August 13

Aprile (1998) - Nanni Moretti 

Description:

Moretti's spontaneous, irreverent and self deprecating style of storytelling is brought to bear on three favourite things: Rome, joy riding on his Vespa, and film making. A funny and moving account of first time fatherhood, Aprile mingles family, work and politics with large helpings of irony and humour.

Released by Optimum Home Ent.

Ballad Of Narayama (Narayama bushiko) (1983) - Shohei Imamura

Description:

The inhabitants of a small village have adopted extreme measures to ensure their survival - male babies are killed with little remorse, and when villagers reach the age of 70, they are sent to the base of Narayama mountain to die. Refusal to go brings disgrace to the family. Orin is 69. However, before she heads to the mountain she wants to ensure that her eldest son finds a wife.

Released by Tartan Video

The Bow (Hwal) (2005) Kim Ki-duk

Description:

A stylish fable that explores the bonds of human nature, and adds a sprinkling of magical realism. An old man has been raising a young girl since she was a baby, and plans to marry her when she turns 17. But when a teenage boy joins them on a trip, he awakens feelings of desire and jealousy in the old man.

Released by Tartan Video

The Caiman (Il Caimano) (2006) - Nanni Moretti

Description:

Nanni Moretti's first film since the award-winning The Son's Room, The Caiman is at once a comedy, a political satire, and a moving and personal story of one man's struggle to regain control of his life. 

Bruno is a middle-aged, once famous film producer, struggling to revitalise his career with a disastrous film about Christopher Columbus whilst trying to rescue his crumbling marriage. 

As he loses control of his personal and professional life, he unwittingly throws his support behind a oung writer's scathing attack on Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, wrongly believing it to be a commercial thriller. 

Reluctant at first to enter the world of political satire, Bruno soon finds the project taking over his life. 

Life imitating art, Berlusconi himself was deposed at the 2006 elections within a month of the film's release.

Released by Optimum Home Ent.

Casque D`Or (1952) - Jacques Becker 

Description:

Starring international sex symbol Simone Signoret, Casque D'Or is often considered director Jacques Becker's masterpiece. Becker was an assistant to the legendary Jean Renoir, and Renoir's influence on Becker is readily apparent in this poetic, impressionist film. Signoret plays Marie, the girlfriend of a minor gangster, who falls in love with a working man. Their love affair leads to a power struggle within the gang and speeds everyone inexorably towards tragedy. Casque D'Or features a diligent and careful production design that recreates Paris of the late 19th century, and was based on actual criminal cases from that era. Though dismissed on its initial release in 1952, aside from a BAFTA acting award for Signoret, the critical reputation of Casque D'Or grew in subsequent years and is now generally considered one of France's great artistic films. 

Released by Optimum Home Ent.

Close Up (Nema-ye Nazdik) (1990) - Abbas Kiarostami

Description:

Kiarostami's masterpiece, depicting in documentary fashion an unemployed man's attempt to impersonate the director Mohsen Makhmalbaf and the court proceedings which result. This is a brilliant, multi-layered exploration of illusion and reality, infused with its creator's humanity and wisdom.

Released by Soda Pictures.

Danger - Diabolik (1968) - Mario Bava 

Description:

Made at the height of the Swinging '60s, Mario Bava's stylish, tongue-in-cheek adaptation of the popular Italian comic strip Diabolik captures all the lavish decadence typical of the psychedelic era. Square-jawed leading man John Phillip Law stars as the titular antihero, a suave, cunning superthief who steals from the government and kills innocent bystanders for his own personal gain. Sharing an opulent underground lair with his stunning, amoral girlfriend Eva Kant (Marisa Mell), Diabolik globetrots Europe in his quest for wealth while confounding both the police (Michel Piccoli and Terry Thomas) and a rival criminal (Adolfo Celi). With its innovative cinematography and a pulsing score by soundtrack maestro Ennio Morricone, DIABOLIK has been referenced in a Beastie Boys video and Roman Coppola's CQ--and owns the dubious honour of being the last film parodied by Mystery Science Theatre 3000. 

Released by Paramount.

The Devil`s Eye (1960) Ingmar Bergman

Description:

A highly stylised comedy, and Bergman's first attempt at a theatrically structured film, The Devil's Eye tells the tale of Don Juan, who is sent back to earth from hell by the Devil to deflower virtue in the person of the daughter of a naive and impressionable country parson. The film's episodes are introduced by Bergman veteran Gunnar Bjrnstrand, who lectures the audience on what they're seeing and how to view it. From the proverb "A woman's chastity is a stye in the devil's eye." 

Released by Tartan Video

Haxa n - Witchcraft Through The Ages (1922) - Benjamin Christensen

Description:

A darkly humorous, genre-defying silent 'documentary', in which witchcraft through the ages is presented in a series of dramatic vignettes that explore the contention that witches of the middle ages suffered a hysteria similar to that of modern psychiatric patients. Director Christensen presents an audacious mixture of fact, fiction, lecture and hallucinatory recreation in his one-of-a-kind film. He himself plays the devil, notably in a terrifying sequence with a monk! 

Released by Tartan Video

My American Uncle (Mon oncle d`Amerique) (1980) - Alain Resnais 

Description:

Using the observations of human behavioural theorist Henry Laborit as its starting point, Alain Resnais masterpiece is an intelligent comedy/drama about three Paris professionals' intertwining lives. 
Rene (Gerard Depardieu) is successful manager in a textile factory facing the prospect of down-sizing with his position under threat; Jean (Roger Pierre) is a political star on the rise but whose marital life is in tatters; and Janine (Nicole Garcia), is a struggling actress who works for Rene and is having an affair with Pierre, connecting the two men.

Released by Arrow Films.

Rat-Trap (Elippathayam) (1981) - Adoor Gopalakrishnan 

Description:

In Indian cinema, Adoor Gopalakrishnan is arguably the true heir to Satyajit Ray. The first film to bring him international acclaim, Rat-Trap is outstanding for its characterizations and detail. Set in Kerala in the early 1980's, the film takes a look into the life of a lazy feudal lord, unable to accept socio-economic changes, who subsequently falls prey to the metaphorical rat-trap set by his own escapism and arrogance.

Released by Second Run.

Sawdust And Tinsel (1953) Ingmar Bergman

Description:

One of Bergman's key films, which acknowledges the influence of EA Dupont's expressionist film Variety, the circus is here a metaphor for the charade of men and women's relationships. Ake Grnberg plays Albert, the owner of a small, tawdry circus, and Harriet Andersson Anne, his mistress who is a bareback rider. Stopping at a small town, Albert tries to resume his relationship with his estranged wife. Meanwhile an actor seduces Anne. It seems however that Albert and Anne, tired as they may be with their rootless lives, are still committed to each other.

Released by Tartan Video

Touchez Paz Au Grisbi (1953) - Jacques Becker 

Description:

Gabin, the quintessential tough-guy, and Moreau, resplendent as always, pair up for this heist film, one of the best of the French gangster films of the 1950s. In it, Gabin is an aging thief who has already pulled off what he thinks was his last big job, scoring enough gold to last him through his twilight years. Unfortunately, one of his partners' girlfriends has taken up with the boss of a rival gang and he quickly learns about the big score. Soon, Max's best friend is kidnapped and held for ransom. The blackmail scheme soon turns into a battle of wits between Max and the rival gang that includes a number of double-crosses and, inevitably, leads to tragic finish.

Released by Optimum Home Ent.

Le Trou (1960) - Jacques Becker 

Description:

The story of five prisoners who meticulously plan their escape, only to learn that one of them is scheduled to be pardoned a few days before the jail-break. One of the prison genre's most unforgettable films. 

Released by Optimum Home Ent.

Cheers Trev.