Drama

  • Oles Yanchuk – Holod-33 AKA Famine-33 (1991)

    1991-2000ArthouseDramaOles YanchukUSSR

    Quote:
    The film depicts the 1932-33 Soviet-engineered famine in Ukraine, and is based on the novel The Yellow Prince by Vasyl Barka.

    Emanuel Levy writes in his blog (edited for spoilers): “Through the eyes of Katrannyk, his wife Kateryna, and their three children, pic shows the devastating effects of the mass famine caused by the state’s seizure of crops. It forcefully chronicles the brutality of Stalin’s army, their raids on fields and physical torture of farmers. Death is everywhere: the ground is covered with bodies; desolate farmers hang themselves on trees.Read More »

  • Henry Hathaway – Niagara (1953)

    1951-1960250 Quintessential Film NoirsDramaFilm NoirHenry HathawayMarilyn MonroeUSA

    Synopsis:
    Polly and Ray Cutler finally get to go on their long delayed honeymoon – they’ve been married three years – and arrive in Niagara Falls to find that the Loomises – Rose and George – are still in what is supposed to be in their cabin. Rose Loomis is a sultry blond who catches the eye of every man around. Husband George is older and keeps to himself a great deal. The Cutlers take a different cabin but when they go off to visit the falls, Polly sees Rose passionately kissing another man. Rose and her lover are out to kill George and run off together, but things don’t quite as planned and Polly soon finds herself kidnapped and in a boat racing to the edge of the Falls.Read More »

  • Henry Koster – No Highway AKA No Highway in the Sky (1951)

    1951-1960DramaHenry KosterThrillerUSA

    Synopsis:
    Theodore Honey is an aeronautical engineer being sent to Labrador from London to examine the wreckage of a new passenger plane designed by his company. His theory is that the planes are susceptible to metal fatigue after a specific amount of time in the air. The absent minded Honey boards the Reindeer class plane and only realizes that this plane is due to fail in the next few hours after the plane is airborne. He decides to warn the crew and creates an incident regardless of whether he is right or wrong.Read More »

  • Antoine Russbach – Ceux qui travaillent AKA Those Who Work (2018)

    2011-2020Antoine RussbachDramaFrance

    Frank, a man of action who worked his way up all by himself, dedicates his life to work. No matter the place or the circumstances, be it day or night, he’s on the phone, handling the cargo ships he charters for major companies. But when he has to deal with a crisis situation, Frank makes a brutal decision and gets fired. Profoundly shaken, betrayed by a system to which he gave his all, he has to progressively question himself to save the one connection that still matters to him: the bond he’s managed to maintain with his youngest daughter, Mathilde.Read More »

  • Mike Gibisser – World Of Facts (2018)

    2011-2020ArthouseDramaMike GibisserUSA

    Maureen is trailing her boyfriend on the highway when his car drifts off to the shoulder. Out of nowhere, she finds herself holding vigil amid a cluster of beeping machines, trapped in the particular purgatory of hospital walls. Loss and reunion are complexly intertwined in this richly textured, precisely designed, emotionally haunting film.Read More »

  • Samuel Fuller – House of Bamboo (1955)

    1951-1960CrimeDramaSamuel FullerUSA

    Synopsis:
    In Tokyo, a ruthless gang starts holding up U.S. ammunition trains, prepared to kill any of their own members wounded during a robbery. Down-at-heel ex-serviceman Eddie Spannier arrives from the States, apparently at the invitation of one such unfortunate. But Eddie isn’t quite what he seems as he manages to make contact with Sandy Dawson, who is obviously running some sort of big operation, and his plan is helped by acquaintance with Mariko, the secret Japanese wife of the dead American.Read More »

  • Hideaki Anno – Love & Pop (1998)

    1991-2000ArthouseDramaHideaki AnnoJapan

    Quote:
    It is the ’90s and the tradition of ‘compensated dating’ is well underway in Japan. Four high school girls are engaged in enjo kosai in order to satisfy their desire for different things. You can usually find them in Shibuya district of Tokyo where they will give you their time, and sometimes more, in exchange for money that buys pretty things.Read More »

  • Alberto Lattuada – Senza pietà AKA Without Pity (1948)

    Drama1941-1950Alberto LattuadaCrimeItaly

    Filmed in 1948 as Senza Pieta, this Alberto Lattuada-directed effort came to America the following year as Without Pity. The film’s sensitive subject matter caused problems in distribution and approval; Lattuada was never known to shirk from a sociopolitical statement, even when it meant loss of revenue overseas. The plot is based on an actual postwar dilemma: in Northern Italy, dozens of black American GIs chose to go AWOL rather than return to a racially divided United States. John Kitzmiller plays an occupation soldier named Jerry, who decides to remain in Italy when he falls in love with a blonde, Caucasian local girl named Angela (Carla Del Poggio). Read More »

  • Lone Scherfig – Italiensk For Begyndere aka Italian for Beginners (2000)

    1991-2000DenmarkDogma FilmsDramaLone ScherfigRomance

    In a city suburb, a young minister arrives to take up duties at a local church. He is persuaded by his assistant to join an Italian night school class, and he soon becomes the centre of a group of people to whom fate has dealt quite serious blows.Read More »

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