Drama

  • Antonio Mercero – Planta 4ª aka The 4th Floor (2003)

    2001-2010Antonio MerceroComedyDramaSpain

    With Slaughterhouse 5 Kurt Vonnegut revealed that humour can be exploited in two ways: to make people roll over the floor laughing and to underscore the graveness of earnest problems. While Antonio Mercero’s Spanish dramatic comedy Planta 4ª (The 4th Floor) doesn’t tackle WWII but “only” possibly terminally ill children, its use of humour is similar. While it would be harsh to nickname the film Slaughterhouse 4 (the young patients of the cancer ward on the titular fourth floor all have at least one amputated limb), it shares with Vonnegut its exploitation of laughter in the face of the incomprehensible, or indeed the only sane way to confront the inexplicable madness of disease and death.Read More »

  • W.S. Van Dyke – San Francisco [Colourised] (1936)

    1931-1940DramaMusicalUSAW.S. Van Dyke

    San Francisco is a 1936 film directed by W.S. Van Dyke, written by Anita Loos, starring Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy and Jack Holt. It was nominated for six Oscars, of which it won one. The film tells the story of Mary Blake, who, out of poverty, starts singing at a local gambling hall. When she moves on, the owner of the gambling hall, Blackie, keeps following her. The confrontations between Mary and Blackie are suddenly put to a stop with the advent of the San Franscisco earthquake.Read More »

  • Andrzej Wajda – Popiól i diament aka Ashes and Diamonds [+Extras] (1958)

    1951-1960Andrzej WajdaDramaPolandWar

    Quote:
    On the last day of World War Two in a small town somewhere in Poland, Polish exiles of war and the occupying Soviet forces confront the beginning of a new day and a new Poland. In this incendiary environment we find Home Army soldier Maciek Chelmicki, who has been ordered to assassinate an incoming commissar. But a mistake stalls his progress and leads him to Krystyna, a beautiful barmaid who gives him a glimpse of what his life could be. Gorgeously photographed and brilliantly performed, Ashes and Diamonds masterfully interweaves the fate of a nation with that of one man, resulting in one of the most important Polish films of all time.Read More »

  • William A. Seiter – Chance at Heaven (1933)

    1931-1940ClassicsDramaUSAWilliam A. Seiter

    Plot: Blackstone ‘Blacky’ Gorman, rising service station owner, is blessed with the devotion of supremely sweet and noble Marje Harris, but he meets coquettish and silly debutante Glory Franklyn and, between Glory’s charm and his social ambition, is snared into an upscale marriage that proves to have its downside. Written by Rod Crawford
    Read More »

  • Khru Marut – Santi-Vina (1954)

    1951-1960DramaKhru MarutRomanceThailand

    Santi, a poor 10- year-old blind boy who lives with his father. Vina takes a pity on him and tries to protect him from the bullying of Krai. Santi’s father send him to stay with Luang Ta, a respectable monk, hopefully that he would learn the Buddhist lessons and by doing good deed, he could regain his eyesight.

    When they have grown up, Santi and Vina become lover. Krai feels jealous because he also love Vina. Krai asks his parent to make a marriage proposal to Vina. Vina decides to run away with Santi. However, they are finally caught and Santi is severe beaten.Read More »

  • Jerzy Skolimowski – Essential Killing (2010)

    2001-2010DramaJerzy SkolimowskiPoland

    allmovie wrote:
    A pair of American security operatives (Zach Cohen and Iftach Ofir) are on patrol in Afghanistan when they stumble upon a Taliban fighter (Vincent Gallo), who kills them despite his terror and nervousness. While trying to escape, the Afghan is captured by American forces; he’s tortured during interrogation, but doesn’t tell the Americans anything, in part because an explosion has made it difficult for him to hear what they’re saying. The Americans ship the Afghan off to a detention facility with a number of other Taliban soldiers, but upon arrival he’s able to escape. However, the Afghan finds himself in a forbidding snowbound climate, and with no provisions or warm clothing he struggles to simply survive as he avoids his pursuers and struggles to find some way to get home.Read More »

  • Hadi Mohaghegh – Mamiroo AKA Immortal (2015)

    2011-2020DramaHadi MohagheghIran

    Ayaz, a lonely seventy-year-old man, detests his life. He’s constantly in search of ways of ending his life. Some years back, on the way back from a family wedding party, the minibus which he was driving, falls in the bottom of a valley and people on board -all his own family- are killed. Now, Ayaz lives with his teenager grandchild, Ebrahim – who is the last remainder of his family- and his wife’s voice on a cassette tape. He loathes being alive.Read More »

  • Stéphane Lafleur – En terrains connus AKA Familiar Ground (2011)

    2011-2020ArthouseCanadaDramaStéphane Lafleur

    Benoit and Maryse: a brother and sister with seemingly normal lives. Everything is changed by a series of coincidences… and the arrival of a man claiming to come from the future.Read More »

  • Ermanno Olmi – Il posto [+Extras] (1961)

    Drama1961-1970Ermanno OlmiItalyRomance

    “Criterion” wrote:
    When young Domenico (Sandro Panseri) ventures from the small village of Meda to Milan in search of employment, he finds himself on the bottom rung of the bureaucratic ladder in a huge, faceless company. The prospects are daunting, but Domenico finds reason for hope in the fetching Antonietta (Loredana Detto). A tender coming-of-age story and a sharp observation of dehumanizing corporate enterprise, Ermanno Olmi’s Il posto is a touching and hilarious tale of one young man’s stumbling entrance into the perils of modern adulthood.Read More »

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