Cinema of the World

short synopsis - amg:
In this complex spy-thriller, the US radar installations in Greece are suddenly jammed and a NATO security agent is killed. The prime suspect is his own wife, who is innocent. She investigates on her own to prove it and ends up entangled in an espionage conspiracy.

short review - dvd beaver:
One of the most outrageous films from Chabrol's first 'commercial' period, before Les Biches renewed critical interest in the wayward New Wave instigator. Released here cut, dubbed and lacking an essential prologue featuring a mad illusionist, lumbered with the title Who's Got the Black Box? in the States, it's a wonderfully maddening mix of clattering allusions (to Greek tragedy and Hitchcock), characteristic black humour, and stunning visual irrelevancies, all poured into the deliberately banal mould of the spy thriller. 'I do not ask you to believe it, but I suggest that you dream about it' runs the film's opening epigraph. 'The silliness was more important than the spying' runs Chabrol's own retrospective line.

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Guardian of the Frontier (Varuh Meje) is the dreamy debut film from Slovenian director Maja Weiss. Shot in the picturesque forested outskirts of Slovenia, Guardian focuses on the relationships of three young female students as they live the good life on their summer vacation. Stressed out from their studies (and parents), Alja, Zana and Simona decide to spend their time canoeing down the Kolpa river and camping in the surrounding woods. The trip begins innocently enough, with some wild outbursts of singing and even a little topless conoeing action. Things start to go awry after Simona gets separated from the others and stumbles upon a lone fisherman in the middle of the river.From this point the movie takes on a more serious tone, as the girls find themselves in increasingly unfamiliar circumstances. Simona is haunted by visions of the "King of the Forest", while the sexual tensions between Zana and Alja escalate into a full-blown affair. The relationships between the three girls start to deteriorate, as they find themselves in hostile surroundings on the Croatian side of the river with the mysterious King of the Forest hounding their every step. Referred to as a "female Deliverance" by the festival program, Guardian of the Frontier combines the best elements of lost-in-the-woods thrills with a creepy, uncomfortable atmosphere and a healthy dose of "grrrl power". There are a few dream-like sequences in the vein of David Lynch that left me scratching my head just a bit, but these added just the right amount of weirdness and charm to the film.

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synopsis
Dr. Rainville, an old country doctor who has a deep attachment to his patients, is
about to retire and is looking for a successor. Jeanne Dion, an emergency doctor
from Montreal, agrees to come to Normétal to replace him for a few weeks, without
considering staying any longer than necessary in the remote Quebec village.
Normétal is a town in decline whose only large employer, a mine, closed three
decades ago. Life is hard there, and a doctor’s relationship with his patients is
much closer than Jeanne is used to after her experience in a large hospital’s
emergency ward. When the old doctor dies, Jeanne must decide whether to stay
and accept a responsibility that comes with much more commitment than she had
planned on.

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A journey inside the world of a legend of modern art and an icon of feminism. Onscreen, the nonagenarian Louise Bourgeois is magnetic, mercurial and emotionally raw-an uncompromising artist whose life and work are imbued with her ongoing obsession with the mysteries of childhood. Her process is on full display in this intimate documentary, which features the artist in her studio and with her installations, shedding light on her intentions and inspirations. Louise Bourgeois has for six decades been at the forefront of successive new developments, but always on her own powerfully inventive and disquieting terms. In 1982, at the age of 71, she became the first woman to be honored with a major retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art. In the decades since, she has created her most powerful and persuasive work, including her series of massive spider structures that have been installed around the world. Filmed with unparalleled access between 1993 and 2007, Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine is a comprehensive and dramatic documentary of creativity and revelation. Written by Zeitgeist Films

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AMG: Actor, screenwriter and director Elia Suleiman presents a handful of autobiographical short stories that offer a witty but thoughtful perspective on the place of Palestinians in Israel (and his own role in the nation) in this comedy-drama. Inspired by the journals kept by Suleiman's father, the fist episode takes place in 1948, as the Arab resistance movement begins to crumble, though Faud Suleiman (Saleh Bakri) is determined to keep up the fight. By 1970, Faud has lost his idealism and believes Palestine is destined to live in Israel's shadow, while his son Elia (Zuhair Abu Hanna) is being punished for calling the United States colonialists before the teacher. A few years later, Elia (Ayman Espanioli) has a brush with more powerful authorities, who attempt to toss him out of Israel on a minor offense. Finally, Elia (Elia Suleiman) returns home to look after his elderly mother (Samar Qudha Tanus) and discovers how little has changed, as many of his old friends have been warming the same barstools since he left. The Time That Remains is Suleiman's third film about Israel's relationship with Palestinians, following Chronicle of a Disappearance and Divine Intervention.

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The film is a U.S./German co-production (running 95 minutes in the U.S. and 108 minutes in the German version. It is a somewhat surreal comedy set in a down-at-heel truck-stop café and motel in the Mojave Desert. An ill-assorted cast of characters are assembled, including a comfortably built German tourist (Sägebrecht as Jasmin) who has left her husband after a row in the middle of the desert, the short-tempered owner of the café (Pounder as Brenda) who has just thrown her husband out, Brenda's two children and grandchild, a strange ex-Hollywood set-painter (Palance), and a glamorous tattoo artist (Kaufmann). Through a passion for cleaning and for magic tricks, Jasmin transforms the café and all the people in it.

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A documentary about the bustling Icelandic musical scene. This documentary covers some of Iceland's most talented and well-known musicians.

Synopsis:
Icelandic music hit the international scene with Björk and the Sugarcubes. In the last decade, several bands and solo acts have followed suit. Sigur Rós, Múm, Bang Gang, Mugison, Minus and Slowblow are a few of the more recent names and there are even more unpronouncable ones to look forward to in the coming years. "It's different," is most people's first reaction on hearing this diverse but highly original music. "Where is all this coming from?"

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Hlynur is the ultimate slacker. He sleeps all day, drinks all night and fails to maintain any kind of sensible relationship with members of the opposite sex - except for his mother whose home he still lives in. Life is pretty simple in a depressing and dull sort of a way until Hlynur sleeps with a beautiful Spanish houseguest (the wonderful Abril) who it then transpires is his mother's lesbian lover...

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Paul (Sigurdsson) is an artistic, thirtysomething Icelander with mental health problems. After he’s dumped by his girlfriend Dagny (Geirhardsdottir), his increasingly violent behaviour overwhelms his ineffectual parents - he’s taken to a mental hospital and diagnosed schizophrenic, Paul befriends scruffy Oli (Kormakur), a musician claiming to be the author of all the Beatles’ songs, and dapper Viktor (Fridbjornsson), who occasionally believes himself to be Hitler. Paul’s condition apparently stabilises under treatment and he’s allowed home – but he’s a long way from being well…

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Quote:Lukas is a pacifistic young man, fulfilling his civil service obligation by delivering food to the elderly rather than spending time in the military. While on the bus, a mysterious but beautiful woman, Isabella, drops a note into his lap. This strange encounter leads Lukas to follow Isabella around, and the two begin a bizarre, uncommunicative but strangely intimate relationship. Growing frustrated, Lukas begins to suspect Isabella's stepfather of a terrible crime, and takes a drastic step towards punishing him. GUN-SHY (SCHUSSANGST) is a study in modern alienation, shot in a distancing style to reinforce its theme, and was a hit on the European film festival circuit.

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Ghia is a young man who plays the kettledrum in the orchestra at the Tbilisi Opera House. All day long he runs around doing nothing, his only accomplishment being to annoy everybody else with his unreliability. His lack of organization does not prevent him from making an extraordinary intervention, at the very last moment, in the final score of the work being performed by the orchestra. After the performance is over, however, he is reprimanded by his superiors for his constant tardiness. Unfazed, he makes a date with Lia, a ballerina, but then gets side-tracked and goes off with a friend. His efforts to make it up with Lia are unsuccessful. Meanwhile, everyone is concerned about his inactivity. The director of the orchestra tells him to go and see the director of the theater...
(from dvdbeaver.com)

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"The Legend of Suram Fortress" - Based on an ancient legend, this dazzling film by visionary director Sergei Paradjanov (Shadows Of Our Forgotten Ancestors) is a surreal ode to Georgian warriors throughout the ages who died for their country. Repeated efforts by the Georgian people to construct a defensive stronghold continually fail. The building collapses until a fortune teller remembers an old prophecy that the son of her erstwhile lover must be bricked up alive in order for the fortress to stand. The young man is faced with the prospect of sacrificing himself to save his country.

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Fantastic - best no English language film ever, 5 July 2005
10/10
Author: justicerulesok from United Kingdom

This has basic but effective special effects, good acting & is one of the best films ever made. It's just not in English, but get over it. This film made me laugh out loud, I was also very impressed by what the Russians could do. The relationship between the main characters and aliens who can only say coo-coo is very representative of our miss understanding of the language on screen. There are also a few people who look familiar (but probably arn't)which is a little distracting. There is a chase scene - which reminded me of a benny hill sketch. The basic idea however translates to many countries & works even now 20 years later. If you do get the chance, please do go & see this film.

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The most stupendous and bone chilling tragedy about the agony and decline of one middle-level manager.
Tony develops an aversion to gushing claims of his goodness and the issue starts to haunt him. Is he good? Why should one be good? Whom would it benefit? While Tony thinks and thinks, he is forced to fire one thousand employees under his command, to be a witness to his wife's betrayal, to bury his grandfather and finally to find 12 pairs of human hands from the underbrush.
As Tony hopes to find a new and simpler life in a strip club with the help of a Russian secretary named Nadezha who is earning extra money by working there, fate steps into his life in the form of the mysterious Herr Meister. He gives Tony a choice; Either a rebellion doomed to failure and eventual decline, or absolute submission and a life full of power and enjoyment. Although Tony is accustomed to a worry-free life, he chooses rebellion - much to his own surprise - and loses.
A man is truly a bottomless abyss.

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Synopsis: What was the role of the Baltic film actors in creating the figure of the enemy in the Soviet time cinema?
Many generations of Soviet people were raised in the spirit of Soviet war films that were blockbusters and propaganda films at the same time. And these films really created the image of the enemy. Our movie is dealing with the fact that the most Nazi villains in soviet war movies were played by Baltic actors.
It’s ironical fact that the reasons why the Baltic actors were chosen to play the Nazi roles in that time were mostly physiognomic, but the consequences were political. The paradox is that personifying stereotypic Nazi villains in Soviet films these actors encouraged and uphold the stereotype that Baltic people were Nazi sympathisers. It’s an example of the power of the moving pictures creating powerful stereotypes.

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Quote:

A young intellectual, Mati, engineers himself into a situation where he has to spend a weekend with his wife Helina and her lover Eduard. The trio goes to Eduard's summer house, surrounded by the majestic scenery of big forests and an empty beach. Mati, either out of jealousy or pride, has decided to win back his wife and will do anything his introverted and inert mind can come up with. What is love? Who can believe in such a thing? Is there anything at all to believe in? It can in its own minimalist way be a very funny experience and also a sad one to be dragged into this world. This film depicts with great accuracy how it is to feel love being an Estonian, someone who is used to low temperatures and repressed emotions. Written by Anonymous

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Diego the bicyclist waits to check into the PGI hotel, where each room's inhabitant seems more bizarre than the last, and the rabbits on the top floor have discovered the secret of voodoo, using electronics and carrots. Can the rare and unpredictable night of the carrots save everyone, or will their connections to the room's electrical sockets restrain them too much? Will Diego find love with an egg that speaks incessantly in German? Will the cellist, who is actually a room full of a gelatinous substance, affected in some way by buttons labeled K, G, and B, have dreams that explain everything? Or will the audience just leave scratching their heads? Not all questions get answered.

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24 Preludes for a Fugue is the first authorized documentary about prominent composer Arvo Pärt to be released on DVD. A portrait made of precious moments recorded during three prolific years of the composer’s life, the film features rehearsals, premieres, seminars, meetings and recollections. Director Dorian Supin succeeds in revealing Arvo Pärt’s musical thinking. His work opens a door on the inner world of one of the most spiritually intense composers of our time.

The film is enhanced by excerpts from major musical works such as "Tabula Rasa", "Passio", "Fratres", "Orient & Occident", "Cecilia, vergine romana" and "Como cierva sedienta".

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Two American secret agents - Frank and Wendy - are sent to the world's hotbed of danger, known as Estonia. Estonia is a silly place, perhaps even sillier than the agents themselves. Frank and Wendy, for whom saving the world is their daily work, achieve both mental and manual feats with the greatest of ease. It appears that nothing can prevent their ultimate victory, but go figure. The axis of evil does not wither and attacks the super-agents from where they can least expect it...

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http://imdb.com/title/tt0385243/

Plot Synopsis
Autumn 1944, Estonia. Tens of thousands of people leave their homeland in fear of approaching frontline. Some seashore villages remain completely empty. A young woman with huge grey eyes gets off the boat. Eetla leaves the last boat, thus giving up her last chance to escape. Defying the cold wind and rain of September, she returns to the lighthouse which is unexpected to her father Gottfrid, the lighthouse keeper, and herself. Eetla's return becomes her self-encounter and self-recognition. Why is Eetla terrified of reality? For fear of tomorrow, anxiety for the unpredictable tomorrow. Eetla seeks refuge in her dreams, either dreamt or not dreamt ones, recounting them to her father or to a young doctor, a war refugee Kasper, or herself. It does not matter to whom. Reciting keeps alive the moment in between what has passed and what will come, in between yesterday and nescience. Like a prayer driven by fear to lose her balance. The balance between being awake and asleep. This fear to yield is Eetla's fear. "Somnambulance" is a psychological drama about the fear of losing balance.







http://www.filesonic.com/file/876236271/Somnambuul (Sulev Keedus, 2003).avi
http://www.filesonic.com/file/876195631/Somnambuul (Sulev Keedus, 2003).sub
http://www.filesonic.com/file/876193901/Somnambuul (Sulev Keedus, 2003) eng srt.srt
http://www.filesonic.com/file/876193911/Somnambuul (Sulev Keedus, 2003).idx

Language: Estonian | Russian (English, Finnish, Flemish, French, Russian .idx/subs + English .srt)
no pass

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From IMDB

I was very curious to see this Egyptian action/crime thriller from 1973, and boy, was it worth the wait! Similar in a lot of ways to the Italian films of this type, this one features gun fights, car chases, lots of nudity, askew camera angles, lots of hand-held camera work (though more out of budgetary constraints, than any post-modern considerations, ala Michael Bay, Tony Scott, etc), and just plain weirdness. A few scenes are effectively done in the style of giallos, and there's quite a few surprises in the deceptively linear story. Some scenes and effects are laughably inept (like the point blank shooting of a naked woman where the squib turns out to be dry…!?), but the overall package is so deliriously trippy, you hardly mind the flubs. there is even a touch of lesbianism and a (possible) hint of incest in the script, which is familiar in places but accumulates enough elements to appear somewhat unique. But despite the crudeness of style and the sleaze, the film manages to say something meaningful, and end on a poignant note…just when I thought it was going towards a more happy ending. I love this baby, and I want to see more Arabic films like this one (if indeed there are any). apparently the film was later banned in Egypt, but that's all good in my book.

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Review from Time Out London:
An impressive directorial debut by ex-art director Shadi Abdelsalam, The Night of Counting the Years is an examination of cultural imperialism in reverse: instead of selling Coca-Cola to Egypt, Western merchants are stealing rarities from Egyptian tombs. At first posed in moral terms - should the new chief of an Egyptian tribe allow his people to earn money by selling the antiquities from 'officially' undiscovered tombs, or stop the trade at the cost of stopping the flow of money to his poverty-stricken people - the film develops into a study of the importance of defending the past from would-be cultural exploiters. Slow-moving but absorbing, and quite beautifully shot.

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IMDB user Comments :

Why indeed

One cannot help but agree with the title of this film. Why indeed? Why spend more than two hours watching this mess of a film. The only reason I can think of that the Jury gave this movie the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, is that is is different from anything else at the festival. And it is, it is a refreshing view through the eyes of a moviemaker NOT from the west.

Unfortunately Youssef Chahine is not up to the task. He has severe difficulty figuring out which story he wants to tell, there are many stories in this film that would make great movies in their own right, but the constant intermingling of them, which might have worked in the hands of a more experienced director, fails in this film. For the first hour you are thrilled with the movie.

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