Tendre voyou / Tender Scoundrel (1966) DVD9

"Tender Scoundrel" is a typical Belmondo vehicle, though lacks the necessary spirit of adventure of his other fims. Here Belmondo is a womanizer , a seducer who chases beautiful girls. He is a playboy out of control in Paris of the Sixties, with only a purport : to seduce and conquer countless girls. He uses woman after woman to fulfill needs and romances all around the World until Tahiti . With a little French eclair or a Swiss souffle. One yacht with a crazy nymph. In the Tropics with a torrid butterfly. It is Belmondo...

DVD9 | PAL 16:9 | 01:31:26 | 6.14 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Francais
Subtitles: English
Genre: Comedy

Director: Jean Becker
Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Nadja Tiller, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Robert Morley, Genevieve Page, Marcel Dalio, Micheline Dax, Philippe Noiret, Maria Pacome, Michele Girardon, Peter Carsten, Ellen Bahl
Country: France, Italy
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Moderato cantabile / Seven Days… Seven Nights (1960) Blu-Ray

"Moderato Cantabile" is a carefully woven tapestry of emotion that begins with a jealous lover murdering the woman he loves. Fascinated by the crime she has witnessed, Anne Desbaresdes returns several times to the scene, forming a relationship with a man who also saw the murder, and drinking through the afternoon with him as he patiently answers her eager questions. Slowly, they find themselves being taken over by forces which threaten their own stability.

"Moderato Cantabile" was only the second film by the great British director Peter Brook and it proved, like Welles before him, that he was equally adept in either medium. It was made in France in 1960 and has now largely been forgotten, though at the time the magazine Films and Filming selected it as the best film of the year from any source and it's a masterpiece.

A movie that's likely to remain in the mind for a long time, one of the great romantic movies, and all built on such a deliberately slight plot.

Director: Peter Brook
Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Pascale de Boysson
Country: France, Italy
Genre: Drama
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Stille dage i Clichy / Quiet Days in Clichy (1970) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Blue Underground

Quiet Days In Clichy, based on two of Henry Miller's more risque (and at one time, banned) works, is the story of Joey, a writer with no money and no real job prospects. Joey lives with Carl, his roommate, a bit of a sex maniac with a thing for younger women.

Once we're introduced to the characters, Joey and Carl basically screw their way through a pre-WWII Paris and indulge in a whole lot of wanton sex with pretty much any woman willing. Alone, in groups, or whatever, they don't really seem to care – they're just out to get as laid as they can as frequently as they can, and they're pretty successful at it.
A number of different girls come in and out of their lives, though a few do manage to make a lasting impression, including Nys, with whom Joey falls in love; and Colette, a 15-year-old free spirit who, despite being underage, captures Carl's heart.

Considered to be the most daring and honest film adaptation of any of Miller's works, Thorsen's 'Quiet Days In Clichy' is a provocative and graphic exploration of sexual liberation, inventively and innovatively directed on location in Paris. Highlighting the film's beautiful monochrome visuals (Paris has rarely been shot with such affection) is a soundtrack of suitably ribald songs by the legendary Country Joe McDonald.
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…E tu vivrai nel terrore! L’aldila / 7 Doors of Death / The Beyond (1981) DVD5, DVD9, Blu-Ray

Director Lucio Fulci's career has mainly been etched into cult-cinema for two reasons: gore and zombies. For years, there have been endless debates on which of his movies really constitutes his best legacy, and typically the most popular choice is The Beyond, Fulci's thematic continuation of his late 70s/early 80s supernatural zombie films. Like many Italian horror movies, The Beyond has been edited and renamed into oblivion, often released with major cuts or incorrect marketing.

The plot is extremely surreal and, at times, baffling. The film begins in the 20s, with the lynching of an artist living in a Louisiana hotel. The mob accuses the artist of bringing evil upon the land and they crucify him in the basement. Flashing forward into the 80s, we see a young woman, Liza Merril (Catriona MacColl), fixing up this same hotel in order to make it functional again. Unfortunately, a series of accidents seem to doom the hotel to instant failure, especially when a body is discovered in the cellar. Liza is then contacted by a mysterious blind woman who warns her that she should simply give up on the hotel, or else evil forces will be unleashed. Weirder things begin to happen and more people are killed off by supernatural zombies. A friend of Liza's, Dr. McCabe (David Warbeck), tries to figure out what's going on in town, but refuses to believe supernatural explainations. Are the 7 gates of hell really opening?
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The Intrigue: The Forgotten Films of Writer & Director Julia Crawford Ivers (1915-1916) Blu-Ray Kino Lorber

Most commonly known as the principle screenwriter for ill-fated director William Desmond Taylor, publicity-shy Julia Crawford Ivers was a filmmaker of diverse talents, working as director, scenarist, production supervisor, and editor at Paramount.

This collection showcases two of Ivers's directorial efforts: A Son of Erin (1916) and The Majesty of the Law (1915, of which only a single reel survives). But the centerpiece is The Intrigue (1916, directed by Frank Lloyd) a sci-fi/espionage film in which world powers vie for control of a death ray during World War I.

Through these meticulous restorations of films preserved by the Library of Congress, the woman once known as "Lady in the Shadows" can now finally receive the attention her work so richly deserves.

BD50 | 1080p AVC | 197 minutes | 38.4 Gb + 3% rec
Language: English intertitles
Subtitles: none
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Western

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The Big Gamble (1961) DVD5

Irish seaman Vic Brennan persuades his Dublin family to finance a truck-hauling business in the remote African town of Jebanda. The only stipulation is that his cousin Samuel, a timid bank clerk, accompany Vic and his Corsican bride, Marie, to Africa and protect the family fortune. When the trio arrive at a small settlement on the Ivory Coast, Samuel loses their customs papers, and their truck is impounded. Fortunately, Marie meets an old friend, a French naval lieutenant; and despite Vic's jealous nature, she uses her wiles to get the truck released from custody. Before they leave, Vic buys 300 cases of beer, certain he can double his money once they reach Jebanda.
So begins a promising adventure in the wilds of West Africa...

DVD5 | PAL 4:3 | 01:35:58 | 4.08 Gb + 3% rec
Language: English, Espanol
Subtitles: Espanol
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Directors: Richard Fleischer, Elmo Williams
Cast: Stephen Boyd, Juliette Greco, David Wayne
Country: USA
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Sarraounia (1986) DVD9

Raised by her father, Sarraounia (Ai Keita-Yara) was groomed to become an independent, fearless warrior. Known for possessing not only strength but mystical powers, not many attempt to defeat her. As the word gets out that French troops have arrived to destroy and conquer, Sarraounia gathers her army and prepares to defend her territory. Meanwhile, the French troops leave no stone unturned and have mercilessly murdered and demolished the land of many natives and are slowly moving her way...

Everything here is grounded in careful but never pedantic historical research. The film is superbly crafted and expansive; the tone is celebratory, loud, assertive and spirited; but Hondo doesn't allow the visual and musical splendours to swamp his certainty that Africans need to learn to value and develop the identity that was theirs before the white man came.

DVD9 | NTSC 16:9 | 01:56:09 | 7.09 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Dyula
Subtitles: English, Francais, Arabic, Espanol, Portugues
Genre: Drama, History, War

Director: Med Hondo
Cast: Ai Keita, Jean-Roger Milo, Feodor Atkine
Country: Burkina Faso, Mauritania, France
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Opowiesci weekendowe / Weekend Stories: Damski interes / A Woman’s Business (1996), Slaba wiara / Little Faith (1997), Dusza spiewa / The Soul Sings (1997), Urok wszeteczny / Deceptive Charm (1998), Ostatni krag / The Last Circle (1998), Linia opozniajaca / Dilatory Line (1998), Niepisane prawa / Unwritten Law (1998), Skarby ukryte / The Hidden Treasure (2000) 3 x DVD9

Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi has spent the better part of the last 50 years using movies to wrangle with the deep questions of self. In the process, he's provided a model for a generation of compatriots, including the late Krzysztof Kieslowski. But Kieslowski surpassed his mentor, creating internationally acclaimed films of astonishing resonance and philosophical subtlety, like The Decalogue and the "Three Colors" trilogy. Zanussi is held in less regard by the global cineastes who are aware of him, perhaps because his work is less stylish and nuanced than Kieslowski's. Zanussi's Weekend Stories has been compared to The Decalogue, in that both projects were produced for Polish television, and both present a series of brief narratives in which unrelated characters face spiritual crises, but Zanussi's mini-movies are merely good TV, not good cinema. The eight episodes of Weekend Stories, which aired between 1996 and 2000, take place in post-Cold War Poland, among various city dwellers who often travel to the same country house for recreation and soul-searching.

3xDVD9 | PAL 4:3 | 440 min | 18 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Polish
Subtitles: English, Polish
Genre: Drama

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The Bolshevik Trilogy – Three Films by Vsevolod Pudovkin: Mother / Mat / Мать (1926), The End of St. Petersburg / Konets Sankt-Peterburga / Конец Санкт-Петербурга (1927), Storm Over Asia / The Heir to Genghis Khan / Potomok Chingis-Khana / Потомок Чингис-Хана (1928) 2 x Blu-Ray Flicker Alley

Vsevolod Pudovkin was a contemporary of Sergei Eisenstein but, while the latter's list of notable films continues well into the sound era, Pudovkin's legacy consists almost entire of the three consecutive works he produced from 1926 to 1928, collected in an essential new Flicker Alley Blu-ray under the grouping "The Bolshevik Trilogy." Pudovkin actually continued directing for years after Eisenstein did (owing to having lived longer) but these three films – Mother, The End of St. Petersburg and Storm over Asia – are more than enough on their own to argue that his talents are no less worthy of consideration and praise.

The Bolshevik trilogy is undeniable propaganda but it also feels truly passionate, making it all the more persuasive. Part of Pudovkin's talent lies in his ability to position individual characters as both audience surrogates and instructors by example.

2xBD50 | 1080p AVC | 291 min | 40 Gb + 36 Gb
Language: Russian or English intertitles
Subtitles: English
Genre: Drama

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Walk on the Wild Side (1962) Blu-Ray Sony Pictures, Blu-Ray Arrow

At the time of its release, legendary American critic Bosley Crowther described the 1962 film Walk on the Wild Side as a "lurid, tawdry, and sleazy melodrama", which makes it a must-see, regardless of what meaning Mr Crowther may have inferred in his colourful portrait. And indeed, it's a fine example of late noir.

The 1930s. Farmer Dove Linkhorn (Laurence Harvey) hitchhikes from Texas to New Orleans in search a girl he couldn't keep several years before, the beautiful Hallie Gerard (Capucine). Along the way he meets thieving tramp Kitty Twist (Jane Fonda) and widow Teresina Vidaverri, the earthy owner of a roadside cafe (Anne Baxter). Both fall for Dove, but he has his eyes set on Hallie alone. Dove eventually finds Hallie only to discover that she's the star boarder in a brothel called The Doll House run by the tyrannical Jo Courtney (Barbara Stanwyck). Jo has staked a claim of her own on Hallie and has plenty of henchmen to foil Dove's attempts to take her away.

Yet for some reason, this early Sixties slice of Southern Gothic has been relatively forgotten among film fans as the years have progressed. For fans of Southern Gothic and melodrama, is Walk on the Wild Side now destined to become a rediscovered classic, or is there a reason why the film has been all but forgotten over the past several decades?
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Brian De Palma’s Obsession (1976) DVD9, Blu-Ray Arrow, Blu-Ray Shout! Factory

Brian De Palma's Obsession begins in 1959 with the 10th wedding anniversary celebration for Michael Courtland (Cliff Robertson) and his wife Elizabeth (Genevieve Bujold). They are living happily in New Orleans with their 9-year-old daughter Amy (Wanda Blackman).

That night, Elizabeth and Amy are kidnapped. The ransom is exorbitant (especially for the time): $500,000 in cash. Acting upon the advice of the police, Michael delivers a suitcase filled with paper rather than cash; the police try to close in, but the kidnappers make a run for it, and in the ensuing chaos, the kidnappers and their victims are killed in a fiery car crash, leaving Michael a haunted, guilt-ridden man. He erects a stupendously large memorial tomb to his wife and child, on property that was set to be developed commercially by his firm.

Flash forward 16 years to 1975, and Michael seems to be OK. He's still visits the memorial tomb, which sits isolated and lonely on the large tract of land that was never developed. Michael returns to Florence and revisits the same church where he met his long-lost love. There he spies a young woman who is the spitting image of his dear Elizabeth. He's never gotten over the loss of wife, so naturally he pursues the young woman, named Sandra...
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Nazarin (1959) Blu-Ray

"Nazarin follows the great tradition of mad Spaniards originated by Cervantes. His madness consists in taking seriously great ideas and trying to live accordingly". -- Octavio Paz, Mexican poet

Luis Bunuel's Nazarin is a blisteringly ironic, hauntingly beautiful parable about an idealistic young priest whose attempts to lead a truly Christian life are ridiculed by the thieves and prostitutes who make up his urban parish. Driven out, he wanders the countryside begging for food, but when his prayers seem to cure a dying child, he becomes a Christlike figure, pursuing his mission with two former prostitutes as his apostles.

Bunuel tells the story in a manner of a Christian parable masterfully and uniquely combining admiration and irony for the main character and strong criticism of formal religion and hypocrisy. The film is simple and profound as well as beautiful, ironic, and heartbreaking.

Despite winning an award at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, the film's treatment of religion proved so controversial that it was not released in the US until 1968. Out of distribution for many years, Nazarin was restored in 2019 by Mexico's Cineteca Nacional and Fundacion Televisa, and now takes its place as one of Bunuel's masterworks.
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Marana Simhasanam / Throne of Death (1999) DVD5

Throne of Death (Marana Simhasanam) by 34-year-old Murali Nair is a disturbing 57-minute film about class oppression and political manipulation in Kerala, India. This darkly ironic film an graphically captures the soul-destroying poverty and backwardness that confronts a large proportion of the state's population.

Krishnan and his family, who have been seasonal labourers for generations, live in a small island community in Kerala. Driven by desperation because he is out of work, Krishnan steals a bunch of coconuts from his landlord. He is caught, imprisoned and suddenly finds himself accused of a murder which happened on the island several years ago. The people on the island are shocked. It is election time and the politicians take up his cause to win votes. A new technology for killing people is introduced in the country: the "Electronic Chair". Developed with a loan from the World Bank and technological help from America, the Chair is seen as the epitome of a glorious death. The islanders and politicians join hands to demand that Krishnan be the first in the country to die by Electronic Chair.

Director: Murali Nair
Cast: Vishwas Njavakkal, Lakshmi Raman, Suhas Thayat
Country: UK, India
Genre: Drama

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Peter Nestler: 9 Films 1962-2009 2 x DVD9

Admired by the likes of Jean-Marie Straub and Harun Farocki, Peter Nestler was one of the most important filmmakers to emerge from postwar Germany. From his early films about the changing realities of rural and industrial areas in Germany and the UK, to his work for Swedish television, Nestler has remained a precise observer of the poetry and politics of labor, crafting meticulous portraits of industrial processes, working conditions, and workers themselves, as well as the background of struggle and oppression against which the era's proletariat toiled. A vigorous yet nuanced opponent of fascism, an excavator of lost histories and a masterful formalist whose works are rich with a materiality all their own, Nestler has spent five decades chronicling how things get made, whether in a factory or at the level of ideology.

Nestler's films are beyond documentaries. He is not engaging in mere journalism. Nor are these films essays, whereby Nestler expounds on working class life or the ravishing changes of industry.

Rather, Nestler is a kind of poet connecting the dots between environmental shifts and the resilience of human beings. Whether it is the innocence of schoolchildren, or the contemplative suffering of community elders, Nestler presents us with the enduring joy of the human heart.

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Waxworks / Das Wachsfigurenkabinett (1924) Blu-Ray, DVD5

A poet (William Dieterle) takes a job to write back-stories about three exhibits in a carnival empresario's Wax Museum. He does so, and we see three stories where the poet and the empresario's daughter Eva (Olga Belajeff) play the ingenue leads. The first and longest tale is a fanciful farce in old Baghdad, where a baker becomes a criminal to impress his fickle wife, while the Caliph (Emil Jannings) goes out of his way to seduce her. In the second tale, the evil Ivan the Terrible (Conrad Veidt) poisons supposed enemies for fun, and callously uses a nobleman as a shield against assassins. But the madman's superstitions backfire on him. The final, very short third story is not a story at all, just a series of phantom illusions where the hero is threatened by Jack the Ripper.

Despite its narrative and structural imperfections, Waxworks is a prime example of German expressionism at its most vivid, comprising fantastic stories set in crazily distorted representations of familiar settings - and it is no accident that each revolves around a murderous tyrant. Influenced by Robert Wiene's The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) and F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922), Leni carves an unsettling dreamscape that is both freakishly absurd and subtly disturbing, the oddly proportioned sets lending a fearful manic potency to each of the villainous protagonists.
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Eclipse Series 46: Ingrid Bergman’s Swedish Years: The Count of the Old Town (1935), Walpurgis Night (1935), Intermezzo (1936), Dollar (1938), A Woman’s Face (1938), June Night (1940) 6 x DVD5 Criterion Collection

Ingrid Bergman is a genuine Hollywood icon thanks to her co-starring role in Casablanca and her collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock. While many are aware of her later films, including the challenging Italian pictures directed by her husband Robert Rossellini, as well as her eventual pairing with the other famous Swedish Bergman, Ingmar, not as much attention is paid to her pre-Hollywood career. For a short period, Ingrid Bergman made her name as an actress in Sweden, and six of her m films from her home country are now collected in the Ingrid Bergman's Swedish Years boxed set from Eclipse--giving many of us our first chance to see a screen legend developing her craft in the earliest stages of her endeavors.

The set starts out with smaller roles where she is a big supporting player before developing into lead roles where it's clear she was becoming a leading star. It isn't difficult to see why Bergman went on to carry entire productions with her presence: she shines through as a star in the making at each turn.

6 x DVD5 | NTSC 4:3 | 520 minutes | 23.6 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Svenska
Subtitles: English
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance

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Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) DVD9 Warner, Blu-Ray Warner, Blu-Ray Studio Canal

In the farm country of South West England a spirited beauty must deal with the amorous attentions of three very different suitors. Bathsheba Everdene (Julie Christie) is not a wealthy woman, but she's determined to choose a man for love instead of simple security. Shepherd and farmer Gabriel Oak (Alan Bates) is disappointed when Bathsheba turns down his proposal. Suddenly made penniless by a cruel trick of fate, Gabriel wanders for several months before taking a job as shepherd on a large farm. His master turns out to be none other than Bathsheba, who has just inherited the farm from an uncle. Now just an employee, Gabriel must swallow his pride when the rich William Boldwood (Peter Finch) visits and falls deeply in love with his new neighbor. Bathsheba does her polite best to discourage him as well. As Boldwood's obsession grows, she meets the man of her dreams, the handsome soldier Frank Troy (Terence Stamp). Unaware that Troy has refused to marry young Fanny Robin, a maidservant pregnant with his child, because she embarrassed him by going to the wrong church on their wedding day, Bathsheba foolishly becomes his wife.

Director: John Schlesinger
Cast: Julie Christie, Peter Finch, Alan Bates, Terence Stamp
Country: UK
Genre: Drama, History, Romance
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Mouchette (1967) DVD9 Criterion Collection, Blu-Ray Artificial Eye, Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

The bleakest of Bresson's meditations on misery, MOUCHETTE feels every bit the logical extension of his previous AU HASARD BALTHAZAR, but here with specific focus on the realm of human suffering. Abused and overburdened at home, ridiculed at school by classmates and teachers alike, the life of country schoolgirl Mouchette is presented on no uncertain terms; the world for her is a living hell. In the title role, Nadine Nortier is the apotheosis of Bresson's actor/model doctrine. Her one-off performance is heartbreaking, but also honest and raw, stripped of artifice to a degree rarely seen in child actors. Her finest moment lies in the joyful release of the carnival scene, where an oppressive world takes a backseat to bumper cars and a boy, and from under her downtrodden facade emerges genuine warmth. But with the arrival of her alcoholic father, this exuberant reprieve is cut unceremoniously short, and Mouchette slides back into her role as supreme pariah of 60s cinema. Bresson had always possessed a fascination with the human spirit under desperate times (he had, after all, spent a year in a POW camp during World War II), but by 1967, this was coupled with an underlying cynicism present in the 65-year-old director's films. That cloud hangs over MOUCHETTE right up through the cold and uncompromising final scene, a testament to the devastating punch minimalism can pack, and an all-around unshakable slice of filmmaking.

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The Wind (1928) DVD5

Swedish director Victor Sjostrom's [Seastrom] most famous and finest work, based on the novel by Dorothy Scarborough, is now recognised and hailed as one of the all-time great silent movies.

The Wind is a masterpiece in writing directing and acting. The film is dragged by the performance of Lillian Gish and without her, it would not be considered the classic it is today. The best performance of 1928 by a bonafide star of the silent era.

The Wind tells the tale of Letty Mason (Gish) who has travelled from Virginia to Sweetwater Texas to live with her cousin and his family. Upon her journey to her cousin Beverly, she is disturbed by the constantly strong winds around her. She is informed by a fellow passenger that such winds are known to drive women crazy. As she tries to become accustomed to her new life, multiple suitors (Sourdough and Lige played by William Orlamond and Lars Hanson) come her way to take her hand in marriage, but that constant bothersome wind continues to disturb her...

Director: Victor Sjostrom
Cast: Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Montagu Love
Country: USA
Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller, Western

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The Idea of North (1995) DVD5

Rebecca BARON (1968, USA) is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker and media artist with a specific interest in the construction of history and in still photography and its relationship to the moving image. Her work, which mainly consists of lyrical essay films, has been screened at various international film festivals and media venues.

A unifying feature of Baron's art can be found in her engagement with the fault-lines of memory and history, and with the processes by which they are constructed through modern media. For Baron, the images that connect us to the real and to the past become most compelling – and problematic – around the edges: where fact and imagination intersect (as in her 1995 film "The Idea of North", the chronicle of a failed 19th century polar expedition).

Based on photographs taken in 1897 by polar explorers Nils Strindberg and Salomon Andree who were marooned on an ice floe, the film explores the limitations of images and other forms of record as a means of knowing the past.

DVD5 | NTSC 4:3 | 00:14:33 | 0.8 Gb + 3% rec
Language: English
Subtitles: none
Genre: Experimental, Short

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David Cronenberg’s Scanners (1981), Stereo (1969) DVD5 MGM, 2 x DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

David Cronenberg's (A Dangerous Method; Videodrome) 1979 sci-fi cult classic Scanners has all the earmarks of his style – it's cool, sleek, thrilling, and visceral in its horror and imagery. From the opening shots we are thrust into an alternate cloak and dagger universe of glittering shopping malls and suspicious characters. The story is an unusual one that just about anticipates that bastion of '90s paranoia, The X-Files, involving a war between two chemical companies who have been covering up the existence of people in the population who have abilities that can become dangerous.

Scanners are a group of individuals blessed – or cursed – with incredible psychic powers, the ability to read thoughts and kill with the mind. A shady corporation known as ConSec has been working on turning these people into weapons, a programme led by Dr. Paul Ruth (Patrick McGoohan), who claims to understand scanners better than anyone else. His latest protege is Cameron Vale (Stephen Lack), a young man with few memories, tormented by the voices in his head. Vale is dispatched to track down and kill Darryl Revok (Michael Ironside), a scanner who has been recruiting others for his own army, and murdering those who refuse to join.

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The Hit (1984) Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

If you like Euro-crime and haven't seen this one you're in for a real treat. English killers are on the road in Spain, executing a hit on a 'Supergrass' who's spent ten years in protective custody. The brilliant cast give the criminal twists extra credibility. The suspenseful show is one of Stephen Frears' best, and it builds to a highly satisfying conclusion. It's also the feature debut of Tim Roth, and as such shouldn't be missed.

After ratting out his criminal associates on the witness stand, Willie Parker (Terence Stamp) has spent ten years under police protection in a small town north of Madrid. That's when freelance hit man Braddock (John Hurt) shows up to take Willie to Paris, where the mob is waiting to repay him for his treachery. The pitiless Braddock is assisted by Myron, a street thug on his first big job, who has a bad habit of talking too much (Tim Roth of Rob Roy and Pulp Fiction). In swapping out their getaway car, the killers end up kidnapping a young Spanish bargirl, Maggie (Laura del Sol). Braddock is a fastidious detail man who thinks nothing of killing a stranger to ensure the security of the mission. Thanks to missteps made along the way, he comes realizes that they have little chance of reaching the French border. The only question is, who to kill? And when?

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Wandafuru raifu / Wonderful Life / After Life (1998) Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

The people materialize from out of clear white light, as a bell tolls. Where are they? An ordinary building is surrounded by greenery and an indistinct space. They are greeted by staff members who explain, courteously, that they have died, and are now at a way-station before the next stage of their experience.

They will be here a week. Their assignment is to choose one memory, one only, from their lifetimes: One memory they want to save for eternity.

Then a film will be made to reenact that memory, and they will move along, taking only that memory with them, forgetting everything else. They will spend eternity within their happiest memory.

That is the premise of Hirokazu Kore-eda's "After Life", a film that reaches out gently to the audience and challenges us: What is the single moment in our own lives we treasure the most?

Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Cast: Arata, Erika Oda, Susumu Terajima, Takashi Naito, Kyoko Kagawa, Kei Tani, Taketoshi Naito, Toru Yuri, Yusuke Iseya
Country: Japan
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
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The Ladykillers (1955) 2 x Blu-Ray Studio Canal

The film was one of the final comedies produced at Britain's Ealing Studio in the years leading up to the invasion of home televisions. Written by Academy Award winner William Rose (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner), and directed by American-born Alexander Mackendrick, the production gathered a wonderful cast of well-known actors for an experience that's one part tragedy and three parts comedy. If you've never seen The Ladykillers, you're missing an important piece of film history.

Living a stone's throw away from London's Kings Cross Station, Ms. Louisa Wilberforce (Katie Johnson) is the widowed owner of a large house with rooms to rent. One day a potential tenant bearing the title Professor Marcus (Alec Guinness) arrives on her doorstep with plans to rent the upper apartment for his incoming band of amateur musicians. Intrigued with the idea of welcoming artists into her home, the naive old lady ushers Marcus and his motley crew of would-be thieves into her home, allowing them the perfect location for an upcoming bank heist. Taking advantage of Ms. Wilberforce as a key pawn in their scheme, the shady characters pull off the caper and believe they're in the clear. However, an unfortunate accident involving a cello case full of bank notes soon reveals the true identity of the thugs, sending the elderly landlord's conscience reeling. Filled with a sense of duty despite the ominous presence of five criminals, Ms. Wilberforce allows the men a brief opening to collect their thoughts while she contemplates how to handle the delicate situation with the police..

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Oberst Redl / Colonel Redl (1985) Blu-Ray Kino Lorber

István Szabó's Colonel Redl is an unmissable masterpiece. Based loosely on a true story, it won the Best Foreign Language Film BAFTA and was nominated for the Foreign Language Film Oscar and Golden Globe, plus the top award at Cannes. Its failure to win is up there with the Best Picture Oscar going to Shakespeare In Love over Life Is Beautiful.

The film tells the story of a young boy who is selected to go to a military academy despite his poor origins as a working-class Hungarian of Jewish origin. Quickly making friends with the son of a baron and impressing the school's director with his patriotism by preferring to celebrate the Emperor's birthday to returning home for his own father's funeral, Redl rises quickly through the ranks until he finds himself stationed on the Russian border. However, it becomes quickly apparent that his nationalism and moral Puritanism serve only to alienate Redl from his fellow officers and in trying to compensate for his lower origins with excessive zeal he only manages to make an enemy out of the man who used to be his best friend. Promoted again, this time to the general staff to be the head of Austrian military intelligence, the colonel naively blunders into the intrigues of the Archduke Ferdinand who might well be trying to start what would later come to be known as World War I

Brandauer's towering performance minutely marks the gradual disintegration of Redl's mask and his final exposure at the point of death. Szabó's film is visually magnificent, shot with a crisp clarity which never succumbs to romantic nostalgia. The suicide of the real-life Redl was the subject of John Osborne's notorious A Patriot for Me. But where Osborne revelled in the decadence and debauchery, Szabó gives an extraordinary, chilling, complex account of a man's betrayal of himself.
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Bless This House: The Movie (1972) DVD5, Blu-Ray

Comedy legend Sid James reprises his role as the perpetually bewildered head of a dysfunctional family in the hit film adaptation of the hilarious '70s sitcom!

All Sid Abbot (Sidney James) wants is a quiet life, well that and his own secret distillery in his shed, but everything seems to be working against him. His wife Jean (Diana Coupland) and her best friend Betty (Patsy Rowlands) are filling up the house with junk from jumble sales as well as from their neighbours so they can open an antiques shop. Then there is his art student son Mike (Robin Askwith) who has brought a noisy clapped out banger and on top of that there is Mike's sister Sally (Sally Geeson) who is concerned about the environment. And to make matters worse there are the new neighbours next door Ronald (Terry Scott) and Vera Baines (June Whitfield) along with their daughter Kate (Carol Hawkins).

Director: Gerald Thomas
Cast: Sid James, Diana Coupland, Sally Geeson, Robin Askwith, Peter Butterworth, Terry Scott, June Whitfield, Patsy Rowlands, Carol Hawkins, George A. Cooper
Country: UK
Genre: Comedy, Romance
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Une balle au coeur / Devil at My Heels / A Bullet Through the Heart (1966) DVD5

Holding an old resentment against Montelepre, a Sicilian aristocratic family, an influential gangster named Rizzardi (Vasilis Diamantopoulos) takes possession of the palace of the last member of the family, Francesco Montelepre (Sami Frey), who he plans to kill. Stripped of his property, Francesco flees to Athens to find a witness for Rizzardi's crimes so that justice is done. Despite the help of Carla (Jenny Karezi), a nightclub singer, his search is in vain. And now Rizzardi's henchmen, led by Navarra (Spyros Fokas) are in pursuit. Fleeing from village to village, Montelepre manages to kill them one by one. Meanwhile, he finds love with Anna (Francoise Hardy), a French tourist, with whom he decides to take refuge on an island. Still, Navarra finds and pursues them...

DVD5 | PAL 16:9 | 01:20:55 | 3.65 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Francais
Subtitles: English
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance

Director: Jean-Daniel Pollet
Cast: Sami Frey, Francoise Hardy, Jenny Karezy, Spyros Fokas, Vasilis Diamantopoulos, Lucien Bodard
Country: France, Greece
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Copie conforme / Certified Copy (2010) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Artificial Eye, 2 x DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

From acclaimed director Abbas Kiarostami (Taste of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us) comes the story of a couple's apparent chance meeting in beautiful Tuscany.

James Miller (William Shimel) is a British author who is in Italy to promote his controversial art book. He contends that copies are often as good as the original and challenge us to see creativity in a fresh way. As he speaks, an unnamed woman (Juliette Binoche) arrives late with her bored son (Adrian Moore). She is a gallery owner eager to talk about art. The woman leaves her number.

They meet the next day and drive to Lucignano where original art and copies abound. He autographs several copies of his book and then she takes him for a coffee. When Miller exits to talk on his cell phone, the coffee shop proprietor assumes that he is her husband and begins a lecture on the mysteries of love and the challenges of marriage. When Miller returns, the woman speaks of him as her husband of 15 years. He does the same and soon we are wondering, Are they really husband and wife? Has their meeting as strangers been a concocted drama to bring some adventure to their marriage ?

Captivating and hugely entertaining, this romantic tale playfully and provocatively blurs the lines between reality and imagination.
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Spalovac mrtvol / The Cremator (1969) Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

A journey through the mind of a macabre and twisted individual. This is a film that is studying the horrors of a human mind gone astray, and how even the simplest of thoughts can take on new meaning inside such a mind.

"The Cremator" is set during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia in the early days of World War II. Karl Kopfrkingl (Rudolf Hrusinski) is a cremator working at the time, who believes he is cleansing souls through his job, ridding them of the fear of death in a humane way. He also has high ambitions for himself and longs for success, feeling inadequate for his wage not bringing in as much money as his wife's dowry. When an old friend approaches him who sides with the Nazis and describes them as ambitious pure citizens in line with Kopfrkingl's views of the world, the cremator decides to assist. This causes his already rather delusional mind to reach breaking point, leading to a shocking series of events in the final act.

Horror films aren't only about vampires and goblins — Czech director Juraj Herz's mind-chilling study of a Fascist opportunist communicates truths about aberrant psychology and Fascists, that audiences would never read in print. A bourgeois burner of cadavers leverages his Reich-useful trade into his own little warped empire of evil. Karl Kopfringl's modus operandi hardly needs to change, to conform to Nazi standards — the elitist hypocrite already has both his family and employees passively accepting his sick ideas about cremation as the solution to all human ills. Cinematically brilliant, this late picture from the Czech New Wave is one of the best movies ever about conformists, collaborators, and assorted other ghouls.
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Nightmare Sisters / Sorority Succubus Sisters (1988) DVD5 Retromedia, DVD9 and Blu-Ray Vinegar Syndrome

Because he had so much fun making his previous horror-comedy, "Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama" (1988), and had leftover 35mm short ends from that shoot, DeCoteau decided to make a companion film starring the same three main actresses. Only this time the budget was significantly lower and the shooting schedule was significantly shorter (just 4 days), resulting in lots of long, static camera setups, minimal plot, minimal special effects and most of the action having to be shot in a small house. Thankfully none of that really diminishes the fun factor here thanks almost entirely to its three entertaining stars: Linnea Quigley, Michelle Bauer (billed here as "Michelle McClellan") and Brinke Stevens.

This time around, they mutate into monstrous but marvellously sexy male-hunting mutants in this low budget wonder that features ample flayed flesh and an equal enthusiasm towards sublime set-pieces of splatter movie madness!

Director: David DeCoteau
Cast: Linnea Quigley, Michelle Bauer, Brinke Stevens, Dukey Flyswatter
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
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Love (2015) 2 x Blu-Ray Wild Side 2D & 3D

If you cut out all the sex scenes in Gaspar Noe's Love, what's left is a wistful, some might say sappy, story about heartbreak — made with impressive cinematic elan but somewhat shallow emotional depth despite all its tragic posturing.

Much like Noe's Irreversible, which also left a lot of people fuming, Love has a rather unconventional narrative structure. It begins in the past and constantly jumps forward and back until it eventually settles down in the present. The chronology of the events, however, isn't difficult to follow.

His name is Murphy (Karl Glusman) and he is a young American who is studying film in Paris. Here he has fallen in love with Electra (Aomi Muyock), a beautiful French girl who also tells him that she loves him. When they are together and make love, they seem to connect in a way only two people who were meant to be together can. Their bond seems so strong that they share everything, even their most intimate desires.

One such desire, however, is the reason why Murphy loses Electra. A lot of the film is dedicated to Murphy's struggle to come to terms with the reality of the situation while revisiting past events and trying to reassess their significance.
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Her Name Was Lisa (1979) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Vinegar Syndrome

Beautiful, innocent Lisa (Samantha Fox) has been found dead of a heroin overdose. At her funeral, the people in her life gather to memorialize her, reflecting on how their own deeds sent her down a path of self-destruction and death. As each memory unfolds on screen, Lisa is seen to transform from a naive model who's forced to use her body to achieve her goals, to a manipulative vixen capable of luring men into her web of carnal abuse, to a tragic victim of her own insecurities and victimization.

1979's "Her Name Was Lisa" is notable is some circles due to its director, Roger Watkins, who previously created the vicious "Last House on Dead End Street." This awareness of helming intensity is important to retain while watching "Her Name Was Lisa," which, unlike many adult movies, has no interest in titillation. It's anti-erotica in many ways, and while it features all manner of sexual activity, the film is surprisingly grim, striving more to be a dramatic effort than an X-rated one.

Directors: Roger Watkins (as Richard Mahler), Robert Michaels
Cast: Vanessa del Rio, Samantha Fox, Bobby Astyr
Country: USA
Genre: Adult, Drama
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A Life at Stake (1955) Blu-Ray

Doris Hillman, the wife of wealthy L.A. businessman Gus Hillman (Douglass Dumbrille), approaches struggling architect Edward Shaw (Keith Andes) with a proposal approved by her husband, one that would earn them all plenty of dough in the real estate market. However, the Hillmans raise Shaw's suspicions when they insist he take out a key man insurance policy, which declares that the partners would be compensated were something unfortunate to happen to the principal player — in this case, Shaw. Are Shaw's suspicions well-founded, or is he merely being paranoid?

This independent production from the golden age of film noir was described by the Los Angeles Times as "a study in fear". It also shows Angela Lansbury, already a double Oscar nominee, as you've never seen her. She's a charming femme fatale. But is she as bad as she seems?

Director: Paul Guilfoyle
Cast: Angela Lansbury, Keith Andes, Douglass Dumbrille, Claudia Barrett, Jane Darwell, Gavin Gordon, Charles Maxwell, William Henry
Country: USA
Genre: Drama, Film-Noir
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The Princess Bride (1987) 2 x DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

A high-spirited adventure that pits true love against inconceivable odds, The Princess Bride has charmed legions of fans with its irreverent gags, eccentric ensemble, and dazzling swordplay.
A kid (Fred Savage), home sick from school, grudgingly allows his grandfather (Peter Falk) to read him a dusty storybook — which is how we meet the innocent Buttercup (Robin Wright, in her breakout role), about to marry the nefarious Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) though her heart belongs to Westley (Cary Elwes). The wedding plans are interrupted, however, by a mysterious pirate, a vengeful Spaniard, and a good-natured giant, in a tale full of swashbuckling, romance, and outrageously hilarious spoofery. Directed by Rob Reiner from an endlessly quotable script by William Goldman, The Princess Bride reigns as a fairy-tale classic.

BD50, 2xDVD9 | 1080p AVC, NTSC | 01:38:38 | 44.3 Gb + 12.8 Gb
Language: English
Subtitles: English
Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Romance

Director: Rob Reiner
Cast: Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright
Country: USA
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After Love (2020) Blu-Ray BFI

It's a quiet domestic scene. A Muslim couple arrive home, she makes a cup of tea in their nicely equipped kitchen and chats to him while he settles down in his armchair in the next room in the background. She takes him his tea, speaks to him and he doesn't reply. There's no sound, we can't hear what she says next, but her actions make it very clear that something sudden and terrible has happened.

That brief moment at the start of After Love changes Mary's (Joanna Scanlan) life for ever. An English woman who converted to Islam to marry the man she loved years ago, she's an integral part of the community attending the mosque in Dover, who all support her in the following days. After the funeral, she sits amongst them, clad from head to toe in white, her face a picture of numb pain. It's only when the dust settles and she starts going through her husband's possessions that she discovers he had a secret life, something she'd never suspected, and her need to find out more takes her across the Channel to France...

Secrets, lies, love and sacrifices spanning a lifetime resonate across the English Channel and far beyond in writer-director Aleem Khan's staggering debut, After Love.
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The Lumiere Brothers’ First Films (1895-1897) DVD5

This restored collection of the works of cinema pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumiere is a must-see for film historians and fans of movies in general.
When they turned a motion picture camera on fellow factory workers leaving work for the day on March 19, 1895, the Lumiere Brothers shot the world's first film. It wasn't until they premiered their footage in December of that same year that the art of cinema was truly born. As they continued to develop their miraculous invention, the cinematographe, the brothers boldly began to film natural events as they unfolded. Shot in a series of unedited takes that usually last about one minute, their wide-ranging catalog is more documentary-like than fictional or abstract.
Included in this remarkable collection is "The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat," "Demolition of a Wall," "A Sprinkler Sprinkled," and other rare works. Providing even greater historical insight into the images is the narration by director Bertrand Tavernier, who describes the influence of the Lumiere Brothers' aesthetic on world cinema.

DVD5 | NTSC 4:3 | 01:02:45 | 3.56 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Silent
Subtitles: none
Genre: Documentary, History

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Swimming Pool (2003) DVD9 R1, Blu-Ray Studio Canal

Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling) is a successful British crime/mystery author with writer's block. Burned out and fed up, she pays a visit to her publisher, John Bosload (Charles Dance), in search of a little inspiration. John has just the thing for her - spend a few weeks at his country house in France. There, she will have the peace and quiet she needs to write a new novel. She accepts his offer, and, at first, the secluded place, with its wooded grounds and secluded swimming pool, are perfect. Enter Julie (Ludivine Sagnier), John's rebellious, oversexed, teenage daughter, who intends to share the house with the older, more reserved woman. Sarah is not pleased, and her attempts to establish boundaries are continually flouted by Julie, who brings a new man home every night and keeps Sarah awake with the sounds of her lovemaking. Gradually, however, the relationship between the two softens, until a series of events cause a radical shift.

Director: Francois Ozon
Cast: Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier, Charles Dance, Jean-Marie Lamour, Marc Fayolle, Mireille Mosse, Michel Fau, Jean-Claude Lecas, Emilie Gavois-Kahn, Erarde Forestali
Country: France, UK
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
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Faust Sonnengesang / Faust Song of the Sun (2012) DVD9

What mental images do you create to explain the reality around you? Are they of beauty or of terror? These are questions that are tackled in Werner Fritsch's cinematic poem "Faust Song of the Sun".

Faust Sonnengesang is the journey of a German poet of today who starts where Goethe's Faust ends. Fritsch asks "What film runs through the head of a human when they close their eyes forever?" Filmed all over the world in India, California, Egypt, New York, Germany, Norway, Nepal, Mexico and New Zealand, where he shot images during his previous stay in Christchurch and the South Island. Der Spiegel describes Faust Sonnengesang as a "hell-trip" featuring "Punk rock, drunken images, Bach choirs….a delirium of wild colours and idyllic nature, images of wonderful music and powerful lyrics….This film is pure madness" - Faust Sonnengesang should not disappoint.

DVD9 | PAL 16:9 | 03:02:39 | 7.77 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Deutsch
Subtitles: English
Genre: Experimental

Director: Werner Fritsch
Cast: Corinna Harfouch, Angela Winkler, Ulrich Matthes
Country: Germany
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Nude per l’assassino / Strip Nude for Your Killer (1975) DVD9 Blue Underground, Blu-Ray Arrow Films

Sex, slaughter and gory thrills galore figure in this super-sleazy giallo, which for all its many foibles rates as the most accomplished movie made by Italian exploitation hack Andrea Bianchi. Things get off to a typically classy start with a gynaecological procedure shot from the doctor's point of view. The unfortunate woman dies on the operating table, forcing the abortionist and his seedy pal to dispose of her body.

From here we follow the lives of a group of people who are all intertwined through their work at a modeling/fashion photography studio. One by one these people are hunted down and sliced and diced by a maniac in a leather suit and a motorcycle helmet. But what is the motive? Why is the killer after these people? Carlo (Nino Castelnuovo), the top photographer at the agency, and his lady friend Magda (the always lovely Edwige Fenech) are intent on finding out just who is behind the rash of murders, and why – but will they do that before everyone winds up dead?

Director: Andrea Bianchi
Cast: Edwige Fenech, Nino Castelnuovo, Femi Benussi, Solvi Stubing, Amanda, Franco Diogene, Lucio Como, Erna Schurer, Gianni Airo, Silvana Depreto, Achille Grioni, Giuseppa Meschella
Country: Italy
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
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The Parallax View (1974) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection, DVD9 Paramount

Perhaps no director tapped into the pervasive sense of dread and mistrust that defined the 1970s more effectively than Alan J. Pakula, who, in the second installment of his celebrated Paranoia Trilogy, offers a chilling vision of America in the wake of the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr. and about to be shocked by Watergate.

The film opens up at the Space Needle in Seattle where a prominent senator is killed by a deranged assassin during a highly publicized public event. Reporter Joseph Frady (Warren Beatty) then begins investigating the assassin and discovers that he might be connected to a giant organization that could be behind some of the most talked-about political executions. Frady digs deep to gather information that can expose the organization and its dealings, but gets lost in a massive rabbit hole where people are dying like flies.

The intense sense of paranoia that permeates this film is its greatest strength. As Frady looks for answers, you get the feeling that the real world is nothing but a playground for extraordinarily powerful shadow figures that have the ability to manipulate every single aspect of it. Sadly, this actually seems like a pretty accurate summation of the reality we face today as well.
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Sour Grapes / Winepress / Hndzan / Терпкий виноград (1974) DVD5 RUSCICO

Far behind the lines Vahe receives the news of his father's death. Small boy neither could accept it nor reconcile himself with the new family of his mother who married to another man. The boy prefers to live with his handicapped uncle and every day visits the railway station waiting the trains coming from the frontline. And, indeed, his father comes back after two years of guerilla warfare. But he must leave for war again as soon as his injury is healed. Vahe must be strong enough to withstand the blow.

Bagrat Oganesyan graduated from Yerevan State University (the Romano-Germanic Philology Department), Yerevan Institute of Literature and Moscow Institute of World Literature, he came into cinema while practicing in Mosfilm Studios in 1960s. There he assisted Andrei Tarkovsky during the shooting of his Andrei Rublyov (1969), worked at Armenfilm Studios as an editor, assistant director and film director. Tarkovsky was the creative advisor of the Oganesyan's first feature film "Sour Grape" (Winepress).

Director: Bagrat Oganesyan
Cast: A. Isahakyan, Sos Sargsyan, H. Azizyan, Alla Tumanian, Vruyr Panoyan
Country: Soviet Union
Genre: Drama
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Ottimismo Democratico / Democratic Optimism (1990 – 1999), Il passato e il mio bastone/ The Past is My Stick (2008) DVD9

Antonio Rezza and Flavia Mastrella, known as RezzaMastrella, an artistic duo that has no equals on the contemporary theatre scene. They have made an infinite number of short films, three full-length films, nine theatre performances, television programmes and various artistic and literary works. Their productions, all in black and white, have never been issued as home videos but have won numerous prizes in the main festivals of independent cinema and are now considered cult movies.

"Ottimismo Democratico" (Democratic Optimism) is a first anthology of short films by Flavia Mastrella and Antonio Rezza created and produced between 1990 and 1999. A constant feature is the presence of Antonio Rezza 's tragic-catastrophic figure and (hypnotic) voice. The events tell of a culture in decadence. The stories, the voice and the settings are all dense with atmosphere, the body seen to be trapped in an alienating space where, in the fragments pieced together, the protagonism of a pedantic humanity stands out in all its meanness yet is extremely comical.

DVD9 | PAL | 01:26:31 | 7.34 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Italiano
Subtitles: English, Italiano
Genre: Short

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Underneath (1995) DVD9 R2, Blu-Ray Kino Lorber

When a director has as wide and varied a body of work as does Steven Soderbergh, it's no surprise that not every film in the oeuvre will be successful. Even Hitchcock has The Trouble With Harry and Spielberg has Hook. But few directors are as willing to be as openly candid as Soderbergh was about a movie he describes as "totally sleepy" and "dead on arrival:" 1995's Underneath.

Gallagher stars as Michael Chambers, a man who was forced to flee from his wife, Rachel (Elliot) and his hometown years ago thanks to a massive gambling debt. He returns for his mother's wedding, after earning enough money to make everything square only to find that his ex has moved on and is now seeing local gangster Tommy Dundee (Fichtner). Michael wishes to pick up with Rachel where he left off, much to the displeasure of his cop brother, David (Adam Trese). Dundee is also unhappy at the prospect, and when he catches Michael and Rachel in a compromising situation, Michael talks his way out of certain death by proposing a heist. Michael, with the help of his step-father, has gotten a job as an armored car driver and he knows a way Dundee can make off with millions of dollars, using Michael's help as an inside man.

Of course, everybody involved in the operation has their own motives and goals. Numerous questions appear with each person's behavior. Does Rachel still love Michael, or is her interest an act? Why does David hate his brother so much? The armored car owner (Joe Don Baker) seems too friendly. What's his game? These questions set the groundwork for a mix of twists that keeps viewers guessing right to the end.
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The Wobblies (1979) DVD9

Early in the last century, a new labor union began. They accepted everyone who was members of the working class: blacks, women, immigrants. They weren't interested in working within the system like the AFL or the Teamsters. They wanted to change the world, and make it so the workers benefited from American prosperity, not the few heartless robber barons that ran the monopolies and the government that aided and abided them. Whether they were singing in solidarity or busting the heads of some strike busters, they were a force to be reckoned with. But while the organization bickered over the impact of the Russian Revolution, the authorities struck back and used patriotic sentiment and the sweeping powers generated by The Great War. The organization was mortally crippled, but their legacy lives on. They were the International Workers of the World, the I.W.W. They were The Wobblies.

"The Wobblies" is a history of the Industrial Workers of the World, researched lovingly and corroborated by the reminiscences of some of the union's former members, who are now in their 80's and 90's.Along with filming interviews with these stalwarts, the directors — Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer — have collected songs, posters, portraits and animated and live-action footage of the period. In assembling these ingredients, they divide their attention between actual and exaggerated images of the labor movement — between the facts of its history and the propaganda.
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La Cienaga / The Swamp (2001) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection, DVD5

Everything and nothing happens in La Cienaga, the debut feature from Argentinean director Lucrecia Martel (The Headless Woman). Spanning the space of one aimless summer, this avant-garde drama captures the boredom and the heat for one extended family forced together by circumstance as life changes and petty concerns swirl all about.

The translation of the title is "The Swamp", and there may be no better word to describe the sticky bog that creeps over its characters' ankles, literally and metaphorically. Even the narrative stalls out in the muck: Save for the alarming events that bookend the film, nothing much happens beyond suggestion and observation, apart from a steady, patient accumulation of minor details. With an anthropologist's eye for behavior, Martel plants her camera in a crowded bourgeois estate in northwestern Argentina and watches the decaying lives of two families rotting in a provincial backwater. Echoes of Luis Bunuel's social comedies are unmistakable, but Martel examines the situation from a greater remove, relying mainly on subtle touches in the framing and on the dense soundtrack. In that sense, La Cienaga could be called a pointillist movie, with all the pleasures and frustrations that description implies.
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Manon des sources / Manon of the Spring (1952), Ugolin (1952) 2 x DVD9

Writer/ producer/ director Marcel Pagnol's beautiful original 1952 film version of one of his haunting excursions through village life in Provence makes for epic French cinema.

Focusing on minor affairs, gossip and the villagers' superstitions, the film depicts everyday village life in an unglamorous but intriguing fashion.

The director's wife, Jacqueline Pagnol, gives a superior performance as Manon the shepherdess who avenges herself for her father's death on Ugolin (Rellys) and his uncle, the greedy neighbouring farmed called Le Papet (Henri Poupon), by blocking the spring supplying the water to the villagers.

This is the original work of the well known remake from 1986. It is split in two different movies, Manon des sources and Ugolin, two hours each. It is a delightful picture of the Provence (southern part of France) during the fifties.

Director: Marcel Pagnol
Cast: Edmond Ardisson, Henri Arius, Charles Blavette
Country: France
Genre: Drama

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