The story follows three poultry sellers on a trip across the bush, attempting to deliver a load of chickens to a market in Niamey.
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Monthly Archives: October 2015
Bellamy / Inspector Bellamy (2009) Claude Chabrol, Gérard Depardieu, Clovis Cornillac, Jacques Gamblin, Crime, Drama, Thriller
As every year, chief inspector Paul Bellamy spends a few days with his wife Françoise in the family house in Nîmes. Jacques, Paul’s stepbrother, turns up unawares, which is bad news since the fellow is an alcoholic good for nothing. Also annoying is this stranger at bay who asks Bellamy for protection. Farewell peaceful holiday!
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Bhowani Junction (1956) George Cukor, Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger, Bill Travers, Adventure, Drama, History
The year is 1947, the British are on the verge of finally leaving India. Amongst the few who are sorry to see the British leave are the Anglo-Indians, half British and half Indian, for they are going to miss the patronage of their white cousins, the job reservations, and the important status and positions they currently hold. The British, quite frankly, do not think well of Anglo-Indians, nor do the Indians. Victoria Jones is one such Anglo-Indian, a WAC in the British Army, her father a railway engine driver, and her mom a housewife. She is close to another Anglo-Indian, Patrick Taylor, but changes her mind about him as he harbors deep hatred for the Indians. She witnesses Col. Rodney Savage instruct his soldiers to pour filthy water and garbage at the hands of untouchables on high-caste men and women who are protesting by laying down on the railway tracks to prevent trains from moving. Repulsed and shocked at this, she turns to Ranjit Singh Kassi, a Sikh, and longs to be Indian.
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Juhyô no yoromeki / Affair in the Snow (1968) Yoshishige Yoshida, Mariko Okada, Isao Kimura, Yukio Ninagawa, Drama, Romance
In an isolated mountain resort, a woman gets involved in a love triangle between herself, her volatile lover and her ex-boyfriend, for whom she had platonic feelings.
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Lü cao di / Mongolian Ping Pong (2005) Hao Ning, Hurichabilike, Geliban, Badema, Comedy, Drama
Bilike has never seen a ping-pong ball before. He and his family live without electricity and running water in a solitary tent home among the vast steppe grasslands. The magnificent landscape here has changed little since the days of Genghis Kahn. But life in the middle of nowhere can be exciting for a young boy. The smallest of details become big events for curious Bilike and his best friends Erguotou and Dawa. The mystery of the small white ball floating in the creek leads to questions about the world around them, as well as innocent mischief. Bilike’s grandmother says the ball is a glowing pearl from heaven. But the boys are sceptical after waiting all night outdoors for the ball to light up. Since nobody has an idea about the odd white object, they trek to the faraway monastery to consult the wise lamas. But even the grasslands’ most knowledgeable inhabitants are stumped. While watching the new TV-set Dawa’s father has won, the boys learn about pingpong.
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Attention bandits! / Bandits (1986) Claude Lelouch, Jean Yanne, Marie-Sophie L., Patrick Bruel, Drama
On the day Jean Gabin dies, a kidnaper who also takes a fortune in jewels heisted from Cartiers murders Simon Verini’s wife. (Simon was fencing the jewels for a youthful gang who robbed Cartiers; he suspects them of the murder.) He’s framed for the theft and spends ten years in prison, writing to his daughter, Marie-Sophie, who’s 11 when he’s sent away. Released, he reconnects to Marie-Sophie and to the young thieves, seeks revenge, and is quickly arrested again. She doesn’t know what to make of her father, retreats to her Swiss fiancé, and is flummoxed when one of the young thieves falls for her. Is resolution possible when crime cuts across families and romance?
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The Sheepman (1958) George Marshall, Glenn Ford, Shirley MacLaine, Leslie Nielsen, Western
A stranger in a Western cattle-town behaves with remarkable self-assurance, establishing himself as a man to be reckoned with. The reason appears with his stock: a herd of sheep, which he intends to graze on the range. The horrified inhabitants decide to run him out at all costs.
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L’assassin habite… au 21 / The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (1942) Henri-Georges Clouzot, Pierre Fresnay, Suzy Delair, Jean Tissier, Comedy, Mystery, Thriller
Dapper Inspector Vorobechik (‘Wens’ for short) is assigned the case of a serial killer who leaves a calling card on his victims; Monsieur Durand. Wens’ mistress, struggling actress Mila Malou, determines to get publicity for herself by helping him. Learning that Durand is one of the eccentric tenants of a boarding house at No. 21 Avenue Junot, Wens takes a room in the guise of a Protestant minister; only to be followed by Mila who hardly seems like a minister’s wife!
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Thomas est amoureux / Thomas in Love (2000) Pierre-Paul Renders, Benoît Verhaert, Aylin Yay, Magali Pinglaut, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Thomas is a young agoraphobic man; he’s afraid of coming to any kind of contact with other people, so he lives totally isolated in his apartment. The story takes place in the near future where everything can be done through computers, so Thomas hasn’t left his apartment for eight straight years. However, although his life seems complete, he misses human contact, so his psychoanalyst consults him to meet a woman through some on-line service. Is it possible for Thomas to fall in love with a woman? And if so, is he going to get out of his apartment for that woman?
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Che! (1969) Richard Fleischer, Omar Sharif, Jack Palance, Cesare Danova, Biography, Drama, History
Biography of Argentinian revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, who helped Fidel Castro in his struggle against the corrupt Batista regime, eventually resulting in the overthrow of that government and Castro’s taking over of Cuba. The film covers Guevara’s life from when he first landed in Cuba in 1956 to his death in an ambush by government troops in the mountains of Bolivia in 1967.
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La ragazza di Trieste / The Girl from Trieste (1982) Pasquale Festa Campanile, Ben Gazzara, Ornella Muti, Mimsy Farmer, Drama, Thriller
An aging artist sees a beautiful young woman drowning near the beach and helps her. They become lovers. At first he is smitten by her youth, beauty and free spirit but soon he starts worrying that she might actually be insane.
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Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958) Michael Anderson, Richard Todd, Anne Baxter, Herbert Lom, Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A man shows up at Kimberley Prescott’s villa claiming to be her brother. But Ward Prescott died in a car accident a year ago, so how can this man be him? Despite Kim’s protests that the stranger isn’t her brother, everyone else accepts him, including their uncle. Kim begins to fear for her sanity and her life.
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Mun mot mun / Mouth to Mouth (2005) Björn Runge, Peter Andersson, Marie Richardson, Sofia Westberg, Drama
The teenage girl Vera left her family after an incident at home, and is now living with a middle-aged drug addict, Morgan, who is using her as a prostitute to get money for drugs and debts. Meanwhile, the rest of her family is falling apart, and her father, Mats, is trying to figure out how to get her back before it’s too late.
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…All the Marbles (1981) Robert Aldrich, Peter Falk, Vicki Frederick, Laurene Landon, Action, Comedy, Drama
Harry manages The California Dolls, a female wrestling tag team endlessly touring America, and he’s also romantically involved with one of them. Their fortunes seem on the slide (particularly when Harry accepts an engagement involving mud wrestling!) but then the big grudge match beckons.
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Mark of the Phoenix (1958) Maclean Rogers, Julia Arnall, Sheldon Lawrence, Anton Diffring, Crime, Drama, Thriller
A sample of an advanced new metal is stolen and made into a cigarette case in Brussels ready for smuggling to the East. An American jewel thief accidentally finds it in his possession and becomes the centre of much attention
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