Sandrine Bonnaire plays a European researcher who is abducted by some ill-educated rebels in a North African country. They have no clear reason for holding her hostage, and after a considerable period of time (and an escape attempt by their captive), they simply let her go. The story is based on a similar situation that the director Raymond Depardon covered when he was a reporter.
Tag: 1990s
“Freaks” meets “X-Men” in this twisted, politically incorrect sci-fi satire from outlaw Spanish auteur Alex de la Iglesia (“The Day of the Beast”) and producer Pedro Almodovar. A band of handicapped and mutant terrorists attacking society’s standards of physical beauty kidnap a pretty socialite. The outlaws take her to a distant planet in hopes of getting big dough from her bakery tycoon father, but all hell breaks loose when they discover their leader has his own plans for the hostage and the ransom.
Victor is a young boy who dreams about becoming a firefighter one day, unfortunately his mother is told that he’s been diagnosed with leukaemia and only has one more month to live, his mother goes to the local fire station to try to make her kid’s dream come true.
A film by Krzysztof Zanussi inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “The Lady with an Ermine”. The director takes us to the Museum Czartoryski in Cracow where he presents his favourite painting and with the aid of video effects, he wryly invites us to compare “The Lady with an Ermine” with the better known “Mona Lisa”.
A private detective is hired to catch a serial killer who makes immigrant garment workers his victims.
——UPGRADED——
In 1995, siblings Anna and Adam Broinowski, the children of Australian diplomats in Tokyo decided to embark on the exploration of underground Japanese counter-culture. The high-wire exercise gave life to Hell Bento. As relevant as Tod Browning’s notorious movie Freaks (1932), this one-hour documentary has gathered a reputation of the perverse masterpiece.
An anthology film drama featuring a poetic mirror structure based on existential identity. In “The Immortals,” adapted from a Helder Prista Monteiro play, two famous doctors, an 80-year-old father, and his 60-year-old son, contemplate senility and death. “Suzy,” from an Antonio Patricio story, is set in the ’30s when a young courtesan dies on the operating table. “Mother of the River” is from an Agustina Bessa-Luis fable about eternal life.
Ema is a sweet and innocent girl who is so beautiful she turns the head of every man she passes. Her life takes a despairing turn for the worse when her father forces her into a passionless marriage to his friend, a wealthy doctor. To make matters worse, she is relocated to the scenic but unfamiliar and isolated vineyards of Abraham’s Valley, Portugal where the breathtaking river Douro flows. Trapped in a marriage to a man she does not love, she scorns her husband and threatens to kill herself rather than submit to his desires.