Arthouse

  • Karpo Acimovic-Godina – Rdeci boogie ali Kaj ti je deklica AKA Red Boogie (1982)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaKarpo Acimovic-GodinaYugoslavia

    Post-war Yugoslavia, out of favor with the Soviets because President Tito (1953-1980) was not communist enough and disliked by the Western powers because Tito was not capitalist enough, had to pull itself up by its own make-shift bootstraps. During a period of flagging morale, a group of musicians was sent out from a radio station to entertain the farmers and workers but instead of staying with the traditional songs, the musicians devise one trick or another to swing into jazz and blues and boogie-woogie — trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the militant culture watchdogs, be they policemen, petty bureaucrats, or party officials. Read More »

  • Raoul Ruiz – Klimt [Director’s Cut] (2006)

    2001-2010ArthouseAustriaDramaRaoul Ruiz

    Ruiz, in an a propos to the film: ‘Above all this film should not be seen as a biography of the painter Gustav Klimt (what these days we call a ‘biopic’). It is indeed a fantasy or, if you prefer, a phantasmagoria, a fresco of real and imaginary characters revolving around a single point of focus: the painter Klimt. You see images in the film as if it were Klimt himself who is seeing them. Or rather who is dreaming them. Because this film will be a daydream: exuberance of colours, distortion of space, extreme complexity of camera movements. It would take too long to explain the processes I intend to use in order to record this era, one of the richest, most contradictory and most disturbing in the history of humanity.’Read More »

  • Jacques Doillon – L’amoureuse (1987)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaFranceJacques Doillon

    French synopsis:
    Histoire et commentaires
    Des amies se réunissent en Normandie, dans une grande maison de bord de mer pour l’anniversaire de Vanessa. Mais celle-ci, quittée par Michel, n’a pas envie de le fêter. Le temps d’un week-end sur la côte normande, les jeunes filles jouent le jeu de l’amour, chacune vivant à sa manière les méandres de sa vie sentimentale, jusqu’au moment où un jeune américain vient troubler leur intimité. L’une d’elle va succomber à ses charmes, mais l’amoureuse sera-t-elle vraiment amoureuse ?Read More »

  • Margaret Tait – Blue Black Permanent (1992)

    1991-2000ArthouseDramaMargaret TaitUnited Kingdom

    Quote:
    The film’s complex, ‘Russian Doll’ narrative spans three generations of an Orcadian family. Barbara’s attempt to understand her past forms its outer shell. Flashbacks to her mother Greta and Grandmother Mary form the second and third layers, as the action in both past and present switches between Orkney and Edinburgh. At its core is Tait’s abiding interest in natural cycles, which in her films seem to dwarf all human concerns. The final five minutes of the film is a leanly edited sequence of shots from the Orkney coastline, juxtaposition grand sweeps of the seafront to details of shells, driftwood and shale.Read More »

  • Nobuhiko Ôbayashi – Sada: Gesaku · Abe Sada no shôgai AKA Sada (1998)

    1991-2000ArthouseAsianJapanNobuhiko Obayashi

    Based upon the case of Sada Abe, who on May 17, 1936 killed and emasculated her lover. These events took place during a period of war, economic depression, public unease and growing militarism, a time of unrest and confusion when public opinion was, at best, unpredictable. Sada, condemned by the law, found herself lionized by the press and hailed as a ‘saint’ of love. Because she committed murder out of passion, the purity of her motivation elevated her from the status of criminal to that of popular heroine.Read More »

  • Raoul Ruiz – Tres Tristes Tigres AKA Three Sad Tigers (1968)

    1961-1970ArthouseChileDramaRaoul Ruiz

    The drunken nights of several listless chancers in Chile’s capital city build inexorably to violence.

    Review by Gonzalo San Martin @IMDb:
    This movie is the best portrait of Chilean society. Ruiz show us like a group of little people with little problems, with a very special way of life. The strangest Spanish in all South American with the funniest accent too. This movie is like Martin Scorsese’s Mean Street but without the crime ingredient. You must see it if you wanna know what’s to be a Chilean, how you can feel believing that you’re in the center of the world but actually living in the end, almost hanging from the continent. Raul Ruiz right now is living in Paris and making the most bizarre but fascinating films of the french production. “Tres tristes tigres” is very difficult to find but if you can, i tell you that you’ll have a real gem.Read More »

  • Gahité Fofana – Un matin bonne heure AKA Early in the Morning (2006)

    2001-2010ArthouseDramaGahité FofanaGuinea

    Two Guinean kids do not manage to find work despite their inventiveness and creativity. That’s why they decide to travel to Europe as aircraft stowaways. Soberly told but moving indictment, based on true events.

    Early in the Morning is a moving indictment and sober and atmospheric narrative that does not mythologise. It is based on a true story. The convincing tone of the film may well result from the background of Gahité Fofana, who had previously made documentaries about AIDS in Africa and about a gang member condemned to death. Fofana: ‘Yaguine and Fodé want to study, combat misery, deny fate. Read More »

  • Chantal Akerman – Un divan à New York AKA A Couch in New York (1996)

    1991-2000ArthouseChantal AkermanComedyFrance

    A burlesque comedy made on a large(ish) budget by the mistress of small and often serious independent films.

    A temporary apartment swap between a man in New York and a girl in Paris leads to hilarious developments. Henry (William Hurt) is a rich psychiatrist in his forties with a fantastic apartment in New York City. After his relationship breaks up he feels the need to come to himself. He puts an ad in the Paris edition of The Herald Tribune, in which he offers to swap his flat. The young dancer Beatrice (a role in which Juliette Binoche proves her great comic talent) pores over the The Herald every day to improve her English and sees Henry’s ad. Read More »

  • Ulrike Ottinger – Zwölf Stühle aka Twelve Chairs (2004)

    2001-2010ArthouseGermanyUlrike Ottinger

    Short Synopsis
    …Her son-in-law, Ippolit Matwejewitch Worobjaninow, is a former nobleman and a dandy who is currently wasting away as a small town magistrate in charge of civil marriages. He eagerly takes up the quest to find the treasure. Meanwhile, over the years, the twelve chairs have been dispersed all over the country. However, Worobjaninow is not the only one in pursuit of the treasure. Hot on its trail are Ostap Bender, a clever and colorful conman, as well as Father Fjodor, a priest to whom the wealthy aristocrat has also confessed her secret. Thus begins a wild chase that ranges from North to South, West to East, across water and land, from the country to the city.Read More »

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