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This film has been more talked about than seen since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 1972, when it was shown in a hastily shortened English-language version which distributors subsequently hacked down even further. Now the Belgium Cinémathèque Royale have worked with Kümel (best known for the lesbian vampire classic Daughters of Darkness) to produce a definitive ‘director’s cut’, Dutch-language version that runs for almost two hours – longer than has ever been seen before, and giving its labyrinthine story far greater clarity and depth. Read More »

Synopsis: MTV-worshiping seventeen year old Denise, who is one of the only white people from the poor part of a Dutch city, falls in love with the charming young Arab man Michael who promises her a life she can only imagine. But Michael is a so-called “loverboy” who has a secret agenda and manipulates her into prostitution making her believe that’s the only way to continue their expensive lives together. Read More »

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Thought of by some as the last truly great film of Jean Rollin’s career, the 1982 feature La Morte Vivante (The Living Dead Girl) is a fascinating but flawed feature graced with two of the most unforgettable performances in all of Rollin’s canon. A frustrating work brought to life by some of the most iconic imagery seen in a Rollin film, The Living Dead Girl is a simultaneously ferocious and poetic work deserving of its reputation as one of Rollin’s most important films… Read More »

Variety Film Review:
Formerly this offbeat NY filmmaking group mainly made dramas. But this zesty unusual romp twits its subject with knowing insight and also packs in some inside film buff gags and allusions.

There is not much of a story. It is mainly a joyous rush of images by a new director who has assimilated his classics and regular run of films. Two clean-cut, adventurous young American stalwarts vie for the hand of a beauteous young girl only to have her snapped up by a bearded character. Small town life and the seasons pass in review as the two men camp out and take their turns at wooing the girl or trying to cope with outdoor life in the snow and sun. Read More »

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Origin of idea

Ivan the Idiot is one of the most popular personas found in Russian folklore. His story serves as the basic fable of “Ivan the Idiot”: Ivan as hero saves a sleeping beauty from the clutches of evil. However, in this rendition, “Ivan the Idiot” is told in a slightly different style than usual; it’s a cybercomic.
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This is a super-rare look behind the scenes of Cassavetes’ first ‘big budget’ film, Husbands. It depicts several scenes which never made it into the final film, and a few that did. Also great is to watch Cassavetes working out scenes with Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara, sitting around a table smoking, brainstorming, joking, and singing – just like Archie Gus and Harry!

Picture quality isn’t tops, being this was taken from a VHS copy from a 16mm print that’s seen better days, and it has a timecode window burned in at the bottom left, but everything is visible that counts. Read More »

The Player is a 1992 satirical film directed by Robert Altman from a screenplay by Michael Tolkin based on his own novel of the same name. It is the story of Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins), a Hollywood studio executive who gets away with murdering a wannabe screenwriter who Mill believes is sending him death threats.

The film, loaded with movie references and Hollywood insider jokes, is a critique of the Hollywood movie business, which treats artists poorly and sacrifices quality for commercial success. It might seem surprising that around sixty big Hollywood names agreed to play cameos as themselves in the film, but Altman himself admits that “it is a very mild satire” and it offended no one.[1] Read More »