• Robert Siodmak – The Suspect (1944)

    1941-1950Film NoirRobert SiodmakThrillerUSA

    Synopsis:
    In 1902 London, unhappily married Philip Marshall meets young Mary Gray, who is unemployed and depressed. Their deepening friendship, though physically innocent, is discovered by Philip’s wife who threatens him with exposure and scandal, driving him to kill her. Thereafter, fortune seems to smile on Philip Marshall; but does fate have a surprise in store?Read More »

  • Nicholas Ray – The True Story of Jesse James (1957)

    1951-1960ClassicsNicholas RayUSAWestern

    Synopsis:
    The last eighteen years in the life of Jesse James, showing his home life in Missouri, his experiences with Quantrill’s raiders, his career of banditry with his brother Frank and the Younger brothers, and his attempt to lead a peaceful life after the disastrous attempt to rob the bank at Northfield, Minn.Read More »

  • Ye Lou – Suzhou he aka Suzhou River (2000)

    1991-2000AsianChinaDramaYe Lou

    Plot Summary:
    The river Suzhou that flows through Shanghai is a reservoir of filth, chaos and poverty, but also a meeting place for memories and secrets. Lou Ye, who spent his youth on the banks of the Suzhou, shows the river as a Chinese Styx, in which forgotten stories and mysteries come together. Mardar, a motorcycle courier in his mid-twenties, rides all over the city with all kinds of packages for his clients. He knows every inch and is successful thanks to the fact that he never asks questions. One day he is asked by a shady alcohol smuggler to deliver his sixteen-year-old daughter, Moudan, to her aunt. Read More »

  • Jessica Hausner – Lovely Rita (2001)

    2001-2010ArthouseAustriaDramaJessica Hausner
    kinopoisk.ru

    For her directorial debut, Jessica Hausner has created an honest and revealing portrait of Rita, a wilful and unruly teenager on the verge of womanhood. Her sexual awakening leads her to intimacy with a schoolboy too young and a bus driver, too old. Her efforts to break out of her solitude and claustrophobic environment isolate her even more, until one day she crosses the line…Read More »

  • Herman Yau – Deng hou dong jian hua fa la AKA From the Queen to the Chief Executive (2001)

    2001-2010CrimeDramaHerman YauHong Kong

    Quote:
    Beginning in 1997 with television footage of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region being sworn into office, we next see an appeal being made to the Chief Executive. The story then swiftly backtracks to 1985. We follow three people whose lives will intersect 12 years later: Yue-ling, Mr. Leung, and Ming. Yue-ling is a teenage girl suffering from loneliness and abuse; Mr. Leung is helping factory workers protest unfair working conditions, and Ming is a teenage boy caught up in a horrific crime. Fast-forward to early 1997, and we discover that Yue-ling has grown into a young woman fascinated by the prose of a young man who turns out to be a prisoner. That prisoner is Ming. Read More »

  • Christophe Honoré – Plaire, aimer et courir vite AKA Sorry Angel (2018)

    2011-2020Christophe HonoréDramaFranceQueer Cinema(s)

    Quote:

    As any cinephile can tell you, there are some directors we love despite the fact they have never made a great film, but rather for the uniqueness of their voice and the hope that one day they will deliver on their potential. In the case of Christophe Honoré, his delightful “Love Songs” landed him on that list, even if no one would argue that the effervescent 2007 ménage-à-trois musical was a masterpiece, while every subsequent film has slightly chipped away at our affection.Read More »

  • Edward Buzzell – At the Circus (1939)

    1931-1940ClassicsComedyEdward BuzzellUSA

    Synopsis:
    Jeff Wilson, the owner of a small circus, owes his partner Carter $10000. Before Jeff can pay, Carter lets his accomplices steal the money, so he can take over the circus. Antonio Pirelli and Punchy, who work at the circus, together with lawyer Loophole try to find the thief and get the money backRead More »

  • Francesco Stefani – Das singende, klingende Bäumchen AKA The Singing, Ringing Tree (1957)

    1951-1960ClassicsFantasyFrancesco StefaniGermany

    Review by EastGermanCinema.com:
    Many Britons of a certain age share a collective memory so firmly etched in their psyches that the very mention of it brings back childhood nightmares. In 1964, BBC television serialized a film about a haughty princess, a prince that turns into a bear, a giant goldfish, and a really, really evil dwarf. So powerful are the memories of this film, that thirty-eight years later BBC Radio 4 did a program on the film’s effect on an entire generation. The film was called The Singing Ringing Tree, and none of those children could have known that they were watching a film that was the product of East Germany.Read More »

  • Yakov Bliokh – Shanhkayskiy dokument AKA The Shanghai Document (1928)

    1921-1930DocumentarySilentUSSRYakov Bliokh

    The Shanghai Document is an early documentary film. This silent film was directed by Yakov Bliokh (1895-1957) and was released in the USSR in 1928. The film portrays Shanghai, China in the early 1920s. It shows the contrasts between the world of Western expatriates (including Britons, Americans, New Zealanders, Australians, and Danes) who live in the luxurious Shanghai International Settlement, and that of the Shanghainese inhabitants, who spend their days laboring. The events which inspired the film revolve around the Chinese nationalist revolution (1925-27), including the May Thirtieth Movement, and the First United Front of the Chinese Communist Party, and the Nationalists (the Kuomintang), and its collapse in February 1927 when Chiang Kai-shek ordered a purge of the Communists in Shanghai and in other cities held by the revolutionaries.Read More »

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