Teen angst, incest, and… what exactly is buried in the basement? This macabre, compellingly bizarro coming-of-age tale charts the strange goings-on within a family living in an isolated, rubble-strewn no-man’s land. One day, as 15-year-old Jack masturbates, his father drops dead. Mother follows shortly thereafter. Rather than tell anyone, Jack and older sister…
Category: Country
Sjecas li se, Dolly Bell (1981) AKA Do You Remember Dolly Bell?
Set over a single early-1960s summer in one of Sarajevo’s mahalas, the plot follows the fortunes of a school boy nicknamed Dino. Simultaneous to being enthralled with a life that flashes before his eyes and ears in the local cinema and youth centre (where, among other things, he watches Alessandro Blasetti’s Europa di…
Pro urodov i lyudey (1998) AKA Of Freaks and Men
St. Petersburg, early 20th century. The handsome and secretive Johann specializes in shooting erotic pictures depicting the floggings of bare-bottomed women. With the help of his assistants, the photographic creations gradually penetrate the peaceful households of two upper-class Russian families. Director: Aleksey Balabanov. AKA Of Freaks and Men / Про уродов и людей….
Harbor Lights (1963)
Professional gambler Dan Crown arrives in San Juan to visit his brother Alex, only to learn from the police that Alex has been found murdered. To Captain Acosta’s questioning, Dan answers that he had no knowledge of his brother’s affairs. Dan then finds Gina Rosario searching his hotel room, and together they begin…
That Rhythm, Those Blues (1988)
A documentary covering the R&B (rhythm and blues) field from the 1940s to the early 1950s. Included is footage of performances by major R&B singers of the time, and interviews with singers, producers and others involved in the field. Director: George T. Nierenberg. Stars: Ralph Bass, Charles Brown, Ruth Brown, Bobby Robinson, Jerry…
Le Plat de sardines – ou la première fois que j’ai entendu parler d’Israël (1998)
A man recollects the conflict in the middle east through his personal memory. In this short documentary, Omar Amiralay reflects on the first time he heard of Israel. Through recorded conversations with filmmaker Mohamed Malas, both Amiralay and Malas share their own unique stories and experiences about Israel and Israeli occupation. In the…
Harb El Khalij… wa baad (1993) AKA The Gulf War… What Next?
In the early 1990s, five leading Arab film directors were asked to create a short work that expressed their thoughts and feelings about the first Gulf War and its impact on Arab people, culture and intellectual thought. The Gulf War, What Next? is the revealing and rewarding feature-length collection of these five impressive…
The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1944)
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey tells the story of a rickety bridge that has spanned a deep gorge for ages. When the bridge suddenly collapses–plunging five people to their deaths–the tragedy causes a wave of superstition to engulf the villagers as they believe…
Table Settings (1982)
This comedy is about three generations of a Jewish family. All the action takes place around an all purpose dining table, sometimes a restaurant table and other times the dining table of a Jewish mother to end all Jewish mothers. Other characters include an exceedingly irreverent younger son, his martini swilling older brother…
Takis Unlimited (1969)
This BBC2-screened film is a look at the European art world of the late 1960s, and a meditation on the nature of art and the pricing of art, shot by Tony Williams. The origins of this film are suitably cosmopolitan. It was initiated by an Iranian student – and underwritten by Jeremy Fry…
Altman on His Own Terms (2000)
A look at director Robert Altman’s legendary film career that spans five decades. Includes film clips and commentary from friends, coworkers and actors including Paul Newman, Jack Lemmon, Tom Skerritt, Farrah Fawcett, Elliot Gould, Keith Carradine, Lily Tomlin, Mike Figgis, Sally Kellerman, Philip Baker Hall, Fred Ward, Tim Robbins and others. Director: Brodie…
Flesh (1968) AKA Andy Warhol’s Flesh
Flesh was filmmaker Paul Morrissey’s first production for Andy Warhol. The story concerns a bisexual hustler who does tricks so that he can pay for his wife’s lover’s abortion. The film made headlines when it was confiscated by the police during one of its earliest showings in 1970. Though this event is unlikely…
Report (1967)
Bruce Conner deconstructs the repetitive imagery and messages from media coverage of the Kennedy assassination, fabricating an image track out of the fragments of the paltry documentary footage. The film is divided into two unequal parts, a longer, first section that Conner has called ‘the death of Kennedy’ and an ‘epilogue’ that imaginatively…
El secreto de sus ojos (2009) AKA The Secret in Their Eyes
In 1999, retired Argentinian federal justice agent Benjamín Espósito is writing a novel, using an old closed case as the source material. That case is the brutal rape and murder of Liliana Coloto. In addition to seeing the extreme grief of the victim’s husband Ricardo Morales, Benjamín, his assistant Pablo Sandoval, and newly…
Turtles Can Fly (2004)
On the Kurdish refugee camp on the Iraqi-Turkish border, the boy Satellite is the leader of the kids. He commands them to clear and collect American undetonated minefields in the fields to sell them in the street market and he installs antennae for the villagers. He goes with the local leader to buy…
Baran (2001)
Young Lateef works on a construction site in Tehran with some Turks and a few illegal Afghan workers. When Lateef is given heavier tasks to compensate for new Afghan worker Rahmat, he resents his displacement and treats Rahmat cruelly. After one of his pranks, however, Lateef discovers Rahmat’s secret–he is a girl named…
Gabbeh (1996)
An elderly couple go about their routine of cleaning their gabbeh (a intricately-designed rug), while bickering gently with each other. Magically, a young woman appears, helping the two clean the rug. This young woman belongs to the clan whose history is depicted in the design of the gabbeh, and the rug recounts the…
Fasl-e panjom (1997) AKA The Fifth Season / Season Five
The fight for power in an isolated Iranian village. Two families have been enemies for so long they cannot even remember why. The only hope for peace between the feuding families is lost when an arranged marriage agreement is broken. Some days later, the groom, Karamat, returns with a brand new minibus. But…
Miris Poljskog Cveca (1977) AKA Fragrance of Wild Flowers
A famous actor leaves the theater without reason to live at his friend’s tugboat. The people from his surroundings find out more about his move and come to the riverbank, trying to live freely themselves. The question is who found what. Director: Srdjan Karanovic. AKA Fragrance of Wild Flowers Writers: Rajko Grlic, Srdjan…
Mala svetlost (1966) AKA Little Light
In this short film from Yugoslavia, a boy wanders the city alone on a hot summer’s day. More and more unnerved by his own shadow, he attempts to escape it, but ends up finding a new friend instead. Grounded in the architecture and infrastructure of the city, the film turns into a literal…
Todo modo (1976) AKA One Way or Another
A metaphysical mystery based on the novel by Leonardo Sciascia, Todo modo is the most curious and puzzling of Petri’s films and offers a not-so-veiled critique of Christian Democratic political power. Italy’s most successful politicians go on a monastic retreat at the convent of Don Gaetano to contemplate their notable careers and secretly…
House (1995)
A comedy about a thirty-something man, named Victor who is to perform in a town, after having left group therapy. Victor cleverly bases his diatribes on the handful of locals who attend his performance. As his monologue coils out, his stories accurately reflect the audience’s own lives, offering glimpses of themselves which irrevocably…
Dongchun de rizi (1993) AKA The Days
The Days follows the life of Dong and Chun, married artists who have recently graduated from the Beijing Art Institute. Living meagerly in the hope of making enough money off their works, it soon becomes obvious to everyone but themselves that the marriage has begun to die. Director: Xiaoshuai Wang. AKA The Days…
One Cooks, the Other Doesn’t (1983)
In this lightweight made-for-television domestic comedy, a beautiful divorcee, who got the house and the kids, finds herself allowing her husband and his ditzy young fiancee to stay with them after he gets into financial dire straits. Director: Richard Michaels. Writer: Larry Grusin. Stars: Rosanna Arquette, Allyce Beasley, Joseph Bologna, Oliver Clark, Tony…
