Mystery

  • Kore-eda Hirokazu – Kaibutsu AKA Monster (2023)

    2021-2030DramaJapanKore-eda HirokazuMystery
    Kaibutsu (2023)
    Kaibutsu (2023)

    PLOT: When her young son Minato starts to behave strangely, his mother feels that there is something wrong. Discovering that a teacher is responsible, she storms into the school demanding to know what’s going on. But as the story unfolds through the eyes of mother, teacher and child, the truth gradually emerges.Read More »

  • William Berke – Girl in the Case (1944)

    William Berke1941-1950ComedyMysteryUSA
    Girl in the Case (1944)
    Girl in the Case (1944)

    William Warner is not only a crack defense lawyer, but he has an even more useful skill–he’s an expert at picking open any kind of lock, which comes in handy in his line of work. This asset gets him in trouble, however, when he finds himself being unwittingly used by Nazi spies trying to get him to open a locked chest with a secret formula they’re after.Read More »

  • Franck Ribière – La femme la plus assassinée du monde AKA The Most Assassinated Woman in the World (2018)

    2011-2020DramaFranceFranck RibièreMystery
    La femme la plus assassinée du monde (2018)
    La femme la plus assassinée du monde (2018)

    Paula Maxa is the Parisian Grand Guignol Theatre’s leading lady, famous for being murdered on stage every day. But is there a link between the theatre and a series of gruesome real-life murders?Read More »

  • Jack Conway – Arsène Lupin (1932)

    Jack Conway1931-1940MysteryRomanceUSA
    Arsène Lupin (1932)
    Arsène Lupin (1932)

    Synopsis by Mark Deming
    John Barrymore plays a burglar and his brother Lionel Barrymore is the detective trying to catch him in this cleverly cast drama. An upscale thief who works under the name of Arsene Lupin is making the rounds of the homes of the wealthy and privileged, and Detective Guerchard (Lionel Barrymore) is determined to track him down. What he doesn’t know is that the suave and sophisticated Duke of Charmerace (John Barrymore) is actually the man behind the robberies. Will Guerchard find out the thief’s true identity before he can execute a daring theft from the Louvre Museum? Karen Morely co-stars as Sonia, the Duke’s love interest.Read More »

  • Walter Grauman – They Call It Murder (1971)

    Walter Grauman1971-1980CrimeMysteryUSA
    They Call It Murder (1971)
    They Call It Murder (1971)

    A small-town district attorney is saddled with several major investigations, including a gambler’s murder and a possible insurance scam.Read More »

  • Jafar Panahi, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, David Lowery, Dominga Sotomayor, Anthony Chen, Laura Poitras, Malik Vitthal – The Year of the Everlasting Storm (2021)

    Apichatpong Weerasethakul2021-2030Anthony ChenDavid LoweryDominga SotomayorDramaJafar PanahiLaura PoitrasMalik VitthalMysteryUSA
    The Year of the Everlasting Storm (2021)
    The Year of the Everlasting Storm (2021)

    Featuring seven stories from seven auteurs from around the world, the film chronicles this unprecedented moment in time, and is a true love letter to the power of cinema and its storytellers.

    Life by Jafar Panahi
    Night Colonies by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
    Dig Up My Darling by David Lowery
    Sin Titulo by Dominga Sotomayor
    The Break Away by Anthony Chen
    Terror Contagion by Laura Poitras
    Little Measures by Malik VitthalRead More »

  • Jacques Tourneur – Cat People (1942)

    Jacques Tourneur1941-1950HorrorMysteryUSA
    Cat People (1942)
    Cat People (1942)

    Quote:
    Serbian national Irena Dubrovna, a fashion sketch artist, has recently arrived in New York for work. The first person who she makes a personal connection with there is marine engineer Oliver Reed. The two fall in love and get married despite Irena’s reservations, not about Oliver but about herself. She has always felt different than other people, but has never been sure why. She lives close to the zoo, and unlike many of her neighbors is comforted by the sounds of the big cats emanating from the zoo. And although many see it purely as an old wives’ tale, she believes the story from her village of ancient residents being driven into witchcraft and evil doing, those who managed to survive by escaping into the mountains. After seeing her emotional pain, Oliver arranges for her to see a psychiatrist to understand why she believes what she does. In therapy, Dr. Judd, the psychiatrist, learns that she also believes, out of that villagers’ tale, that she has descended from this evil.Read More »

  • Claude Goretta – La Mort de Mario Ricci AKA The Death of Mario Ricci (1983)

    Claude Goretta1981-1990DramaMysterySwitzerland
    La Mort de Mario Ricci (1983)
    La Mort de Mario Ricci (1983)

    Quote:
    A country road glimpsed through a dirty windscreen… a mangled car wreck on a garage forecourt…Volonté blowing up an inflatable coat hanger and reminding his assistant that ‘it’s the details that count’. And so they clearly do in Goretta’s film, although quite what they add up to is never sharply defined. A crippled TV journalist (Volonté) arrives in a Swiss village to interview a specialist in world food shortages disillusioned by the non-application of his theories. But he soon becomes embroiled in a web of local intrigue resulting from the death of a young immigrant worker. Goretta counterpoints his two stories with deft assurance, letting them strike subdued ironies off one another; there are thematic strands galore here, clearly signposted but seemingly left deliberately smudged. Yet there is no shortage of delights either: fine atmospherics, immaculately fluid camerawork, and a towering performance from Volonté, sympathy and disdain flickering back and forth across those marvellously expressive features.Read More »

  • Banmei Takahashi – Doa AKA Door (1988)

    Banmei Takahashi1981-1990HorrorJapanMystery
    Doa (1988)
    Doa (1988)

    Tokyo housewife Yasuko Honda (Keiko Takahashi, the director’s wife) has a workaholic husband named Saturo (Shirô Shimomoto) who has been called away for out-of-town duty for a few days, so she is home alone with her elementary-school–age son Takuto (Takuto Yonezu). Already fed up with the frequent intrusions of door-to-door salesmen, because of whom she keeps her door locked and latched, she is highly frustrated when salesman Yamakawa (Daijirô Tsutsumi) slips his hand through her chained door to offer a brochure. She slams the door on his hand, instantly making an enemy of the man, who becomes bent on revenge.Read More »

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