• Sergei Solovyov – Assa (1988)

    Drama1981-1990ArthouseSergei SolovyovUSSR

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    The film is set in Crimea during the winter in the mid eighties. A young musician falls for mobster’s young mistress. The parallel story line involves an 18th century assassination plot.

    “The face of Russia as it was in the 80’s. The image of the young generation through the face of gloomy regime. Love story of 2 young is stuck between the old norms of Soviet union and the new rising power of organized mafia, two ingredients which will affect the collapse of the 70 years socialist power. The young generation demand changes, and immediately but it’s being suffocated by both sides of the old order, and the movie ends with legendary Viktor Tsoi’s song “Changes” which became an anthem after Tsoi’s tragic death in a car accident.”Read More »

  • Manoel de Oliveira – O Velho do Restelo AKA The Old Man of Belem (2014)

    2011-2020ArthouseCultManoel de OliveiraPortugal

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    Glory is often met with opposition, and whether victorious or defeated, we always hold fate responsible. Don Quixote de La Mancha came along sixteen years after the defeat of the Invincible Fleet and has erred the Earth ever since. Today he will join a meeting between old friends in the garden of eternity, in which the glories of the past and the uncertainty of the future will be thoroughly discussed.Read More »

  • Alante Kavaite – Sangailes vasara AKA The Summer of Sangaile (2015)

    2011-2020Alante KavaiteArthouseDramaLithuania

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    17 years old Sangaile is fascinated by stunt planes. She meets a girl her age at a summer aeronautical show. Sangaile allows Auste to discover her most intimate secret and in the process finds the only person that truly encourages her to fly.

    One of the 10 best movies of 2015, according to Cahiers du Cinema.Read More »

  • Guy Maddin – Keyhole (2011)

    2011-2020ArthouseCanadaGuy Maddin

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    Visionary Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin takes viewers on a surreal journey into the psyche of a desperate gangster backed into a dangerous corner in this surreal, psycho-sexual take on Homer’s Odyssey. Late one night, a group of gangsters shoot their way into the living room of a large house and wait anxiously for the arrival of their leader, Ulysses Pick (Jason Patric). Ulysses has a knack for getting out of tense situations, and with the cops all around his cohorts need him now more than ever. But when Ulysses arrives with a teenage girl and a bound young man in tow, some of his henchmen start to think it’s time for a new boss to take over. An already tense situation turns downright surreal as Ulysses begins venturing through the labyrinthine house in search of his wife Hyacinth (Isabella Rossellini), who remains locked in her room somewhere on an upper floor. Meanwhile, Hyacinth’s father offers cryptic commentary on the unfolding events, and the harder Ulysses searches for his wife the more secrets he begins to uncover about his eccentric family.Read More »

  • Derek Jarman – The Last of England (1987)

    1981-1990ArthouseDerek JarmanQueer Cinema(s)United Kingdom

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    Jarman is a tough filmmaker to recommend, but he occasionally rewards. As we’ve seen from practically the first film on, he sets out to make pictures entirely for himself; with each one intellectually structured, creatively shot, but almost always a reflection of his personal thoughts and feelings, his sexuality, and England in decline. Here we have a film that combines all of these preoccupations, told in a combination of wordless images and narrated prose, with little or no clarification given as to what is actually going on. Jarman has said that he wanted the film to feel like a visual poem, but really, this is far from poetic. Instead, this seems more like something that Godard would have directed in the 1970’s; angry, venomous and always seething with contempt. The images here are violent to the extreme and the approach that Jarman brings to the editing room is visceral and heavily kinetic. Here we see the use of various colour filters, tints and distortions used alongside a multitude of film stocks and spliced-in video footage. The images of middle-class households rounded up, driven into the depths of a post-apocalyptic wasteland and detained at gunpoint must have had a shocking relevance at the time, when terrorist attacks and IRA bombings were as common as they were incomprehensible.Read More »

  • Louis Feuillade – Lagourdette, gentleman cambrioleur (1916)

    1911-1920ComedyFranceLouis FeuilladeSilent

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    With the help of Lévesque and Musidora, Feuillade creates a light-hearted meta-fiction, self-parodying his own work.

    Perdue dans la lecture des « Vampires », le séduisante Mlle Musi rêve de forfaitures et de crimes. Mais la visite qu’elle reçoit dans son salon est celle du triste Honoré Lagourdette qu’elle compte congédier rapidement. Celui-ci est en effet laid et ennuyeux. Mais pour tenter de la séduire, Lagourdette prétend être un habile voleur. Elle le met au défi de le prouver. Il s’assure de la complicité de ses domestiques, qu’il envoie à l’Opéra, et les détrousse devant les yeux médusés de Musi. Pris en flagrant délit par le commissaire, il avoue sa manipulation.Read More »

  • Claire Denis – Beau travail AKA Good Work (1999)

    1991-2000Claire DenisDramaFranceQueer Cinema(s)

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    This film focuses on an ex-Foreign Legion officer as he recalls his once glorious life, leading troops in Africa.Read More »

  • William Dieterle – The Devil And Daniel Webster aka All That Money Can Buy [+Extras] (1941)

    1941-1950ClassicsFantasyUSAWilliam Dieterle

    Quote:
    Jabez Stone is a hard-working farmer trying to make an honest living, but a streak of bad luck tempts him to do the unthinkable: bargain with the Devil himself. For seven years of good fortune, Stone promises “Mr. Scratch” his soul when the contract ends. When the troubled farmer begins to realize the error of his choice, he enlists the aid of the one man who might save him: the legendary orator and politician Daniel Webster. Directed with stylish flair by William Dieterle, The Devil and Daniel Webster brings the classic short story by Stephen Vincent Benét to life with inspired visuals, an unforgettable Oscar-winning score by Bernard Herrmann, and a truly diabolical performance from Walter Huston.Read More »

  • Sergei Solovyov – Chuzhaya belaya i ryaboy AKA The Stray White and the Speckled (1986)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaSergei SolovyovUSSR

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    In a poor provincial town, the ragamuffin boys are frenziedly drilled for combat, and at nights the local elite, gathered in a pool room, boasts of fictitious biographies, while bands of boys amuse themselves with bloody fights on trashy vacant plots… One of the most vivid staples of the postwar childhood were pigeons. They could be bought, sold or stolen. One day a beautiful white dove appeared over the town. Risking his life, Ivan caught the White. And immediately became the target of the “pigeon” mafia…Read More »

Back to top button