Cinema of the World

Plot Synopsis by Robert Firsching
A minor comedy from Italian filmmaker Lucio Fulci (Zombi 2; L'Aldila), this anthology is of interest primarily to cult devotees for marking the notorious director's only collaboration with legendary "scream queen" Barbara Steele (La Maschera del Demonio). Lushly photographed and filled with popular comedians of the era (including Franco Franchi and Ciccio Ingrassia, who made several of their "Franco and Ciccio" comedies with Fulci), the film's sketches spotlight various manias. As might be expected, nymphomania gets an extended treatment, with all the requisite mugging, leering, and smarmy asides common to Italian comedies of the period, as well as a lengthy parade of songs, many scored by Ennio Morricone, and some international burlesque performers. Enrico Maria Salerno and Walter Chiari lead a cast which includes Lisa Gastoni, Gaia Germani, Umberto d'Orsi, and Raimondo Vianello.

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One rarely associates the austere films of Alain Resnais with comedy, but in his first real hit, the director's exploration of the theories of behavioral scientist Henri Laborit is surprisingly amusing. Resnais has often dwelt on the influence of the past upon the present, and the determinism that renders freedom chimerical. Here, he returns to the theme, in following the lives of three French professionals whose lives never intersect until the latter part of the film. The doctor appears onscreen in a white lab coat explaining the vagaries of their behavior, which is illustrated by human-sized mice responding to carrot-and-stick incentives. Like Johnson's The Vanity of Human Wishes, it emphasizes the way in which the character's intention or plans rarely come pass in the way they imagine, and is especially funny and discerning on the fate of '60s self-proclaimed revolutionaries turned '80s yuppies. If the film is finally as sobering as his more overtly serious about the way social phenomena mold behavior, the journey is much more fun than usual. Gerard Depardieu, Nicole Garcia, and Roger-Pierre all are excellent as the trio in search of an elusive happiness. -- Michael Costello

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Centered on the early '80s punk movement, this remains the best of Penelope Spheeris's three attempts to chronicle the musical and angst-ridden subculture of urban Los Angeles. The film's style, like the music, is abrasive, frank, and packed with energy, as it moves swiftly from hilarious band and fan interviews to the loud, raucous shows inside seedy L.A. nightclubs. Despite its tongue-in-cheek title, Spheeris neither condemns, nor glamorizes, the movement, though she definitely has an eye for talent and thankfully plays favorites. Lesser acts like Alice Bag Band and Catholic Discipline are given minimal screen time (enough so we understand why they've been forgotten) in favor of bands that either possess off- stage charisma (Circle Jerks) or onstage potency (Fear's finale, winding their audience up with insults, is punk in its purest form). And, then there are X and Germs lead singer, Darby Crash. These two subjects comprise the majority of the film, as Spheeris hangs around their houses, captures numerous performances, and presents the movement's peak performers. While X does it mostly onstage--their mix of thrash and rockabilly are the most enjoyable of the live performances--Crash's stage is everywhere. A walking disaster, the singer candidly details--with simultaneously self-mocking humor and sadness--his drug abuse, miserable life, and the places that no longer let him play. The fact that he died shortly after production stamps Spheeris's brazen time capsule with a morbid, though appropriate, epitaph.

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Official site: http://www.tamala2010.com/

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Hello, space kitty: "Tamala" a far-out trip
By Ty Burr, Globe Staff

Boston Globe
Published: 10/31/2003

Some movies exist beyond quantification, so I'm giving three stars to the Japanese animated whatsit "Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space" only because my editor says I have to give it something. The film screened last week as part of the Brattle Theatre's first Boston Fantastic Film Festival and starts a proper weeklong run today; a midnight movie in spirit if not in scheduling, "Tamala 2010" is so spectacularly bent that it exudes a contact cough-syrup high all its own.

The best way to triangulate the film is to call it Hello Kitty meets David Lynch in outer space. The plot, inasmuch as such a word applies, concerns a potty-mouthed feline innocent named Tamala, who journeys from Cat Earth toward the planet of Orion, where she was born. Knocked off course by an evil mailman, Tamala lands on Planet Q, where dogs are busy repressing cats in a seedy urban district called Hate and where she meets a sympathetic boy cat named Michelangelo. She insists on calling him Moi-Moi, which makes as much sense as anything else here.

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Plot:
Dr Heywood Floyd has been blamed for the failure of the Discovery mission and languishes in disgrace. But then he is secretly approached by the Russians who invite him to take part in a planned mission to Jupiter aboard the ship Leonov to investigate the Discovery’s fate. Floyd joins the expedition, along with engineer Walter Curnow and HAL’s creator Dr Chandra. Once in Jupiter orbit they discover that HAL was driven paranoid by conflicting orders to keep the mission’s purpose a secret. But then David Bowman appears to Floyd as the amorphous Starchild, requesting that they leave orbit immediately as the agency behind the monoliths is about to transform Jupiter into a sun.

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A gang in a Volvo have staked out a flat; when its occupants leave to walk their dog, the six break into the place. One keeps his eyes on a stopwatch: they have only ten minutes before the couple returns. Instead of stealing things, the gang goes from room to room making fascinating percussive music with found objects"

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[User Rating:7.2/10]

Carne by Gaspar Noe, director of Irreversible and I Stand Alone. Winner of some sort of an award at the 1991 Cannes film festival.

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Before Sunrise is a passionate and intelligent romance between a young American (Jesse) and a French student (Celine). A chance encounter on the train incites intrigue,
and Jesse provocatively suggests that Celine postpones her return to France and embarks instead on a spontaneous expedition to Vienna. In the course of their 14-hour relationship, the two share in their love for the unrehearsed and their appreciation for the unexpected as they explore in a powerful meeting of hearts and minds. Dawn breaks. Sad in silence, they make their way to the station. As they bid each other farewell, Jesse is seized by another impulse - another encounter?

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Written by Boyd van Hoeij
Thursday, 20 April 2006

Nothing less than a double suicide from a dazzling height initiates the fifth and by far best film of Italo-Turkish director Ferzan Ozpetek. With an equally dazzling central performance by another foreigner settled in Italy, Slovakian actress Barbora Bobulova, Cuore sacro (Sacred Heart) could very well win Ozpetek new fans at home and abroad as he forsakes his overly sentimental style for something both more subtle and more resonant.

Co-written and directed by Ozpetek, Cuore sacro is an exploration of goodness and religion and how they interact (and more often than not fail to interact) in Italian society in particular and the world at large. Unlike the director’s previous efforts (such as much laurelled La finestra di fronte/Facing window) there are no homosexual or otherwise marginalised or penniless protagonists; in Cuore sacro it is in fact fundamental that the main character is rich, at least at the start of the story.

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IMDB

Review:
(copied from link)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Taiwanese director Ang Lee won four Academy Awards last Sunday, including best foreign language film. Between the awards and the box-office success of the movie there is good reason to think that Lee’s back catalog may attract renewed interest. Let’s hope that it does, because among Lee’s previous work is a very rare sort of film, one that deals even-handedly and even sympathetically with the Southern side of the War Between the States. The film in question is Ride with the Devil.

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"El Cid is one of the greatest epic films ever made. Anthony Mann's sense of composition, his use of space, and his graceful camera movements bring to life an ancient tapestry where the transformation of an ordinary man into a legend become almost a mystical experience."
(Martin Scorsese)

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Imdb.com wrote:

An out-of-control speed freak (Schwartzman) is introduced his drug of choice's creator (Rourke) by his dealer (Leguizamo). A massive three-day adventure ensues (with Fugit, Murphy, and Suvari in tow).

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Plot Summary from IMDB:
Ten vignettes in New York City: a pickpocket meets his match; a young Hasidic woman, on the eve of her marriage, reveals herself to an Indian businessman; a writer tries a pick-up line; an artist seeks a model; a composer needs to read; two women connect; a man takes a child to Central Park; lovers meet; a couple takes a walk on their anniversary; a kid goes to the prom with a girl in a wheelchair; a retired singer contemplates suicide. There are eight million stories in the naked city: these have been ten of them.

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IMDB

----------------------- Plot Synopsis imdb.com -----------------------
While giving a lecture at FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, veteran agent Chip Hardesty recounts his career with the bureau. He goes all the way from the days when the bureau was nothing more than a over-glorified legal clerks office to the most powerful law enforcement agency in the country. He also recounts the various cases he worked on from fighting the Ku Klux Klan to fighting communist subversives.

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IMDB


Plot: A sprawling drama centered around five keys days in a family's life.

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Zabriskie Point, director Michelangelo Antonioni's only American film, is an unusual, visually stunning examination of youthful rebellion against the Establishment. The film, initially presented in quasi-documentary style, presents a group of college activists discussing key issues of their political agenda. Mark (Mark Frechette) steals an airplane and flies over a desert where he meets Daria (Daria Halprin). She is the pot-smoking secretary to businessman Lee Allen (Rod Taylor), while he is a rebel searching for a worthy cause. In the midst of the arid surroundings, Mark and Daria fall in love. Antonioni's nonrealistic approach to American counterculture myths, his loose and sluggish narrative, and the dialogue (credited to Fred Gardner, Sam Shepard, Tonino Guerra, Clare Peploe, and Antonioni) caused Zabriskie Point to be poorly received when it was first released. The score features songs from Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, Kaleidoscope, The Rolling Stones, John Fahey, The Youngbloods and Patti Page.

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IMDB

This is the one-film Soviet New Wave. A unique blend of idealism and realism, heavily influenced by Antonioni, nothing like it was ever again achieved - or attempted - in the Soviet cinema as far as I know. The virtually plotless story of a young unmarried couple's involvement and eventual break-up is told as a series of finely-observed episodes which together form almost an encyclopedia of the time and the place. Among other things, it is a priceless portrait of a somewhat fantastic city which no longer exists.

The film was made in 1966, soon after Nikita Khrushchev's downfall, when the new conservatives started to dismantle the small creative liberties won after the death of Stalin (and little used, particularly in the cinema). Although the film was not banned, it got only a token release on something like a hundred prints (drop in the sea at the time). The invitation from the Venice Film Festival was declined, and I suppose the film was little seen in the West, if at all. Even in Russia, although its reputation is now high, and it has thankfully been restored (sort of), relatively few people have actually seen it.

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IMDB

IMDb says: "An orphan bear cub hooks up with an adult male as they try to dodge human hunters." Got to love their power of understatement, with which they can lovingly render the most fascinating film moribund.

From ace French director Annaud (who recently brought us the similarly animal-centric Two Brothers) comes this lushly shot 1988 drama about the travails and triumphs of an orphaned bear cub in the wilds of 19th century British Columbia.

In one of his first big roles, the excellent Tchéky Karyo (Nikita, Doberman, The Core) plays a hunter who, when faced with the reality of the results of his trade, is faced with a moral dilemma. His turmoil is set against the backdrop of the struggle to survive of a young bear after losing his mother, and finding comfort with an unlikely male bear companion.

More then just a cutesy animal film (though it has enough warm and fuzzy to shame Disney), this is a sometimes harsh but ultimately uplifting tale of wildlife interacting uneasily with ever encrouching humans. Annauds sure but deft touch allows the story to anthropomorphasize the animals without them losing their basic wild vitality or realness. The animal action is magical, thanks to involved training and careful editing and shooting. The sadly late Bart the bear is a delight.

A rare treat for all ages, thoughtful and entertaining.

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A female girlie club entertainer in Weimar Republic era Berlin romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.

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IMDB

Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy. When he has learned to adjust his life to these new responsibilities, Joanna resurfaces and wants Billy back. Ted however refuses to give him up, so they go to court to fight for the custody of their son.

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from IMDB......Though the film concerns the "O" and Sir Stephen characters, it really has nothing to do with Pauline Reage's original novel or the 1974 film The Story of O. However, the film does pay attention to artistic detail and symbolism of an almost mystic kind. "O" decides to prostitute herself for Sir Stephen in violent 1920s Hong Kong. Her mission is to prove her unending devotion and love for her master through giving her body to other men. Naturally, Sir Stephen enjoys watching her during her unpleasant sexual escapades and even finds himself a mistress. However, the tables are turned when "O" actually finds a kind of love with a young male admirer. Suddenly, Sir Stephen feels the threat...

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Introduced by Grub Smith (looking and sounding like a poor man's version of Bradley Walsh - if you can imagine such a thing), it recounts the stories of the most gruesome, wincemaking and even crippling sexual experiments.

The stories are old, you've heard most of them before; it is television made from newspaper-cuttings. But it's hard to deny that the tales are eye-popping.

From link

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Not that we ever thought it'd be a good idea, but, apparently injecting Cocaine in to a penis will lead to it not only falling off, but your legs will need to be amputated too. So don't do it kids. Even if this has bizarrely tempted you to try it out just to see if it's true or not. It surely just can't be worth it. Also: Too much masterbation will lead to the skin around the penis turning to bone. Yes. Bone. Bejesus. Er, anyone know exactly what the definition of too much is by the way? If you do, please email us. Soon.

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conoclastic indie filmmaker Gaspar Noe is as soft-spoken as his films are abrasive. The force behind the short film "Carne" (1991) and "I Stand Alone" (1998) --- two visually explosive and delectably warped odes to the ordinary madness of a misunderstood horse butcher --- Noe writes, directs, produces, shoots and edits films so distinctive that his films have already developed cult followings.

As part of a French government initiative to promote the use of condoms through graphic depictions of their proper use, Noe made the short "Sodomites" and handled camera duties on Hadzihalilovic's "Good Boys Use Condoms."

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Description: First of all , you should watch this only if you don\'t mind the lack of subtitles , pornography , minimalistic plot , kinky sex and utter , horrifying and truly shocking depravity . I mentioned kinky sex , but to call sex in the second half of the movie \" kinky \" would be a great understatement . It\'s more like a punch in the face if you aren\'t prepared for this sort of sickness .

The plot seems to be fairly basic , almost nonexistent : a girl is hired to perform in amateur porn movie . Don\'t expect much in first 30 - 40 minutes . There is some dialog - if you don\'t speak Japanese it\'s not going to mean much to you - that seems to be an occasional chatting between the girl and the crew & performer , then there is some censored porn ( straight sex ) , and after the scene is finished the performers and the crew take a break . And then ... it starts to happen ...

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Nine closely related episodes featuring the erotic escapades of a young New York heiress and the people associated with her.

Wealthy heiress Pauline (Pauline LaMonde) is bored with the "cold detachment" her Husband shows during sex and spends her time in various sexual encounters with other men, and women.

Pauline writes about her experiences to a woman named Gypsy, mysterious opium smoking, Tarot Card dealing ex lover of Pauline's (who talks directly to the viewer about Pauline and their times together).
As Gypsy reads the letters we see Pauline's encounters and learn about her history…..

Ferrara seems to have pretty much disowned this movie, his first feature length production, and tends to say that his first real film was "The Driller Killer". And this is actually a shame as there is nothing wrong at all with his foray into hardcore pornography and in fact the film has many aspects that fans of his work will recognise and appreciate.

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"Une Vraie Jeune Fille, Catherine Breillat's first feature film, was shelved for 25 years, apparently because the moral/aesthetic disgust couldn't be overcome at the time. It was released for the first time this year, and immediately re-ignited the scandal occasioned by Breillat's last feature, Romance."
- Kay Armatage, Toronto International Film Festival Catalogue

The story centres on Alice Bonnard, a young girl attending Saint-Sulvien Girl's College, and takes place during a summer in the turbulent sixties. Alice comes homes to spend her holidays with her parents in the Landes region. They run a sawmill where they employ a young man, Jim. Business isn't going well, although Mr. and Mrs. Bonnard are too proud to admit it and Jim's nonchalant attitude about his job doesn't help things. Alice is attracted to Jim, but she's too scared to let him know it, believing that as far as he's concerned she doesn't exist. Her tumescent sexuality begins to obsess her. She becomes fascinated with the excretions, juices and smells of her own body as well as with the slimy oozings and putrid detritus of the natural world. The film gives few clues to distinguish the girl's fantasies from the events of her life. This is fitting, as the entire film revolves around the girl and her own perceptions. The heightened realism of the direction and cinematography produces a text that refuses either to accuse or to exploit.
(from link)

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Genius. The latest "cine-essay" of Chris Marker is dense and demanding, a splendid reminder that his nimble, capacious mind has lost none of its agility, poetry, and power. Ostensibly a portrait of photographer Denise Bellon, focusing on the two decades between 1935 and 1955, the film leaps and backtracks, Marker-style, from subject to subject, from a family portrait of Bellon and her two daughters, Loleh and Yannick (the latter co-authored the film), to a wide-ranging history of surrealism, of the city of Paris, of French cinema and the birth of the cinémathèque, of Europe, the National Front, the Second World War and Spanish Civil War, and postwar politics and culture. (Denise Bellon is credited with having shot the first photo of WWII, in Finland.)

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IMDB

uinness gives a harrowing performance as the demented Fuhrer. Based on eyewitness accounts of the events which took place in Hitler's bunker during the last ten days of the war.

Set almost entirely inside Hitler's Berlin bunker, the film chronicles the dying days of the Third Reich as the Allied armies close in on Berlin. Guinness's Hitler is an enclosed depressive who sinks slowly into madness, depression, and ultimately suicide as his 1,000-Year Reich collapses around him.

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A "typical Portuguese comedy", which is introduced a new element: the radio, using a large expansion at this time in Portugal. The owners of two small businesses (Cipriano and Rosa) hate it, but their children (Oscar and Geninha) love it. Cipriano establishes a Radio Club where Geninha interprets the songs of Oscar, despite the opposition of fiery Rosa. Things become complicated with the appearance of singer Fernando Verdial and radio star Teresa Waldemar.

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For his 17th film, Pedro Almodovar doesn't exactly break new ground with "Broken Embraces," instead fine-tuning his gifts and decadent cinematic appetites to a satisfying routine. A spiraling, sensual story of noirish obsession and paranoia, "Embraces" is a riveting sit, due in great part to the filmmaker's incredible storytelling gifts, and the cast, who articulate a dreamy series of toxic encounters with sniper-like precision, tightening Almodovar's noose with exceptional skill.

Harry Caine (Lluis Homar) is a blind writer who was once a filmmaker by the name of Mateo. When Caine learns of the death of wealthy industrialist Ernesto Martel (Jose Luis Gomez), it sends his mind reeling back to the early 1990s, when he was prepping a film with lead actress, and Martel's lover, Lena (Penelope Cruz), while dealing with a behind-the-scenes documentary effort from Martel's social reject son (Ruben Ochandiano). Engaging in a heated affair with Lena, Mateo learns of Martel's violent ways, hoping to steal Lena away and finish his artistic gamble of a movie. Now over a decade later, Caine feels the rush of memories as he recalls his love affair to assistant Diego (Tamar Novas), unlocking further secrets from his close associates.

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IMDB


From IMDB

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Karamazovi is newest movie from director Petr Zelenka which is by one group accepted as great screenwriter and really cosmopolitan director and by another group as poseur writing one dimensional characters with unrealistic dialogue and not much good storyteller. Karamazovi, adaptation of Dostojevskij masterpiece, and also adaptation of stage-play written by Czech director Evald Schorm, is his best piece so far.

In Zelenka's movies characters tried to get out from Czech Republic and if foreigns come to us, they're documenting us as some strangers (Japanese in Samotari/Loners). Karamazovi's plot is about concurs for a stage play at alternative festival in Poland and actors plays themselves, one of them trying to get out of Poland because he has got some filming in Czech Republic! Point of view has changed, but great atmosphere (thanks to composer A.P. Kaczmarek and cinematographer) with great actors (especially those who plays in Czech TV shitty-serials).

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