Set against the backdrop of the 1967 Six-Day War, the movie adaptation of Naguib Mahfouz’s novel follows the escapist, drug-fuelled riverboat meetings of a group of frustrated Egyptians from various walks of life.Read More »
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Hussein Kamal – Thartharah fawq al-Nil AKA Adrift on the Nile (1971)
Drama1971-1980ArthouseEgyptHussein Kamal -
Mihalis Kakogiannis – Alexis Zorbas AKA Zorba the Greek [+Commentary] (1964)
1961-1970ClassicsDramaGreeceMihalis KakogiannisIf ever there was a role that Anthony Quinn was born to play, it was the lusty, life-affirming title character in Zorba the Greek. The scene is the isle of Crete, where English writer Alan Bates arrives in the hopes of realigning his own values and outlook on life. He is “adopted” by the flamboyant Zorba, who determines to educate Bates in the ways of the world-or, to be more precise, Zorba’s world. Along the way, Bates is introduced to widow Irene Papas, the unrequited love object of everyone on the island, who comes to a tragic end when she is accused of adultery.Read More »
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David Leaf & John Scheinfeld – The Unknown Marx Brothers (1993)
1991-2000David LeafDocumentaryJohn ScheinfeldTVUSALeslie Nielsen hosts this retrospective of the Marx Brothers, from their early career on stage to their post-film career in television. Their children and co-workers are interviewed, and numerous clips and rare footage being shown.Read More »
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Jean Delannoy – Notre-Dame de Paris AKA The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956)
Drama1951-1960ClassicsFranceJean DelannoyParis, 1482. Today is the festival of the fools, taking place like each year in the square outside Cathedral Notre Dame. Among jugglers and other entertainers, Esmeralda, a sensuous gypsy, performs a bewitching dance in front of delighted spectators. From up in a tower of the cathedral, Frollo, an alchemist, gazes at her lustfully. Later in the night, Frollo orders Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer and his faithful servant, to kidnap Esmeralda. But when the ugly freak comes close to her is touched by the young woman’s beauty…Read More »
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Andrzej Wajda – Przekladaniec AKA Layer Cake (1968)
1961-1970Andrzej WajdaPolandSci-FiTVBased on the story by Stanislaw Lem, Layer Cake is about a racing car driver who undergoes so many transplants that it can no longer be determined which people have contributed to his make-up.Read More »
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Jacques Berr – Gai dimanche! AKA Fun Sunday! (1935)
1931-1940ComedyFranceJacques BerrShort FilmGai Dimanche is a 1935 three reel film written by and starring Jacques Tati and his friend Rhum. The pair star as down-and-outs (very much their situation in reality at the time) who try to generate funds by providing an impromptu leisure tour in a rickety bus they wangle use of for free. Released in 1935 and rarely seen today, the film offers brief glimpses and hints towards methods Tati would begin to perfect on the big screen a decade later.Read More »
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Shaken Ajmanov – Konets Atamana AKA Az atamán halála (1971)
1971-1980DramaShaken AjmanovUSSRfeaturing Andrey Konchalovskiy on the script
Quote:
[…]Andrei Konchalovsky had, together with Eduard Tropinin, written the script for The End of the Ataman, directed by the renowned Kazakh film-maker Shaken Ajmanov. The film dealt with the special task of the Red officer Chadiarov (played by Asanali Ashimov), who in 1921 has to kill the ataman Dutov,a collaborator with the Whites.Chadiarov discloses during this operation the spy in the Red headquarters in his Kazakh home town. In order to fulfill this task, Chadiarov, who is a Chinese prince, has to get himself arrested as a spy by the Soviet commander; then he escapes, crosses the border and sides with the ataman, who resides in China. Chadiarov fulfills the secret mission successfully, while its full scale and significance transpire only at the end of the film. In its use of cavalry chases, escapes and hide-outs in the steppe, this film is fully within the genre of the ‘Eastern’.Read More » -
Rino Di Silvestro – Hanna D. – La ragazza del Vondel Park AKA Hanna D.: The Girl from Vondel Park (1984)
1981-1990DramaExploitationItalyRino Di SilvestroHanna is a young woman with a dysfunctional family background who becomes addictive to heroin and takes up with a guy who pimps her out. As her life begins to slide, she meets a nice young man who falls in love with her and she tries to get clean but her old life will hunt her down.Read More »
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Vladimir Léon – Le Brahmane du Komintern AKA The Comintern Brahmin (2006)
2001-2010DocumentaryFrancePoliticsVladimir LéonVladimir Leon on a quest for a forgotten man in the annals of history. Guessing the film-maker’s Russian connection, the Indian historian Hari Vasudevan showed Leon the iconic photograph shot during the second Communist International (Comintern) Congress in 1920. Amidst the tall Bolshevik leaders of the time such as Grigory Zinoveiv, Vladimir Lenin and Maxim Gorky, there was an Indian face in the picture. It was that of Manabendra Nath Roy, or M.N. Roy, one of the founders of the Communist Party of India in 1920. “Here was a man about whom the world hardly knew anything,” says Leon, who found in Roy’s life the perfect plot for a film. “Roy was a part of incredible moments in history. Imagine a person from a rural family in colonial India being witness to three of the most revolutionary periods of the 20th century.”Read More »