In waning winter light, a doll maker works in his shop, a kerosene lamp beside him, a jumble of dolls and doll parts, whole and broken, surrounding him. There are noises, too: a cuckoo clock chirps the workday’s end. The artisan completes a repair and leaves, shuttering the shop from outside. Back inside, whispering begins. What else is in store for the shop’s seemingly lifeless denizens?Read More »
The adventures of pirate Captain Red and his first mate Frog.
Captain Red runs a hardy pirate ship with the able assistance of Frog, a dashing young French sailor. One day Capt. Red is captured and taken aboard a Spanish galleon, but thanks to his inventiveness, he raises the crew to mutiny, takes over the ship, and kidnaps the niece of the governor of Maracaibo. The question is, can he keep this pace up?Read More »
“Waiting for Godot” on ice and snow, without words. Against a barren winter landscape, a figure approaches: it’s a man, pulling a small sleigh on which another man sits, plucking a dead bird. They stop to trade places; the one now on the sleigh takes out his knitting. Accidents, misunderstandings, disagreements, and an outright fight await our absurd protagonists as their trip to nowhere continues, first with one pulling, then the other. What if they were to lose the sleigh? What rules of civilization and partnership would guide them then?Read More »
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Youths get ready for a party, decorating the dance floor, cleaning out the fountain of a pond. That evening, the party starts and guests arrive: everyone has a ticket, and a guy at the gate, wearing a formal shirt, tails, and shorts, makes sure only those with tickets gain entrance. Some are in costume, some dressed informally, some in fancy clothes: everyone is there to have a good time. A group of tough-looking guys watch through the high fence while the band plays jazzy rock and couples dance or kiss. With the party in full swing, as the band plays “When the Saints Go Marching In,” over the wall comes the gang. Is there any chance they’ll join in the festivities?Read More »
The camera shows us a door handle and the door’s striker plate; from this angle, they form a cross. The door opens and in steps someone in a dark trench coat. He approaches a bed in the room, where a shirtless man sleeps. The intruder takes out a knife. His movements are without haste, but deliberate and efficient. Will his sleeping victim awake in time to offer resistance?Read More »
Quote:
Polanski: I wanted our short story to be as much a story of fraud as a portrait of the city. The script was laconic, almost without dialogue: a beautiful, slightly crazy French woman pretends to fall in love with a gullible Dutch businessman, and then, with a clever and simple trick, steals a diamond necklace. Hence the title: “Diamond Necklace”. A special type of women preferred by Polanski in film are women-girls, supposedly mature, but still manifesting some features of a child. Read More »
Director Roman Polanski casts himself in the lead of the psychological thriller The Tenant. Trelkovsky (Polanski) rents an apartment in a spooky old residential building, where his neighbors – mostly old recluses – eye him with suspicious contempt. Upon discovering that the apartment’s previous tenant, a beautiful young woman, jumped from the window in a suicide attempt, Trelkovsky begins obsessing over the dead woman. Growing increasingly paranoid, Trelkovsky convinces himself that his neighbors plan to kill him. He even comes to the conclusion that Stella (Isabel Adjani), the woman he has fallen in love with, is in on the “plot.” Ultimately, Polanski assumes the identity of the suicide victim – and inherits her self-destructive urges.Read More »
Synopsis:
In Roman Polanski’s take on “Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” impressionable young Tess (Nastassja Kinski) is sent by her alcoholic father to visit her rich relatives and apply for a job. She’s taken in and immediately seduced by her cousin, Alec (Leigh Lawson), who leaves her pregnant. She keeps it to herself and, after the child dies, begins a relationship with a respectable farmer, Angel (Peter Firth). They marry, but when Angel learns of her speckled past, he’s not sure he can live with it.Read More »
