Cinema of the World

STORY:

The film depicts the organic growth and then disintegration of the
family nexus (Mother, Father, Son) and the story takes place within
the confines of the family appartment. The family hearth is a source
of nourishment, but also contains the seeds of its own decay. As the
threads of family life unwind, those of the natural sphere advance and
absorb the human world into the humus of the forest floor.

The film is framed as a series of slowly moving tableaux, seen through
the eye of memory (that of the Son). The camera perspectives create an
air of mystery and surreality, which is echoed by the paintings on the
walls, those of de Chirico. Strange events multiply, a painting
bleeds, a blizzard whirls out of the refrigerator, a giant tree bursts
through the floor of the appartment and is lovingly tended by the
family. Then the forest darkens...and the roes return.

The opera score and libretto show the influence of Philip Glass,
and of Shostakovich and Schnittke.

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This is a fascinating piece of surrealism. It's about a girl called Lily who avoids some male soldiers who are killing women soldiers in a war, and escapes in her car to a remote house where surreal things are occurring. There's an old woman who mumbles to a speaking rat and communicates via an odd radio. The old woman is also breast-fed. There's a talking unicorn. A group of naked children roam around with a pig. There's not much dialogue. I don't want to say anymore about the film. Just watch it and let it mesmerise you.

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René Laloux’s mesmerising psychedelic sci-fi animated feature won the Grand Prix at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival and is a landmark of European animation. Based on Stefan Wul’s novel Oms en série [Oms by the dozen], Laloux’s breathtaking vision was released in France as La Planète sauvage [The Savage Planet]; in the USA as Fantastic Planet; and immediately drew comparisons to Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Planet of the Apes (both the 1968 film and Boule’s 1963 novel). Today, the film can be seen to prefigure much of the work of Hayao Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away) due to its palpable political and social concerns, cultivated imagination, and memorable animation techniques.

Fantastic Planet tells the story of “Oms”, human-like creatures, kept as domesticated pets by an alien race of blue giants called “Draags”. The story takes place on the Draags’ planet Ygam, where we follow our narrator, an Om called Terr, from infancy to adulthood. He manages to escape enslavement from a Draag learning device used to educate the savage Oms — and begins to organise an Om revolt. The imagination invested in the surreal creatures, music and sound design, and eerie landscapes, is immense and unforgettable.

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IMDB

Rang de Basanti' is a film about awakening. About standing up for ones beliefs. Where the spirit of rebellion transcends time and age. A young idealistic English filmmaker, Sue, arrives in India to make a film on Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and their contemporaries and their fight for freedom from the British Raj. Owing to a lack of funds, she recruits students from Delhi University to act in her docu-drama. She finds DJ, who passed out five years back but still wants to be a part of the University because he doesn't think there's too much out there in the real world to look forward to. Karan, the son of Industrialist Rajnath Singhania, who shares an uncomfortable relationship with his father, but continues to live off him, albeit very grudgingly. Aslam, is a middle class Muslim boy, who lives in the by-lanes near Jama Masjid, poet, philosopher and guide to his friends. Sukhi, the group's baby, innocent, vulnerable and with a weakness for only one thing - girls. Laxman Pandey, the fundamentalist in the group, the only one who still believes that politics can make the world a better place and finally Sonia - the sole girl in the group, tomboy and vivacious spirit, engaged to Ajay - the dashing air pilot. These youngsters could be anyone of us today and their lives mirror the kind of lives the youth of today lead - namely a self centered and materialistic existence where ideas like patriotism and making a change are strictly the stuff history books are made of. Through her film, Sue wishes to showcase to the world the efforts of these young revolutionaries and the enormity of their contribution to the freedom movement in India. What unfolds is the inspiration behind Sue's passion for bringing their story to the world. The twist in the tale is of course the fact that more than just telling the world, Sue's film makes DJ and his friends stop and stare at themselves for being the actual descendants of these great men and never recognizing and celebrating their courage and spirit. The film thus doubles as a narrative on the changes in perspective and values the young boys and girls acting in her documentary go through as they shoot for the film. Few scenes from the past and present are juxtaposed against each other, which renders a unique slick treatment, which serves to showcase the slow change in mindset and attitude that overcomes the group through the process of the film. 'Rang de Basanti' is a youthful drama, yet light hearted in the moments that the group shares amongst themselves... before some incidents effect a serious change...which ends in the climax

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In Troms, Swedish cops aid the Norwegian police in hunting for the murderer of a girl, 15. They track a suspect; in the fog near the sea he seems to escape, wounding one policeman. One of the Swedes, Jonas Engström, fires his revolver, accidentally killing his partner. He then tries to cover it up. Over the next several days, the sleepless Engström manipulates the evidence of his partner's death more and more elaborately as he and others pursue the girl's killer. Then, he hears from the killer, who has observed him shoot his partner. Is a net closing in on Engström? Will someone police the police?

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IMDB

The greatest dance movie ever made, starring the late lamented, and really utterly magnificent Moira Shearer. Said to be based on the lives of either Nureyev and Fontaine and/or Alexander Korda

Under the authoritarian rule of charismatic ballet impressario Boris Lermontov, his proteges realize the full promise of their talents, but at a price: utter devotion to their art and complete loyalty to Lermontov himself. Under his near-obsessive guidance, young ballerina Victoria Page is poised for superstardom, but earns Lermontov's scorn when she falls in love with Julian Craster, composer of "The Red Shoes," the ballet Lermontov is staging to showcase her talents. Vicky leaves the company and marries Craster, but still finds herself torn between Lermontov's demands and those of her heart. (imdb)

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IMDB

SYNOPSIS
London; a dreary and rainy night. A prostitute meets a “John” on the street and brings him back to her meager apartment. As she begins to undress, she is brutally stabbed. A similar fate awaits many of London’s young woman as they walk the dark streets alone at night. Suspicion for the crimes fall on Bruno, an ex circus acrobat (Naschy) who lives in the Soho region of London. Scotland yard erupts into a fury of activity as they try to capture the elusive gymnast and the brutal killings continue. As the police close in on Bruno, he is forced to find the real killer in order to prove his own innocents. A rarely seen, early horror effort co-written by and starring Spain’s most famous horror star; “El Hombre Lobo” Paul Naschy. (LFVW)

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Tokyo Drifter is a 1966 yakuza action film directed by Seijun Suzuki. The story follows Tetsuya Watari as the reformed yakuza hitman "Phoenix" Tetsu who is forced to roam Japan awaiting his imminent execution by rival gangs.

Synopsis
After the disbandment of the Kurata syndicate Tetsu is sought out by rival yakuza clan boss Otsuka. He attempts to enlist Tetsu into his gang but fails. Fearing that Tetsu will upset a real estate scam in the making Otsuka decides to have him eliminated. Sensing this Tetsu leaves Tokyo.Otsuka assigns his number one hitman, "Viper", to kill him...

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IMDB

Summary
Kevin, an imaginative child, goes on a time-travelling adventure with a bunch of treasure-hunting dwarves, who have "borrowed" a map to the Universe's time holes from The Supreme Being.

Postgraduate Python
''TIME BANDITS'' is a cheerfully irreverent lark - part fairy tale, part science fiction and part comedy. It's a fantastic though wobbly flight through history and legend in the company of a small boy named Kevin and six dwarfs named Randall, Fidgit, Wally, Og, Stutter and Vermin. These are not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill little people. They're more like the angry, liberated ids of the crowd Snow White hung out with.

Because the film, which opens today at Loews State and other theaters, was written by Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, and directed by Mr. Gilliam, it's no surprise that ''Time Bandits'' recalls the manic work of the Monty Python group, of which Mr. Gilliam and Mr. Palin are founding members.

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IMDB

' Great Expectations,' in Which British Producers Do Very Well by Charles Dickens, Makes Its Bow at Radio City

If there is any lingering necessity of inspiring more Charles Dickens fans—not to mention more fans for British movies—the thing that should certainly do the job is the film made from "Great Expectations," which came to the Music Hall yesterday. For here, in a perfect motion picture, made in England (where it should have been made), the British have done for Dickens what they did for Shakespeare with "Henry V"; they have proved that his works have more life in them than almost anything now written for the screen.

Not that there haven't been previous delightful and inspiring Dickens films. "David Copperfield" was a winner a dozen years ago. And, from away back in antiquity, we recall a memorable, silent "Oliver Twist," while, more recently than either, came a sugar-cured "Christmas Carol." But, somehow, the fullness of Dickens, of his stories and characters—his humor and pathos and vitality and all his brilliant command of atmosphere—has never been so illustrated as it is in this wonderful film, which can safely be recommended as screen story-telling at its best.

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Three students and a school teacher disappear on an excursion to Hanging Rock, in Victoria, on Valentine's Day, 1900. Widely (and somewhat incorrectly) regarded as being based on a true story, the movie follows those that disappeared, and those that stayed behind, but it delights in the asking of questions, not the answering of them.

Trivia: Executive Producer Patricia Lovell reported that the watches and clocks of the cast and crew behaved in an erratic manner: stopping at a certain hour, or being either too fast or too slow. In both the book and the film, the watches of the schoolgirls stopped at noon when they were on the rock and this was the cue for the strange and terrifying events that followed. (more)

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In Serbia, Baron Frankenstein lives with the Baroness and their two children. He dreams of a super-race, returning Serbia to its grand connections to ancient Greece. In his laboratory, assisted by Otto, he builds a desirable female body, but needs a male who will be superbody and superlover. He thinks he has found just the right brain to go with a body he's built, but he's made an error, taking the head of a gay aesthete. Meanwhile, the Baroness has her lusts, and she fastens on Nicholas, a friend of the dead lad. Can the Baron pull off his grand plan? He brings the two zombies together to mate. Meanwhile, Nicholas tries to free his dead friend. What about the Baron's children?

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IMDB

Synopsis

Bob Hoskins, in his breakthrough film role, stars as a London racketeer fast losing control of his gangland empire; Helen Mirren shines as his classy moll. John Mackenzie’s stylish thriller is a marriage of gangster flicks from both sides of the Atlantic. Criterion presents The Long Good Friday in an exclusive widescreen transfer.

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Synopsis
In Dead Ringers, David Cronenberg tells the chilling story of identical twin gynecologists—suave Elliot and sensitive Beverly, bipolar sides of one personality—who share the same practice, the same apartment, the same women. When a new patient, glamorous actress Claire Niveau, challenges their eerie bond, they descend into a whirlpool of sexual confusion, drugs, and madness. Jeremy Irons’ s tour-de-force performance—as both twins—raises disturbing questions about the nature of personal identity.

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Plot Summary: Morbid biographical story of Sid Vicious, bassist with British punk group the Sex Pistols, and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen

FILM FESTIVAL; 'SID AND NANCY' RE-CREATES TALE OF PUNK ROMANCE

FEW would have suspected, when Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in 1979 after having been charged with the stabbing death of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen several months earlier, that this story had the makings of a big-screen romance. Even now, there are those who wouldn't quite understand. But Alex Cox, who directed ''Repo Man,'' saw the Sid and Nancy story as the occasion for a sordid, intentionally ugly and sometimes unexpectedly beautiful film, a pitch-black comedy about wasted love. At the very least, you have to admire his nerve.

It's not every film maker who credits special thanks to both Luis Bunuel and Dee Dee Ramone, but then Mr. Cox doesn't fit any recognizable mold. His decision to film the Sid and Nancy story (which has also been immortalized in at least one play, Denis Spedaliere's ''Vicious'') is by no means the most idiosyncratic thing he has done. ''Sid and Nancy'' has a slow, almost lyrical shot of the title characters as they sit catatonically in bed, high on heroin, until the orangey light flickering across their faces lets the viewer know the room is on fire. There's another image, also lovely in its own weird way, in which they kiss in an alley while being showered with flying garbage. ''Sid and Nancy'' doesn't try to win its audience's sympathy in any conventional way, which is just as well, since that would have been a losing battle. But it does succeed in offering bleak, nasty and sometimes hilarious glimpses of life in the punk demimonde.

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"That's the fourth customer she's cold-cocked."

Description:
The setup is pure pulp: A former prostitute relocates to a buttoned-down suburb, determined to fit into mainstream society. But in the strange, hallucinatory territory of writer/director/producer Sam Fuller, perverse secrets simmer beneath a seemingly wholesome facade. Criterion is proud to present The Naked Kiss in a beautiful widescreen transfer.

Amazon editorial review:
Until Sam Fuller came along, movies in the 1960s were still bound by Hollywood's self-imposed and often hypocritical rules of discretion. The crimes and misdemeanors of lurid pulp fiction remained on drugstore spin-racks and newsstands, diluted on screen until Fuller, with his cigar-chomping audacity and confrontational style, liberated movies from artificial restraint and kicked them into the meaner, darker, but more honest maturity of the post-Kennedy era. Shock Corridor announced Fuller's brazen agenda a year earlier, but The Naked Kiss is even more astonishing because its trashy, provocative plot dares to find depth and humanity beneath the hardened shells of corrupted souls.

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This, the third and final film of the trilogy, is the best of the series – even if watched by it self. The strength of the story is of course based on, that now all lose ends are tied up and everything reaches an either solution or conclusion.

It is also the saddest part. In the two prior, we always had some sort of hope. With the conclusion of the story, we can only contemplate their fates.

The story circulates around and up to the final duel between Musashi and Kojiro, with the now central subplot where Otsu and Musashi are struggling to come to terms with their love.

The film is more intimate than the previous two. Where reflection always has been a major theme, it mostly had to do with the past, now it is more about the future, especially for Otsu and Kojiro, and if there is a nuance between reflection and contemplation, then its what we experience here. We spend more time which each character in an almost “time out” situation, which is supported by moving closer thru close-up.

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Inagaki's 'Samurai Part II': Part of Trilogy at 55th St. Playhouse Toshiro Mifune Stars in 1956 Movie

IF you like grunting and slashing sword-fighting by a heavily costumed Japanese, determined to demonstrate his chivalry to his ponderous rivals in a feudalistic and ritualistic society, then you might want to see what is billed as Part II of Hiroshi Inagaki's "Samurai," which is actually the second part of a trilogy called "Musashi Miyamoto." It went on at the 55th Street Playhouse yesterday.

For this and a lot more of the same sort of elaborately attitudinized pining and swooning by pretty females over the glowering hero that goes on in Part I is all you will see in this segment. It simply carries on for another couple of hours the series of bristling confrontations of the heroic title character of "Samurai," which was first shown here in 1956 and has been offered in a revival at the 55th Street for the last three weeks.

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Quote:

Hiroshi Inagaki's acclaimed Samurai Trilogy is based on the novel that has been called Japan's Gone with the Wind. This sweeping saga of the legendary seventeenth-century samurai Musashi Miyamoto (powerfully portrayed by Toshiro Mifune) plays out against the turmoil of a devastating civil war. The Trilogy follows Musashi's odyssey from unruly youth to enlightened warrior. In the first part, Musashi Miyamoto, the hero's dreams of military glory end in betrayal, defeat, and a fugitive lifestyle. But he is saved by a woman who loves him and a cunning priest who guides him to the samurai path. This installment won the 1955 Academy Award® for Best Foreign Film. Criterion

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IMDB

Synopsis

Rob Reiner’s directorial debut has developed into a cult phenomenon. The film that invented the “rockumentary” has now outlasted most of the bands it mocked. Following the ill-fated American comeback tour of an aging heavy-metal group, this film has joined the ranks of the greatest comedies ever made.

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Quote:

It is almost impossible to review Hard Boiled and at the same time avoid the bottomless anus-bowl of cliches that surround it. I’m sure it’s been described as “a high octane thrill ride”, and even on the box it says Hard Boiled is “an action fan’s dream”. This is all true, but plain and simple it is just a damn awesome movie. I am at a loss for bad things to say about it. Not many movies get me as pumped up as Hard Boiled does. It uses an arsenal of well executed techniques to draw the viewer into each and every action sequence. Woo also manages to craft these explosive scenes so that he actually makes you feel stupid if you miss something cool. There are many small and beautiful things going on during all of the crimson waterworks that you may not notice the first time through. One image that really stuck out to me was during the first action scene in the teahouse. There is a shot of someone getting blasted in the leg. The bullet goes through a table first, so you get this foreground picture of the table’s leg busting in two as the man’s leg snaps right behind it. It is really fantastic in that it was totally unnecessary.

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synopsis from allmovieguide:

Quote:
Though John Woo's lifelong admiration of Sam Peckinpah, Sergio Leone, Martin Scorsese, and Stanley Kubrick are also evident in this stylish actioner, the film is essentially a tribute to Jean-Pierre Melville and his cult thriller Le Samourai. During a restaurant shootout, hitman Jeff (Chow Yun-Fat) accidentally hurts the eyes of a singer (Sally Yeh). Later he meets the girl and discovers that if she does not have a very expensive operation very soon, she will go blind. To get the money for the surgery, Jeff decides to perform one last hit. The cop (Danny Lee), who has been chasing Jeff for a long time, is determined to catch him this time. The film's number of victims makes The Terminator or Rambo pale in comparison, but its brilliant visual style and bravura direction earned accolades even from non-action fans.

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Quote:

A Brazilian masterpiece, fascinating, powerful and still contemporary, waiting to be (re)discovered by the world, 12 October 2006

The first thing you'll remark when you see "Os Cafajestes" today (if you are lucky enough to find a copy of it) is how surprisingly modern, daring and mesmerizing it still is. The existential drama of 4 characters -- two men (low-life scum Jandir, small-time playboy Vavá) and two women (used up Leda, provocative Vilma), who indulge in dangerous, deceitful games that include sex, photos, cars, beaches, drugs and blackmail -- is amazingly contemporary in its visual style, boldness and acid criticism of amorality and egotism. That, combined with the virtuoso camera-work by Tony Rabatoni, the blazing summer whiteness of Cabo Frio beaches and dunes, the surprising turns in the plot, the edgy dialog and the non-linear treatment of sound vs image make this an unforgettable film, one of the most impressive directing debuts in the history of cinema (that's not an overstatement), regrettably little known outside Brazil.

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Director Roy Ward Maker, and his producer, William MacQuitty, have done a sterling job in putting the tragic sinking of the Titanic in 1912 on the screen with an impressive, almost documentary flavour. With around 200 speaking roles in the film, few of the actors are given much chance to develop as characters. Even leading player Kenneth More, is merely part of a team. The ship itself is the star.

The story tells how the Titanic widely regarded as unsinkable, set out on her maiden voyage bound for the United States on the night of the 14th April, 1912, and how she struck an iceberg and sank - in less than three hours - with the loss of 1,302 drowned, and only 705 survivors.

The errors and confusion which played a part in the drama are brought out with no whitewashing. Technically director Roy Baker does a superb job under difficult circumstances, with special mention for the lifeboat scenes which were expertly done. Eric Ambler's screenplay (from Walter Lord's book) brings out how some people kept their heads, and others became cowards.

Solid supporting roles for Laurence Naismith (skipper), Anthony Bushell (Captain of rescue ship), Kenneth Griffith and David McCallum (Radio Operators) with Michael Goodliffe (Titanic's designer) are all memorable.

This is the best version of all Titanic films, probably also the most faithfull to the facts, thoroughly recommended to all.

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Plot Synopsis:

A tobacco company cynically offers a 25 million dollar prize to an entire town that can quit smoking for thirty days. One small Iowa town is determined to make it; but will their community lose its soul in the process?

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Quote:
Two Egyptian soldiers, Haled and Gassan, are stranded in the Sinai desert at the end of the Six Day War in 1967. This compelling and comical saga follows these soldiers' attempts to find safety and water. The pair encounter Israeli soldiers on patrol, and Haled, (an actor as a civilian) attempts a virtuoso performance of Shakespeare's Shylock. Eventually, the "enemies" stride across the sand singing “Avanti Popolo,” an Italian revolutionary song whose words neither side understands. An intelligent and artistic satire on the absurdity of war, this Israeli classic is the first film from acclaimed director Rafai Bukai.

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IMDB

Eddie Adams, a young man working in a nightclub, is discovered by porn director Jack Horner, who soon puts Eddie, renamed Dirk Diggler, and his "talent" on the top of the pornography industry. But when the 1980s arrive, Dirk and his colleagues in the porn industry have to cope with a new era as well as the baggage they bring with them from the 1970s.

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IMDB

Synopsis:

Calcutta, mid 1950s. The film opens with a vignette of a lower middle-class family. We meet the joint-family: Subrata Mazumdar (Anil Chatterjee), his wife Arati (Madhabi Mukherjee), their young son, Subrata's unmarried sister Bani (Jaya Bhaduri), his father, a retired schoolmaster, and his mother. Subrata Mazumdar, a bank employee, with his meagre income finds it difficult to provide for his large joint family. His father needs a new pair of prescription glasses, younger sister Bani's school fee is due, and mother needs a new can of Zardah (tobacco).

Arati is like an anchor holding the family together. Subrata talks about a couple where the woman too is going to work. Soon, Arati makes up her mind to take up a job to supplement the household income. With some help from Subrata, and much against established custom and opposition of the elders, she finds a job of selling sewing machines door-to-door.

Going out to work, Arati discovers a new life.... www.satyajitray.org

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Synopsis

Hirak Rajar Deshe is the second movie of the Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne series directed by Satyajit Ray. An unique aspect of the film is that most of the dialogues exchanged by the protagonists of the film are rhyming. Satyajit Ray was initially apprehensive whether this approach would be liked by people as it was a novel one but it was a great success.

The musician duo of Goopy Gyne and Bagha Byne make a comeback in this sequel, where they are invited to the court of the Hirak Raja (Diamond King), for their musical skills. They have to perform at the kingdom's Jubilee Celebrations.

However, coming to the kingdom, they use their natural goodness and curiosity to find out that all is not well in the kingdom. There is exploitation of poor farmers and diamond-miners. There are sycophant courtiers and ruthless armies. And there is a mad scientist with this Brain-washing machine. With the help of an upright school-master, Goopi and Bagha set out to correct the evils... with the help of their ghost-given skills, fast thinking and an impish sense of humour. ~ www.satyajitray.org

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The film is set in 1860 at Chandipur, in rural Bengal, India. Doyamoyee (Sharmila Tagore) and her husband Umaprasad (Soumitra Chatterjee) live with his elder brother (Purnendu Mukherjee), his wife (Karuna Banerjee) and wealthy father, Kalikinkar Roy (Chhabi Biswas).

Kalikinkar Roy, the patriarch, is an aging widower. He is a respected landlord and a devotee of the Hindu goddess, Kali. Umaprasad, Doyamoyee's husband, is away to study in Calcutta. She looks after her old father-in-law. She has a soft corner for her nephew Khoka, with whom she enjoys a fond relationship.

Roy has a revelation in a dream that his daughter-in-law Doyamoyee is an incarnation of the goddess Kali. He insists she be worshiped. Then, a dying child is placed at her feet and he is miraculously cured. As the news spreads, the aged, sick and the poor come in hundreds; seeking cures and comfort. As Doyamoyee's husband Umaprasad learns about the events, he returns home to her rescue. Umaprasad attacks the tradition and tries to reason with his father and tells him that he has gone insane. The father is unmoved. To him, the miracle cure demonstrates the truth of the his beliefs. (satyajitray.org)

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