2000s

In this comedy-drama from Claude Chabrol, Magistrate Jeanne Charmant-Killman (Isabelle Huppert) doggedly investigates CEO Michel Humeau (François Berléand), who is accused of participating in massive corporate malfeasance. As her investigation leads her into the upper echelons of government, Jeanne becomes intoxicated by the power she is amassing. Though she faces threats by those whom she would see brought low and by the dissolution of her personal life and marriage, she will not relent.Read More »

Synopsis
Juliet Stevenson (TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY) narrates this documentary account of the life of composer Ludwig von Beethoven, covering all the major highlights from his birth in 1770 through his death in 1827. Writer-director Phil Grabsky opts for an impressionistic approach, building much of the film around the basic foundational material of interviews and studio performances of the great man’s work by artists including Ronald Brautigam, Emanuel Ax, and The Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Grabsky also offsets Stevenson’s traditional chronicle of Beethoven’s life with letters from the composer, read by David Dawson, that unveil an intense and almost belligerent side to the musical giant, leavened with offbeat humour.Read More »

Documentary that explores actor/director Clint Eastwood and his art by juxtaposing each major stage in his life with a corresponding stage in the thematic development of his work. Clint Eastwood tells his own story, from his childhood in Depression-era Northern California, to life in the stratosphere of fame and fortune. He’s torn up the wild West, patrolled the mean streets of San Francisco, and even gone into outer space. Follow the on-screen and off-screen life of the Oscar-winning film icon in this retrospective co-production from BBC’s Arena and PBS’s “American Masters”, filled with film clips, archival material and interviews. Clint’s “Unforgiven” co-star Morgan Freeman narrates.Read More »

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Pinup model Laura (Isadora Edison, Sexy Adventures of Van Helsing) learns of some bad news on the home front from her sister Winnifred (Chelsea Mundae, The Seduction of Misty Mundae). She just has time for some lesbian love before heading back to New England to see what’s up. Turns out that her Aunt Cynthia (Tina Tyler, Pulp Friction) is getting it on with Laura’s ex hump buddy, Nelson Nyland (John Samuel Jordan, Sexy Adventures of Van Helsing) Laura’s ire vanishes when she finds out that the two are in love. But Laura knows that Nelson’s jealous sister, Judith (Kay Kirtland), will stop at nothing to break the lovers apart.Read More »

“As a writer of brilliant comedies, where satire tosses and turns under sheets of exquisitely embroidered farce, Michael Frayn’s biggest hit came with the hysterical “play within a play” fiasco Noises Off. Film work such as the John Cleese comedy Clockwise and the touching TV play First and Last have showed off Frayn as a fine observer of people. But in Copenhagen he turns to history, and a moral conundrum so trenchant that at points it overtakes the carefully reconstructed plot in the viewer’s mind. For every visual image there is an imaginary imp hovering behind it asking us to see a wider picture.Read More »

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An old doctor faces cancer. On the set, he meets a monk and a couple, a medical student and a wardrobe mistress. He seeks the help of other doctors, but in the end it is they who help him come to terms with his inevitable death.Read More »

An unemployed man finds his life sinking more and more into trouble as he hides his situation from his family and friends.Read More »

Renowned psychiatrist Pavel Josek is singled out to receive a “Memory of the Nation” medal, however, it transpires that this reputedly morally irreproachable dissident once collaborated with state security agencies, informing on a former friend of his wife, Borek, and ultimately being responsible for the latter’s forced emigration. Josek’s family and close friends try to come to terms with these new facts.

*Czech official submission to 83rd Academy Award’s Foreign Language category (2011)Read More »

An assembled compilation of footage from rushes, outtakes, and behind-the-scenes moments featuring Charles Laughton directing ‘The Night of the Hunter.’

A truly unique and powerful masterclass in filmmaking.Read More »