Drama

  • Aleksey Fedorchenko – Ovsyanki aka Silent Souls (2010)

    2001-2010Aleksey FedorchenkoDramaRussia

    Quote:
    Two buntings—small, sparrow-like birds—sit in a cage on the back of a bike in the opening moments of Aleksai Fedorchenko’s Silent Souls. The man peddling the bike (and narrating the film from beyond the grave) is Aist (Igor Sergeyev), a factory worker and photographer who descends from the Finno-Ugric tribe known as the Meryans. After work one day, Aist agrees to help his boss and friend, Miron (Yuri Tsurilo), perform the last Meryan rites for Miron’s recently departed wife. The two buntings are brought along, flittering and chirping in their cage, on the duo’s trip, while Miron reminisces about the erotic moments with his wife and Aist drifts on to think about rituals he had once indulged in with his father.Read More »

  • Raoul Peck – Moloch Tropical (2009)

    2001-2010Caribbean CinemaDramaHaitiPoliticsRaoul Peck

    In a fortress perched on the top of a mountain, a “democratically elected” President and his closest collaborators are getting ready for a state celebration. Foreign chiefs of state and dignitaries of all sorts are expected. But in the morning of the event, he wakes up to find the country inflamed the streets in turmoil. As the day goes on, rebellion worsens. Meanwhile, expected guests are withdrawing from the party one after another… Despite the situation, the President does not want to face reality and refuses to resign. Overwhelmed, he plunges into a deep mental confusion as the events follow their course.Read More »

  • Paolo Sorrentino – Il divo – La spettacolare vita di Giulio Andreotti AKA Il Divo (2008)

    2001-2010DramaItalyPaolo SorrentinoPolitics

    Quote:
    The story of Italian politician Giulio Andreotti, who has served as Prime Minister of Italy seven times since the restoration of democracy in 1946.

    Roger Ebert wrote:
    They would seem to be opposites, but on the basis of two recent films, the longtime Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti and the longtime fashion emperor Valentino were surprisingly similar. Both are seen as intensely private, rarely happy, single-minded in pursuit of their ambitions, cool in their personal relationships, and ruling as if by divine right. A difference is that Valentino was never accused of criminal activities.Read More »

  • Luigi Zampa – Campane a martello AKA Alarm Bells (1949)

    1941-1950ClassicsDramaItalyLuigi Zampa

    Agostina is a maid turned prostitute during World War II. She sends all the money she makes to the local priest in her home village for safekeeping. After the war is over, Agostina and her friend plan to open a clothing store so they return to her home island to collect the money from the priest. But after arriving there, Agostina learns in shock that the priest has been dead for more than a year and that his eccentric successor mistook the received money for donations and spent all of it on building a new orphanage for war orphans. To make matters worse, other islanders think that Agostina is now a millionaire and beg her to help them financially.Read More »

  • Vladimír Cech – Divá Bára AKA Wild Barbara (1949)

    1941-1950ClassicsCzech RepublicDramaVladimír Cech

    Bára, the daughter of a communal herdsman, is pursued by all the young men from the village. The parents of the village boys are not pleased with this at all, because they believe the superstitious old women who claim that Bára is a daughter of a noonday-witch. The beautiful girl has one friend, Eliška, foster-daughter of the parish priest. The priest also likes Bára and always takes her side. The manorial administrator Sláma is trying to win Eliška, but Eliška loves a student from Prague. Bára decides to frighten Sláma away from his courtship. She disguises herself as a ghost, scares Sláma to death near the graveyard and makes him promise to leave Eliška in peace. But Sláma’s coachman alarms the entire village and they recognize Bára in the ghost.Read More »

  • Lav Diaz – Ang panahon ng halimaw AKA Season of the Devil (2018)

    2011-2020ArthouseDramaLav DiazPhilippines

    Synopsis
    Philippines, late 1970s. A military-controlled militia is oppressing a remote village, spreading terror both physical and psychological. The fearless young doctor Lorena who opened a clinic for the poor disappears without a trace. Her husband, activist poet Hugo Haniway, attempts to find her.Read More »

  • Mikio Naruse – Uwasa no musume aka The Girl in the Rumor (1935)

    1931-1940DramaJapanMikio Naruse

    Quote:
    A story of two sisters, the older being more traditional, the younger a “moga” (“modern girl”). Their widowed father runs the family sake shop — but is running into financial trouble (causing him to make some bad decisions). Meanwhile, his long-time mistress’s little business is also on the rocks. Amidst this, the older sister is introduced to a well-off suitor (a university boy who is much more intrigued by the less traditional “little sister”). Add a dotty grandfather, an officious uncle and busy body neighbors.Read More »

  • Sana Na N’Hada – Xime (1994)

    1991-2000African CinemaArthouseDramaGuinea -BissauSana Na N'Hada

    The film tells the tale of Iala, whose authority over his two sons, Raul and Bedan, is shaken. Raul has left to study in a seminary in the big city, where unknown to anyone, he has joined the liberation movement. Meanwhile, younger son, Bedan is rebelling against every possible tradition, even eyeing his father’s young bride-to-be.Read More »

  • Nadine Labaki – Et maintenant on va où? AKA Where Do We Go Now? (2011)

    Drama2011-2020ComedyLebanonNadine Labaki

    In an isolated Lebanese village, the mosque and the church stand side by side–but religious tension threatens to boil over, particularly as a series of pranks escalates into ever-increasing hostility. The women of the village, both Christian and Muslim, concoct improbable schemes to defuse the tension, including hiring a troupe of Ukrainian belly dancers. Where Do We Go Now? veers back and forth between wrenching drama and cheerful comedy but somehow maintains a balance. Director-actress Nadine Labaki leads her mostly nonprofessional cast with heart and fervor.Read More »

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