1990s

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Winter is never-ending in Aleksei Guerman’s impenetrable film ”Khroustaliov, My Car!,” a nearly two-and-a-half hour absurdist nightmare of life in the Soviet Union during the final days of Stalin’s rule. Snow falls in almost every scene of this starkly grim, black-and-white movie, which follows the triumph, fall from grace and hasty rehabilitation of a hulking Red Army general and brain surgeon named Yuri Glinshi (Yuri Tsourilo). Processions of black government vehicles are forever materializing like ominous phantoms through the curtains of snow that drift over a dilapidated town decorated with gleaming white statues of the beady-eyed, mustached Soviet dictator.Read More »

From IMDB:
User Review

“O be careful little eyes what you see . . .”
19 October 2001 | by Timothy Damon

This director is simply incredible. I saw Jos Stelling’s film THE POINTSMAN some years ago, and I’m not sure I would have believed a feature length film without the spoken word could be made. But he did it, and it was great! So then, would a shorter film in the same format be easier to make? You might think so. But Mark Twain once remarked (paraphrased) that he could do a 2 hour speech on most any subject with little advance preparation, but to properly do a 15 minute speech might take at least a week to properly prepare. Regardless, he has a wonderful time in a train station, mostly in the waiting room. The camera is mainly on a Casanova of a man as his gaze goes well beyond the personal boundaries of the women he is, . . . well, to put it bluntly, lusting after. It reminded me of the cartoon postcard of a slick-talking guy next to a woman asking her “Do you mind if I undress you with my eyes?” and she is thinking {‘well, I guess it’s better than having you touch me”] Whether or not this guy knows he’s gone beyond the bounds of propriety I’ll leave to your contemplation. But his come-uppance is quite delightful.Read More »

Kemal Kayankaya, a private detective, was hired by a Turkish women, Ilter, to search for his husband, Amend, who has been missing since the death of her father, Vassif. Unknownst to him, he was about to unravel the secrets of his client’s family, as well as their various dealings with the underworld and the police. Moreover, being a Turk raised in a German foster family, he has also begun to understand and accept his own ethnicity.Read More »

Hisayasu Sato’s THE BEDROOM is a bold, yet flawed film which manages to create an utter sense of depersonalization and loneliness, while still telling a great story. The visuals are great; blue and red light coat the bodies of the comatose girls of The Sleeping Room while giant TVs with constant static decorate the background. Sato’s spare use of music also helps to create tension in the film; the soundtrack features immense buildup that never actually climax, keeping the viewer aurally on edge. Despite the fact that the film may seem confusing at first, if the viewer is willing to actively watch the film and engage with the way Sato is telling his story, the viewer will be rewarded at the end.Read More »

Enchanting, always funny, sometimes hilarious, and featuring a surprisingly light comic performance from the ever adaptable Meryl Streep, this is the most likeable and endearing comedy to date for writer/director/star Albert Brooks. His satirical edge, so sharp in his three previous films — Real Life (1979), Modern Romance (1981), and Lost in America (1985) — seems at first glance to have been dulled, even if his funny bone is still in perfect working order. But Brooks is still mocking the human race; it’s just that his humor has become gentler, suggesting that his longtime bitterness has evolved into a bemused, perceptive wisdom. Those who have become addicted to the Brooks oeuvre and its underlying neurotic cynicism might be dismayed that their favorite artistic pessimist has created a film that can be labeled heartwarming. But most Brooks fans will be delighted to find intact the brand of raw, naked honesty about the writer/director’s own shortcomings they expect, treated with a tender forgiveness that’s a new development to be sure, but an entirely welcome one. Peopled with memorable supporting players (particularly Rip Torn as a gruff but amiable legal eagle), and overflowing with creative ideas about the afterlife and its machinations, Defending Your Life amounts to a must-see film from one of the funniest, most under-appreciated filmmakers of our time. — Karl Williams
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After a five-year hiatus from filmmaking, Piotr Szulkin returned in 1990 with “Femina”, based on a novel by Krystyna Kofta and inspired by Luis Bunuel.
The main character is Bogna, a thirty year old woman lost in her surrounding reality and unhappy in her private life. After her husband departs for a foreign scholarship, Bogna learns that her mother died. The trip to her hometown for the funeral becomes a voyage in time, during which she relives the memories of her idyllic childhood.
As beautifully mounted as any of Szulkin’s films, it’s full of delirious wide-angle imagery (at times recalling the films of Terry Gilliam and Wojciech Has). Unavailable on DVD even in Poland, this is a most unfairly neglected work by Szulkin.Read More »

A young German engineer photographs a beautiful Turkish woman without her permission. Her husband finds out and starts a fight. In the midst of the argument the German engineer accidentally kills the husband. With his burdened conscience, he goes out to Berlin’s Turkish district to find the woman. He is spotted by her relatives, and while escaping, by strange coincidence he ends up hiding in the man’s home whom he has killed. According to Turkish customs, a guest in one’s household must be treated with dignity and respect even if he is the enemy. Thus, the tension and difficulties among the Turkish family and the German engineer begin. As long as he stays he will survive, but how long can he live in the home of a man he murdered? (IMDb)Read More »

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A young woman’s husband apparently commits suicide without warning or reason, leaving behind his wife and infant.Read More »

Ideas are imperishable, such is the premise of this powerful, upbeat allegory from one of Egypt’s most esteemed directors, Youssef Chahine. Ostensibly the true tale of revolutionary Muslim philosopher Averroes who lived in 12th-century Spain when Arabs ruled Anadulsia, it parallels the story of Chahine’s own experiences with Islamic fundamentalists when he released his 1994 film L’Emigre because it dared depict a sacred Muslim prophet. During that time, fundamentalists were not content to merely have the film banned, they also threatened Chahine’s life. Read More »