Synopsis:
‘In World War I, Brodie, a successful novelist and soldier, is pronounced dead and given a new identity by the Secret Service. Sent on an espionage mission in Switzerland, he is teamed with a fake ‘wife’, Elsa and an assassin, the General.’
– BFI ScreenonlineRead More »
Drama
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Alfred Hitchcock – Secret Agent (1936)
1931-1940Alfred HitchcockDramaThrillerUnited Kingdom -
Dusan Hanák – Tichá radost AKA Quiet Happiness AKA Silent Joy (1986)
1981-1990ArthouseDramaDusan HanákSlovakiaSynopsis
A psychological study of a woman who chooses solitude as an escape from the duplicity and emotional barrenness of the men around her.Read More » -
Gillo Pontecorvo – La battaglia di Algeri AKA The Battle of Algiers (1966)
1961-1970AlgeriaAmos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtDramaGillo PontecorvoWarQuote:
The most electrifyingly timely movie playing in New York was made in 1965. Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers is famous, but for some time it’s been available only in washed-out prints with poorly translated, white-on-white subtitles. The newly translated and subtitled 35-millimeter print at Film Forum is presumably the version that was privately screened in August for military personnel by the Pentagon as a field guide to fighting terrorism. Former national-security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski volunteered this blurb: “If you want to understand what’s happening right now in Iraq, I recommend The Battle of Algiers.” I wonder if these politicos are aware that Pontecorvo’s epic was once used by the Black Panthers as a training film? In fact, not much in the current Iraq situation is historically comparable to the late-fifties Algerian struggle for independence dramatized in The Battle of Algiers, but its anatomy of terror remains unsurpassed—and, woefully, ever fresh.Read More » -
Isshin Inudô – Mezon do Himiko AKA La maison de Himiko (2005)
2001-2010DramaIsshin InudôJapanQueer Cinema(s)Quote:
Saori has always disliked her gay father and has lived her life denying his existence. One rainy day she receives a visit at work from a young man called Haruhiko. He tells her that her father is dying of cancer and that the nursing home he operates is in danger of closing. Out of curiosity and debt, Saori goes to visit her father at the House of Himiko, a nursing home for gay old men. It is a sad place but filled with sardonic good cheer. Surprised but pleased, Haruhiko shows her around. The old men who live there are delighted. Saori is at first repelled by the relationship between Haruhiko and Himiko but she soon sees that their feelings are genuine. She begins taking an interest in keeping the nursing home alive…Read More » -
Kun-jae Jang – Jam-mot deun-eun bam AKA Sleepless Night (2012)
2011-2020DramaKun-jae JangRomanceSouth KoreaDirector of indie teen drama “Eighteen”, Jang Kun Jae follows up with a realistic look into marriage in “Sleepless Night”. Kim Su Hyeon (“Set Me Free”) and Kim Ju Ryong (“Texture of Skin”) play a married couple of two years who are just trying to get by in their daily lives and make things work. They think about having a child, but money is a concern and the pressure from those around them doesn’t help.Read More »
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Rita Azevedo Gomes – A Colecção Invisível AKA The Invisible Collection (2009)
2001-2010DramaItalyRita Azevedo GomesShort FilmQuote:
A story about art and educated men, and how their art and culture reveal themselves useless in the face of the harsh realities of the 20th century life.Read More » -
Gabriele Muccino – L’estate addosso AKA Summertime (2016)
2011-2020DramaGabriele MuccinoItalyQueer Cinema(s)Quote:
Gabriele Muccino is an Italian filmmaker (“The Last Kiss,” “Ecco Fatto”) who had a high-profile moment of going Hollywood. He was handed the plum of directing two Will Smith vehicles in a row, “The Pursuit of Happyness” (2006) and “Seven Pounds” (2007), and he was able to bring his earthy intelligence and humanity to at least one of them. (The less said about “Seven Pounds” the better.) One way to talk about Muccino’s new film, “Summertime,” which premiered tonight at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival, is to say that he is once again an “Italian filmmaker.” But that wouldn’t be quite accurate. “Summertime” is more like an American film embedded in an Italian one.Read More » -
Ivy Ho – Chan mat AKA Claustrophobia (2008)
2001-2010DramaHong KongIvy HoRomanceVeteran Hong Kong screenwriter Ivy Ho (Divergence) makes his feature directorial debut with this tale about a clandestine romance between a marketing secretary and a married manager. No one in the office suspects that Pearl (Karena Lin) and Tom (Ekin Cheng) are having an affair, not even their close friends Jewel (Chucky Woo) and John (Derek Tsang). As the story begins shifting between past and present, we come to understand just how the affair came to be, and where it could be heading in the future.
~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie GuideRead More » -
Carlos Hugo Christensen – Dieciséis años AKA Sixteen (1943)
1941-1950ArgentinaCarlos Hugo ChristensenDramaRomancePlot
An early CHC melodrama produced by Lumiton in 1943. Based on the British play Sixteen by Aimée & Philip Stuart.A naive teenager faces a distressing reality when her widowed mother finds love anew 12 years after her first marriage ended.Read More »