désir qu’ils ne savent plus partager. Lorsqu’elle se plonge dans une passion charnelle avec Adrien, elle réalise que chaque baiser échangé avec lui la ramène un peu plus dans les bras de son mari. Elle va alors tout faire pour que ce dernier découvre sa liaison et repose sur elle le regard amoureux de leurs premiers jours.Read More »