• Harmony Korine – Spring Breakers [+commentary] (2012)

    Drama2011-2020ArthouseHarmony KorineUSA

    Quote:
    Spring Breakers, in many regards is not unlike The Great Gatsby. Both deal the downfall of characters due to the disillusioned perception of the American Dream. In Spring Breakers, the characters believe they will find their true selves on spring break. Like many kids in today’s world, the ideal life is a life of carefree fun and parties without any of the repercussions that occur as a result.Read More »

  • André De Toth – Play Dirty (1969)

    1961-1970ActionAndré De TothUnited KingdomWar

    Quote:
    The Dirty Dozen meets the Stiff Upper Lip. A British Petroleum executive (Sir Michael Caine) is assigned to work with the British Army in North Africa handling port duties for incoming fuels. This gives him the official rank of Captain in the British Army. The Colonel (Nigel Green), in charge of the Dirty Dozen, is told he must have a British officer accompany his men on a dangerous mission four hundred miles behind German lines and is saddled with the Petroleum executive, who tries to argue his way out by saying that his contract states he is to only work port duties. Read More »

  • John Sturges – The Magnificent Seven [+commentary] (1960)

    1951-1960ActionJohn SturgesUSAWestern

    Synopsis:
    A remake of “The Seven Samurai.” Seven men are picked to defend a Mexican village from banditos that come every now and then to take whatever the town has grown since their last visit. When they are hired, they go to the town and teach the villagers how to defend themselves. When the leader of the bandits comes, they fight him and his men off. The second time he comes, the villagers give the seven to them, due to a heated argument. The leader of the bandits takes their guns and throws them out of town. He gives them horses and gives their guns back to them when they are far out of town. The seven decide that they aren’t going to run, and head back to the village for a final showdown.Read More »

  • Éric Rohmer – La carrière de Suzanne AKA Suzanne’s Career (1963)

    1961-1970DramaEric RohmerFranceRomance

    Synopsis:
    In the second of Rohmer’s moral tales, he examines the relationship between two friends and a girl who at first appears easily exploited. It is a complex tale of feelings and misconceptions, acted out within the head of the main character, as part of Rohmer’s attempt to more easily simulate the mindscape quality of literature within a film.Read More »

  • Jean-Luc Godard – La chinoise [+commentary] (1967)

    1961-1970AdventureFranceJean-Luc GodardPolitics

    Synopsis:
    Born in a decade of political turmoil, La Chinoise has become a cinematic marker for the significant historical events that surrounded its creation. Five Parisian students, their political awareness aroused by Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book and the Chinese Cultural Revolution, envision an overthrow of Western governmental systems – which they aim to bring about through acts of terrorism. One of Godard’s most brilliant films of the 60s, its success lies in the rejection of traditional narrative techniques: it is a dialectical charade which is as disturbing as it is comical. Though criticised in its day as a political manipulation, La Chinoise has proven alarmingly prophetic and its impact on audiences during the late 60s is echoed amongst viewers today.Read More »

  • Dan Pita – Rochia alba de dantela AKA The White Lace Dress (1989)

    1981-1990Dan PitaPhilosophyRomanceRomania

    A doctor, a sculptor and a football player trying to win the love of desenatoare models, suffering from incurable disease. But this does not preclude it from working on hand in a clothes factory. Of the three candidate, the young woman prefers the more modest, based with the family.Read More »

  • Jean Rouch – Moi, un noir AKA I, a Negro (1958)

    Drama1951-1960DocumentaryFranceJean Rouch

    A group of young Nigerians leave the savannah to work in the Ivory Coast. They end up in Treichville, a poor quarter of Abidjan, lost and rootless in modern civilisation. The hero, who narrates his own story, calls himself Edward J. Robinson in homage to the American actor. Like him, his friends have adopted pseudonyms intended to create, symbolically, an ideal personality.Read More »

  • Elyer Ishmukhamedov – Vlyublyonnye aka The Lovers (1970)

    1961-1970Elyer IshmukhamedovRomanceUSSR

    Quote:
    A romance film directed by Elyer Ishmukhamedov, starring Anastasiya Vertinskaya, Rustam Sagdullayev, Gyuzal Apanayeva, and Karen Khachaturyan.Read More »

  • Seth Holt – Taste of Fear AKA Scream of Fear (1961)

    1961-1970Hammer FilmsHorrorMysterySeth HoltUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    Penny Applebee’s parents were divorced when she was quite young and she grew up with her mother. After her mother’s death, the wheelchair-bound Penny has accepted her father’s invitation to live with him. She arrives only to learn that her father is away though her stepmother – who she is meeting for the first time – proves to be quite welcoming. On her first night however, she sees a light in the summerhouse and upon investigation, sees her father sitting there, apparently dead. Others can find nothing there and tell her she must have imagined it. She later sees his body in library and then again in the pool. She comes to believe that her stepmother and her father’s friend, Doctor Pierre Gerard, are plotting to drive her insane. She gets a sympathetic ear from Bob, the chauffeur, who feels there has to be some rational explanation for what has been happening.Read More »

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