Cinema of the World

Synopsis
At the close of the war in Japan, a widowed mother makes every possible sacrifice to bring up her ungrateful son and daughter who are unimpressed with their poor standard of living at home. They gradually reject her in search of the material comforts that working as a maid cannot provide. The mother's despair becomes interminable.

Kinoshita is widely regarded as having more breadth as a director than any other in Japan. Just comparing this film with the other Panorama Kinoshita DVD release TWENTY-FOUR EYES (made the following year in 1954) is quite astonishing. Every film for him - 42 in 23 years - was a chance to experiment. He pushed long takes to the limit with deep focus long shots; he tried fast cutting action; he approached *all* genres and was wildly successful at almost everything he tried his hand at, yet he remained modestly unimpressed with his jack-of-all-trades approach describing it as "half-baked". Masaki Kobayashi (a pupil of Kinoshita) believed that Kinoshita's genius lay precisely in his wide-ranging breadth and fearlessness. Indeed, according to Audie Bock's marvellous book "JAPANESE FILM DIRECTORS" (from which the DVD text extras liberally quote) Kinoshita's films were more liked in Japan and more successful than both Kurosawa and Mizoguchi at the time of release.

Synopsis
Louis Bertain, a respectable garage owner by day, is the head of a band of notorious crooks by night. When a hold-up goes badly wrong, Bertain’s younger brother Pierre is suspected of having sold them out to the police. He was, after all, recently picked up by the police and then released after questioning. When he is finally caught by Commissaire Pluvier, Louis discovers that he has been betrayed not by Pierre but by another member of his gang…

Plot Synopsis [AMG]
Dillinger, the was the ninth effort from the enterprising King Brothers, and their most financially successful film to date. Lawrence Tierney became an overnight cult favorite with his gritty portrayal of maverick bank robber John Dillinger, though top billing is bestowed upon Edmund Lowe as gang chieftain Specs. The film traces Dillinger's criminal career from his first petty theft to his spectacular 1934 demise outside Chicago's Biograph Theater (incidentally, this film was banned in Chicago for several years). Anne Jeffreys plays Dillinger's fictional moll Helen, while Elisha Cook Jr., Marc Lawrence, and Eduardo Ciannelli go through their usual crime-flick paces. The film's set piece is an elaborate armored-car holdup, lifted in its entirety from footage originally shot for Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once (1937). Screenwriter Philip Yordan, fresh from his Broadway triumph Anna Lucasta, earned an Academy Award nomination for Dillinger.

Ben works in a morgue. Ben's wife left him and he is into various kinds of alternative sexuality. Teresa dies of an ecstasy overdose on the dance floor. When she is brought to the morgue, she is resurrected -how shall I say?- in Ben's arms (that part based on a true story). From this starting point, the film revolves around the interactions between them and Boris (orgy fan), Abdel (no sentimental life), Ducon (wants to kill himself), Nico (dying of AIDS), etc... A social study of the 90s with heavy references to sex and death.

Plot

imdb.com wrote:
A young man named Victor realizes the shortcomings of the Utopian ideals on the hippie commune where he was raised. Victor's mother is funding the commune where the guru Insley hypnotizes and seduces women with a technique he calls "running." Insley manipulates the minds of these women so that they give him their bodies and all their worldly possessions. Victor's childhood love, Becky, returns to take care of her deathly ill father. Victor, haunted by visions of Becky's death, is desperate to save her and himself by escaping from the polygamous cult. Preoccupied with Insley's free love philosophy, the adults of the community overlook the painful reality that the self destructive behavior of their children is most certainly due to early exposure to sex and drugs. To afford an escape, Victor tries to sell weed but is cut out by rivals competing for Becky's affection. Finally, Victor is torn between getting money from his mother who is entirely under Insley's influence, dealing with the violent drama of his drug-addled friends, and staying to save Becky as she spins out of control.

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...:I regretted having to reedit the footage in The Lion Hunters so much that I made the second film about hunting The American [called in Songhay simply The Whiteman, ed. note] entitled Un Lion Nommé l'Américain (1968) just to use the long sequence about the death of the lion and to show exactly what happened during the whole time in syncsound. In it you see us going out in the Land Rover, and Damouré asks the hunters to tell us when they are on the track, and Isiyaka says "You see, that's the track of The American, because when we were with Rouch he had a leg caught in the trap, and you can see where he was hurt. That's The American." It's all very clear and at the end of the film Damouré interviews Isiyaka and there is the lioness, dead, and he says to Isiyaka, "Well, it's not The American." And Isiyaka says, "No, The American went into another bush. But maybe next year we will kill The American." And it was the beginning of the myth of The American. But I think all that's very difficult to put in a film. It was the last attempt to kill "The American." We killed another lion, yes, but The American was killed by a Mali hunter, using a gun, one year later.

Wiki

A 1913 silent film made in the Russian Empire by Ladislas Starevich, based on the tale of the same name by Nikolai Gogol. Unlike most of Starevich's films, it is mainly live-action.

The action is set in a Cossack stanitsa. On Christmas Eve, a minor demon (Ivan Mozzhukhin) arrives to a local witch called Solokha. They both ride on the witch's broom, after which the demon steals the Moon and hides in an old rag. In the ensuing darkness, some inebriated Cossacks can't find their way to a shinok (tavern) and decide to go home. One by one, they each come to visit Soloha, who hides each one (starting from the demon) in bags so that none of them see each other.

In a miserable neighbourhood of Napoli, two brothers make totally different choices for their lives. The boy joins the Communist Party, while his sister follows the way of the church.

ABOUT HACHIKO (taken from en.wikipedia.org)
Hachikō (Born November 10, 1923, died March 8, 1935), sometimes known in Japanese as 忠犬 ハチ公 (chūken hachikō, lit. 'faithful dog Hachikō'), was an Akita dog born in November 1923 in the city of Odate, Akita Prefecture remembered for his remarkable and touching loyalty to his master.

Life
In 1924, Hachikō was brought to Tokyo by his owner, Hidesamurō Ueno (上野英三郎), a professor in the agriculture department at the University of Tokyo. During his owner's life, Hachikō saw him off from the front door and greeted him at the end of the day at the nearby Shibuya Station. Even after Ueno's death in May 1925, Hachikō returned every day to the station to wait for him, and did so for the next 11 years. Hachikō's devotion to his lost master moved those around him, who nicknamed him "faithful dog".

Hassan, the Kadi of Bagdad, has a harem housing twelve beauties, but concentrates his attention on Zohara. A newcomer, Kyra, introduces rebellion into the by the unheard of act of complaining to the Caliph about the lot of the women in the harem. Hassan suffers a greater shock when his God-son, Ezar, asserts that women are the equal of men. They make a wager under which Ezar must settle down with a conventional harem unless Zohara can outwit Hassan within ten days. Written by Les Adams

Kristofferson gets the title role in his first movie and turns in one of his best performances, as the fading rocker hanging around the LA music scene in the hope of a comeback, but scraping a living as a small time drug dealer. Hackman, on a run of strong pictures at the time, is the conniving cop on his case, who blackmails him into offloading one hundred kilos of marijuana inside three days - or else. Kristofferson conveys the myopic exhilaration of a string of minor scores with the tensile, empty conviction of a man only just holding desperation at bay.

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Alone in her empty flat, from her window Anne observes the people passing by who nervously snatch up the personal belongings and pieces of furniture she has put out on the pavement. Her final gesture of taking a ring off her finger signals she is leaving her previous life in Holland behind. She goes to Ireland, where she chooses to lead a solitary, wandering existence, striding through the austere landscapes of Connemara. During her travels, she discovers a house that is home to a hermit, Martin

Alexi leaves the house of his father and stepmother and rents an apartment. He wants to be independent and find his place in the world. But no basic changes ensue – he has the same friends, with the same trivial conversations and the same inactivity. Only the death of his favorite teacher, to whom the young man felt very close, really changes his habitual way of life. Alexi makes a decision: he refuses a place at a research institute and leaves for a teaching job at a village school, the same school his mentor used to work at.

Characterized by deconstructivism and philosophical references and by briefly exposing the good, bad, and ugly periods of the country's history, this post-modern film portrays the abstract need for guidance of Germany following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Written by Steve Richer

"A clever, classy crime thriller from acclaimed director Gabriele Salvatores, whose previous film, I'm not Scared (screened in the Festival in 2003) was one of the biggest critical and commercially successful Italian films to play in the UK for many years. Quo Vadis Baby? (which takes its title from a line of dialogue in Last Tango in Paris) follows a feisty female private investigator, in a rut personally and professionally, who decides to re-investigate her sister's suicide of some 16 years previously. Watching video diary tapes that her sister made before her death and interviewing friends and her own family, a shocking and sad portrait of her sister's life as a would-be model and actress begins to emerge, that also reflects and illuminates her own idiosyncratic existence. Packed with clever and knowing cinematic references, made with supreme skill and visual style, Quo Vadis Baby? is a sophisticated and surprising noir film, that manages to both be exciting and distinctive."
-Adrian Wootton

Quote:
A provocative French thriller places a wealthy man (Delon) at the center of an extraordinary plot after a car crash leaves him unable to remember who he is. With his wife (Senta Berger) convinced he is faking amnesia, he sets out to discover who and why someone wants him to believe he is going crazy and should end his life.

AMG: The story of how a friendship between two of Europe's most important filmmakers turned into a rivalry is recounted in this documentary. François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard first met in 1949; in many ways they were very different people -- Godard came from a wealthy and supportive family, while Truffaut had troubles with both school and the law during a hardscrabble youth -- but they were both passionate devotees of the cinema, and became star writers at the pioneering film journal Cahiers du Cinéma. Ten years later, Truffaut and Godard were the most visible figures in the New Wave of French cinema, having enjoyed international success with The 400 Blows and Breathless. But as the two men became more successful, each developed a greater confidence along with differing opinions about art and politics, and by the time Truffaut died in 1984, they hadn't spoken in years. Les Deux de la Vague (aka Two in the Wave) uses vintage interview and newsreel footage of Godard and Truffaut to illustrate their friendship, their rise to fame, the films and filmmakers who influenced them, and the changing times and attitudes that drew them apart. Two In The Wave received its world premiere at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Synopsis

allmovie wrote:
Filmmaker Jesús Franco, director of such low-budget exploitation flicks as Vampyros Lesbos and Killer Barbys vs. Dracula, helmed this 1981 X-rated women-in-prison film. The plot concerns a pair of newlyweds who are kidnapped while driving through Spain and taken to a prison run by sadistic lesbian warden Magda Urtado, played by transsexual porn actress Ajita Wilson. Once in the clutches of Urtado, the couple is witness to rape, bestiality, sadomasochism, and sex-slavery as the nymphomaniac warden attempts to quench her insatiable thirst for carnality. Banned in the United Kingdom, Sadomania also stars former Playboy Playmate Ursula Buchfellner.

Quote:
Daniel (Roberto Enríquez), Ana (Natalia Millán), and their little boy, Manuel (Kevin Almodóvar), travel from Madrid to a resort on the Costa Brava for the summer. Ana runs into Marta (Irene Montalà of L'Auberge Espagnole), a local shopgirl whom she's met on previous visits. Marta introduces Ana to her cousin, Robert (David Selvas), who runs an antique shop. Robert is immediately attracted to Ana. Marta tells him that Ana is happily married, and confesses that she has a crush on Ana's husband, Daniel. Robert, intrigued, makes a pact with Marta. Robert will help Marta seduce Daniel if she will help Robert seduce Ana. One night, the cousins cunningly arrange to separate the couple, and some serious flirtation ensues. While Marta, who is casually dating a local surfer, Tomás (Roger Casamajor), begins to have second thoughts, Robert grows more obsessed with the couple. He befriends Daniel and peppers him with questions about the strength of his nine-year marriage. Robert also asks if Daniel is attracted to Marta. "Fidelity's another word for laziness," he tells Daniel. He visits Ana and surprises her with a goodbye kiss. As the summer wears on, his machinations begin to have an effect on the couple's stability. Summer Clouds, directed by Felipe Vega, was shown by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 2004 as part of the series, Spanish Cinema Now. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

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One gets the impression from Karel Kachyna’s The Ear that life under the Communists’ boot in Czechoslovakia during the early 1970’s wasn’t all Pilsner Urquell and pretzels. Shot in black and white, Kachyna’s study of paranoia and desperation was understandably held from release by the Warsaw Pact immediately upon its completion in 1970, and has only been screened for audiences in the last decade or so. It’s worth the wait.

Karel Kachyna's 1970 The Ear is a harrowing tale that interweaves marital discord and surveillance paranoia. With its portrait of a government functionary who spends a sleepless night wondering if he'll be arrested before daybreak, it's no wonder that The Ear had to wait until 1989 for its Czech premiere; the wonder is that it was made at all. The latter, at least, can be explained by the fact that Kachyna's long-time collaborator, scenarist Jan Procházka, was a government official of some standing - which accounts, no doubt, for The Ear's insider perspective, playing as it does with the couple's knowledge of which rooms in their comfortable house are likely bugged and which aren't. As they discuss the arrest of his superior, the couple moves from room to room, opening and closing doors depending on which conversations they want heard and which they don't. (After a long night of drinking and recriminations about their infrequent sex life, he pulls a bear rug from a kitchen cabinet and lays it on the floor, their bedroom assumed to be bugged.) With its escalating marital tensions, The Ear is as much Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as 1984, with a helping of Seconds for the flashbacks to the official party they've just come from, replaying idle chat that seems menacing in retrospect. (Based only on this film, Kachyna might also pass as Czechoslovakia's answer to Polanski.) With its pitch-perfect ending, The Ear is a surprisingly commercial thriller that tangles with dark undercurrents - a movie ripe for rediscovery.

Film noir parody with a detective uncovering a sinister plot. Characters from real noirs appear as scenes from various films are intercut.

Not the first movie to be built around cameo performances, but these are somewhat novel. Forties stars (Bergman, Bogart, Cagney, etc.) are exhumed from the Hollywood vaults to live again in a new mystery comedy whose convolutions stem not least from forcing various clips from old thrillers to look as though they belong together. Some amusement is derived from watching a film that so obviously had to be worked out backwards. The bits in between feature likeable Martin as a keen but clumsy detective - with all the good lines, which is no bad thing because he's the best part of this fairly amusing, clever exercise in editing. -- CPe, Time Out Film Guide 13

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Based on the novel Villa Triste by Patrick Modiano, Patrick Leconte’s 1994 film ‘Yvonne’s Perfume’ represents a highpoint in his career to date, a delicious, spellbindingly erotic slice of nostalgia combining sensuous photography, a brilliant soundtrack and a trio of pitch-perfect performances. Less whimsical and slight than ‘The Hairdresser’s Husband’ (which Leconte wrote himself), ‘Yvonne’ doesn’t compromise any of that film’s brevity. Whereas in ‘Hairdresser’ one had the sense that Leconte was, at times, simply filling screen time with entertaining but ultimately extraneous characters and events, the narrative here is much more focused and contained and its culmination more dramatically satisfying.

After making his historic crossing of the Alps with elephants transporting supplies and troops, Hannibal marches on Rome in a war of revenge. During his advance, he captures Sylvia, the niece of Roman Senator Fabius Maximus but, instead of holding her prisoner, he shows her his powerful army and herds of elephants, then sets her free. He is sure she will report what she has seen to his Roman enemies. Hannibal defeats the Romans at the battle of Trebbia and sends a message to Sylvia that he is marching on Rome. Sylvia succumbs to her love of Hannibal and they have a rendezvous, but are surprised by a Roman patrol. Hannibal escapes and Sylvia is confined to the temple of the Vesta Goddess. She escapes and meets Hannibal again. Hannibal orders his brother Hasdrubal to Carthage to take over command of the reinforcements preparing to join Hannibal. Hannibals wife Danila arrives from Carthage unexpectedly and Sylvia runs away and returns to Rome, where she is tried for high treason and sentenced to death. Hannibal continues to fight but he knows he will not succeed in destroying Rome. Written by Les Adams

Quote:
Filmed on the virtually deserted Setonaikai archipelago in south-west Japan, The Naked Island was made — in the words of its director — “as a ‘cinematic poem’ to try and capture the life of human beings struggling like ants against the forces of nature”. Kaneto Shindo, director of Onibaba (MoC #13) and Kuroneko (MoC #14), made the film with his own production company, Kindaï Eiga Kyokai, who were facing financial ruin at the time. Using one-tenth of the average budget, Shindo took one last impassioned risk to make this film. With his small crew, they relocated to an inn on the island of Mihari where, for two months in early 1960, they would make what they considered to be their last film.

About the Movie:

What once made mankind hold its breath is the object of bored museum tours today: Laika, Yuri Gagarin, Valentina Tereshkova. Pavel Medvedev’s compilation tells the story of space travel, beyond nostalgia and beyond the tired old interpretation of the “race to the moon” as a race of the systems. He combines images ingrained in the collective memory, like the cosmonauts waving in front of the hatch of their rocket, with largely unknown, sometimes spectacular archive footage in an associative chain. He contrasts shots of experiments – animals and humans in the centrifugal spin-cycle, failed and successful rocketlaunches, fl oating, taking showers, eating at zero gravity, hand-shaking politicians – with the indescribable toils of the ground staff: armies of workers like ants, erecting whole industries, a peasant pulling a heavy plough. In the end, aspiring man is still a pathetic creature whose path loses itself in the ruins of 9/11. The soundtrack, too, where spherical sounds are mixed with rare sound bites, banal everyday noises, distant radio messages and a recurring musical motif, keeps opening up new spaces for thought, a melancholic swan song for a utopia.

Grit Lemke, DOK Leipzig