• Ralitza Petrova – Bezbog AKA Godless (2016)

    2011-2020BulgariaDramaRalitza Petrova

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    A nurse traffics the ID cards of demented patients on the black market of identity theft. Driven by easy cash, and an addiction to morphine, she struggles to keep tabs on her emotional void, and a growing fear of punishment.Read More »

  • Rainer Werner Fassbinder – Mutter Küsters’ Fahrt zum Himmel (1975)

    1971-1980DramaGermanyPoliticsRainer Werner Fassbinder

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    Like all of Fassbinder’s best films, Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven is many things at once. It is simultaneously a deeply compassionate portrait of a working-class woman and a scathing satire of her exploitation; emotionally rich but politically and intellectually dense, filled with arguments and counter-arguments galore; psychologically astute yet highly stylized and visually lush. It is a comedy, a drama, and much more. It is also an excellent example of how Fassbinder uses image and sound, often in subtle ways, to develop – and play with – his themes.Read More »

  • Philippe Garrel – L’amant d’un jour AKA Lover for a Day (2017)

    2011-2020DramaFrancePhilippe Garrel

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    A young woman returns home after the breakdown of a relationship to discover her father is dating a woman her age.Read More »

  • Yonggang Wu – Shen nu AKA The Goddess (1934)

    1931-1940ChinaClassicsDramaYonggang Wu

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    Ruan Lingyu, one of the most famous stars of early Chinese cinema, gives a devastating performance as an unnamed goddess an ironic euphemism for a prostitute in this profoundly moving but rarely seen classic of world cinema. A tragic tale of shame and maternal sacrifice, Ruan stars as a mother desperate to provide for her young son and forced to take brutal vengeance on her pimp. It is a profoundly moving drama, all the poignant by the fact that its star committed suicide at the age of 24, a year after the film’s release.Read More »

  • Berthold Viertel – The Passing of the Third Floor Back (1935)

    1951-1960Berthold ViertelDramaFantasyUSA

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    David Cairns wrote:
    I’ve now seen the film, and I thought it was excellent. Imperfect, yes, but fascinating and unique. The closest comparison I can come up with is Strange Cargo, Frank Borzage’s weird religious allegory which deals with a gang of convicts escaping from a tropical prison island, finding salvation along the way. But The Passing of the Third Floor Left brings its rogues’ gallery into contact with the numinous in a modern London hotel.

    What both films have in common is Jesus, encorpsified (to use Flann O’Brien’s word) as a convict in the Borzage and as a myseterious tenant in Berthold Viertel’s film. More to the point, embodied by the august personage of Conrad Veidt, whose presence makes Viertel’s expressionist touches seem wholly legitimate and rooted in the old world of Caligari.Read More »

  • King Vidor – Street Scene (1931)

    1931-1940ClassicsDramaKing VidorUSA

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Based on the Pulitzer prize winning Broadway play, Street Scene is a study in the daily lives of people who communicate in a street and reside in the surrounding apartment complexes. Mrs. Murrant is dealing with issues of infidelity, Rose, her daughter is conflicted with her advancement in life and leaving the neighborhood, Rose’s father, a hard-working man who is never around, Sam Kaplan as a caring and concerned neighbor; and the rest of the idlers and gossipers that make up the rest of the street and the focus of their daily existence.Read More »

  • John Carroll Lynch – Lucky (2017)

    2011-2020ComedyDramaJohn Carroll LynchUSA

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    LUCKY follows the spiritual journey of a 90-year-old atheist and the quirky characters that inhabit his off the map desert town. Having out lived and out smoked all of his contemporaries, the fiercely independent Lucky finds himself at the precipice of life, thrust into a journey of self exploration, leading towards that which is so often unattainable: enlightenment. Acclaimed character actor John Carroll Lynch’s directorial debut, “Lucky”, is at once a love letter to the life and career of Harry Dean Stanton as well as a meditation on mortality, loneliness, spirituality, and human connection. -luckythefilm.comRead More »

  • Alex van Warmerdam – De noorderlingen AKA The Northerners (1992)

    1991-2000Alex van WarmerdamComedyDramaNetherlands

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    During the summer of 1960, the idiosyncratic residents of a one-street Dutch suburb collide in intertwining stories of desire and frustration.Read More »

  • George Archainbaud – Thirteen Women (1932)

    1931-1940DramaGeorge ArchainbaudMysteryUSA

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Synopsis:
    Thirteen women who were schoolmates send to a swami for their horoscopes. Little do they realize that Ursula, a half-breed Asian, is using her hypnotic powers over the swami and them to lead them or their families to their deaths. It seems that she too went to their school, but was forced to leave by their bigotry, and is exacting revenge. Will she be stopped in time to save Laura’s son, Bobby? Read More »

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