• Aminatou Echard – Djamilia (2018) (HD)

    2011-2020Aminatou EchardArthouseDocumentaryFrance

    Synopsis
    The film, set in Kirghizstan, is a search for Jamila, the title character in the novella by Chingiz Aitmatov about a young woman who rebels against the rules of Kirghiz society. We will meet women who, in talking about Jamila, reveal their own private lives and desires, the rules they chafe under and their ideas of freedom.Read More »

  • Jonathan Demme – Cousin Bobby (1992)

    1991-2000DocumentaryJonathan DemmeUSA

    A fascinating and highly moving documentary by Jonathan Demme about his cousin Robert Castle, whom he hadn’t seen for 30 years when he started making this film. A 60-year-old white Episcopal minister working in Harlem with a multiracial and multidenominational congregation, Castle is a passionately committed community organizer who started out in Jersey City and forged strong links with the Black Panthers and other radical organizations of the 60s and 70s.Read More »

  • Ray Milland – A Man Alone (1955)

    USA1951-1960Ray MillandRomanceWestern

    Synopsis:
    A gunfighter, stranded in the desert, comes across the aftermath of a stage robbery, in which all the passengers were killed. He takes one of the horses to ride to town to report the massacre, but finds himself accused of it. He also finds himself accused of the murder of the local banker, and winds up hiding in the basement of a house where the local sheriff, who is very sick, lives with his daughter.Read More »

  • Nino Oxilia – Rapsodia satanica aka Satan’s Rhapsody (1915)

    1911-1920ItalyNino OxiliaSilentThe Birth of Cinema

    Quote:
    Rapsodia Satanica (1915) was the last film directed by Nino Oxilia and is undoubtedly one of the finest achievements of the early Italian cinema. In it, Oxilia spins a variation on the Faust myth, embodied here by the diva Lyda Borelli. Typical of extravagant D’Annunzian aestheticism at its height, Rapsodia Satanica was one of the summits of what was later called the “tail coat film.” Diametrically opposed to the “cinema of reality” practiced by Serena, Martoglio and others, “tail coat films” set their melodramatic stories in the salons and villas of the upper middle class and the aristocracy, deploying narrative structures contrived to showcase their actors and especially its actresses. This had the effect of accentuating their physical presence and turning them into stars – probably the first stars in movie history. The success of the “dive” contributed to the development of motion picture grammar in its special use of the close-up.
    Written by Anthony KobalRead More »

  • Ludi Boeken – Britney, Baby, One More Time (2002)

    2001-2010ComedyCultLudi BoekenUSA

    “Prize-winning Milwaukee independent filmmaker Dude Schmitz (Mark Borchardt, American Movie) desperately need money! After a failed interview with the real Britney Spears, Dude hatches a scheme to cash in using Britney look-alike Angel Benton (Robert Stephens). Angel is lured with the promise of meeting his idol and poses as the real thing on a trek across the country for a series of road-trip style interviews.”Read More »

  • Sergei Yutkevich – Otello (1955)

    1951-1960DramaSergei YutkevichUSSRWilliam Shakespeare

    The Moorish general Othello is manipulated into thinking that his new wife Desdemona has been carrying on an affair with his lieutenant Michael Cassio when in reality it is all part of the scheme of a bitter ensign named Iago.

    Review by The Little Songbird @IMDb:
    I have always loved the poetry and intensity of Shakespeare’s dialogue in Othello, and I have also found the play one of his more dramatically concise ones. This Othello from Russia is excellent, and very interesting as well. It is handsome to look at, the photography flows nicely and the locations are splendid. The symbolic palette to emphasise Othello’s contrasts between physical and temperamental is also interestingly used. The film is smartly written and intelligently adapted and it is directed beautifully by Sergei Yutkevitch.Read More »

  • Julien Duvivier – Maria Chapdelaine (1934)

    1931-1940DramaFranceJulien Duvivier

    MG REVIEW
    “Maria Chapdelaine” beautifully supports and sustains French filmmaker Julien Duvivier’s gift for “poetic realism.” At base, this is a simple 19th century romantic triangle. Canadian lass Madeleine Renaud is adored with equal fervor by aristocratic Jean-Pierre Aumont and by crude lumberjack Jean Gabin. Her indecision paves the way for tragedy. Yes, Maria Chapdelaine is a bit old-fashioned in technique and story material, but that fact never stopped Duvivier from turning out a film of genuine merit. Though the 1984 remake, directed by Gilles Carle, is superior to Duvivier’s, the earlier film shouldn’t be ignored”Read More »

  • Jacques Tourneur – Way of a Gaucho (1952)

    1951-1960AdventureJacques TourneurUSAWestern

    Synopsis:
    Set in the Argentina of about 1875 in which a customary punishment for killing was a sentence to army service. A young gaucho deserts his army sentence and becomes a bandit leader and also gets his sweetheart pregnant. Seeing the futility of his ways, he takes her to a church to be married prior to surrendering himself back to the army.Read More »

  • Mervyn LeRoy – Gentleman’s Fate (1931)

    1931-1940CrimeDramaMervyn LeRoyUSA

    Synopsis:
    Pre-code melodrama starring John Gilbert as Jack Thomas, rich, penthouse-dwelling playboy with a brand new fiancee named Marjorie (Leila Hyams) and his own English “gentleman’s gentleman” (just given orders to burn his gallery of photos and phone numbers). Called to meet his guardian “Papa Mario”, Jack is informed he has a brother named Frank and a father who has been shot and is calling for his long-lost son from his deathbed. This is all news to Jack who didn’t know about this family at all (he thought he was an orphan). Read More »

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