Drama

Blues in the Night (1941) Anatole Litvak, Priscilla Lane, Betty Field, Richard Whorf, Crime, Drama, Music

Blues in the Night (1941)
“Jigger’ Lane forms a band that includes singer Ginger ‘Character’ Powell, wife of the trumpeter Leo Powelll, and Nickie Haroyen and Peppi. All of them dedicate themselves to work as a unit and to play ‘blues’ music. The dedication isn’t paying off in money and, while riding the rails in a boxcar, they meet and befriend a gangster named Del Davis. He offers them a job at a New Jersey roadhouse, where Powell falls in love with Kay Grant, a former ‘real-good friend’ of Davis. But when Powell learns that ‘Character’ is about to have a baby, he returns to her. “Jigger” tries to make Kay the band’s singer and, when this fails, runs off with her. She leaves him with nothing to show for him except a nervous breakdown.Back at the roadhouse, after his recovery, Kay shows up, has a quarrel with Davis, shoots and kills him and plans to take back up with “Jigger”, who knows better but just can’t help himself. While she is waiting in a car for him, along comes cripple Brad Ames, who she put in …
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Shenandoah (1965) Andrew V. McLaglen, James Stewart, Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett, Drama, War, Western

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In Shenandoah, Virginia, widower farmer Charlie Anderson lives a peaceful life with his six sons – Jacob, James, Nathan, John, Henry and Boy, his daughter Jennie, and his daughter-in-law and James’ wife Ann Anderson. Charlie does not let his sons join the army to fight in the Civil War that he does not consider their war. Jennie marries her beloved Lieutenant Sam, but they do not have a honeymoon since Sam has to return to the front. Charlie’s youngest son Boy is mistakenly taken prisoner by soldiers from the North so Charlie rides with his sons to rescue Boy, while James and Ann stay on the farm. It is time of violence and war, and tragedy reaches the Anderson family.
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Ostatni dzien lata / The Last Day of Summer (1958) Tadeusz Konwicki, Irena Laskowska, Jan Machulski, Drama, Romance

ostatni-dzien-lata-aka-the-last-day-of-summer-1958
There is something vaguely mythical to the manner in which Konwicki introduces his characters, both to us and to each other, lapped as much by the ethereal eeriness of the score as by the seaside winds that send their hair aflutter. When they tend to speak to each other in whispers, it seems almost out of respect for the otherworldly aura of their locale, as though it is to their eyes as improbably beautiful as Konwicki’s camera renders it to us. They—referred to in the credits only as “He” and “She”, mysterious and mythical in themselves—do not whisper much; there’s a clear silent heritage at work here, conferring meaning to the motion of faces and the movement of the camera along this spectral shore.
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Matatabi / The Wanderers (1973) Kon Ichikawa, Isao Bitô, Tadao Futami, Ken’ichi Hagiwara, Drama

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Follows the fluctuating fortunes of three friends in feudal Japan who are ronin: masterless warriors, who wander from castle to castle, selling their services to whichever lord will fill their rice bowls. These are not the YOJIMBO Super Samurai but rather the rank and file, the spear-carriers. The irony is that even though they use the servants’ entrance, they still feel themselves bound by the samurai code of Bushido; and this tension leads to tragedy.
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I Mobster (1958) Roger Corman, Steve Cochran, Lita Milan, Robert Strauss, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

I Mobster (1958)
Joe Sante wants to be the big man, and nobody is going stand in his way. In a world full of smoke, molls, shakedowns, muscle, and murder, Joe knows what he wants and how to get it. But can he disregard his poor old immigrant parents who are ashamed of his criminal life? Will he drag his sweet girlfriend into the life of the underworld? And most importantly, can Joe trust his mobster friends?
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Gibraltar / It Happened in Gibraltar (1938) Fyodor Otsep, Roger Duchesne, Erich von Stroheim, Viviane Romance, Drama, War

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In 1938, in Gibraltar to infiltrate terrorists who sabotage the boats with troups which should sail to Palestine, a British officer poses as a traitor… The pulpy Mercedes (Viviane Romance), a dancer in a seedy cabaret of Tangier “who draws men like light attracts butterflies…” is spying on behalf of the mysterious Marson interpreted masterfully by Erich Von Stroheim.
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Waga ai no uta – Taki Rentaro monogatari / Bloom in the Moonlight: The Story of Rentaro Taki (1993) Shin’ichirô Sawai, Tôru Kazama, Isako Washio, Ryo Amamiya, Biography, Drama, Music

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In April 1895, the talented young Rentaro Taki comes to Tokyo from his home in Kyushu to enrol in the prestigious National Academy of Music. Hoping to become a pianist, he meets another student there, Yuki Nakano, who shares the same aspirations. With his elder classmate Suzuki’s encouragement, Rentaro practices furiously to perfect his technique, but loses his health in the process. Over the years, his health, as well as his devotion to and achievement level in music, fluctuates, as two friends adjust to the varying roles they can each potentially play in his life. Yuki receives the Japanese government’s first music scholarship to study in Berlin. At the same time, Rentaro composes wonderful music and songs like Bloom in the Moonlight which are still very popular in today’s Japan, while Suzuki quits the music school and becomes a hard labourer due to family crisis.
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Tatuagem / Tattoo (2013) Hilton Lacerda, Maria de Jesus Baccarelli, Jesuíta Barbosa, Ariclenes Barroso, Drama

tatuagem-aka-tattoo-2013
1978. While the military coup that assaulted Brazil in 1964 starts to teeter, we follow a romance involving an 18 years old soldier and the cultural ringleader of an anarchist cabaret. Tattoo depicts the conflicts and reflections of a whole generation observed from a marginal perspective. Through the vantage point of the exception, the film elucidates the norm.
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The Singles Ward (2002) Kurt Hale, Will Swenson, Connie Young, Daryn Tufts, Comedy, Drama, Romance

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When Jonathan Jordan gets divorced he’s thrust back into the world of being a single Mormon – a world who’s ultimate goal is eternal marriage. Struggling to fit in, Jonathan decides to stop going to church only to be pursued by the members of the local singles ward who want to reactivate him. Nothing works until Jonathan falls for Cammie Giles, the ward activities director. Suddenly, going to church becomes much more appealing. But is he going for the right reasons?
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Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945) Roy Rowland, Edward G. Robinson, Margaret O’Brien, James Craig, Drama, Family

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Life in small town Wisconsin. Selma and Arnold, aged 7 and 5, pal around together between their two farms. Selma has a newborn calf that her father gave to her which she named ‘Elizabeth’. Nels is the editor of the Fuller Junction Spectator and the kids just call him ‘editor’. Viola is the new school teacher from the big city. While Nels wants to marry Viola, Viola does not want to live in a small quiet, nothing happening town. The biggest news is that Faraassen has built a new barn.
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Bouzkachi, le chant des steppes / Bouzkachi The Chant of Steppes (2009) Jacques Debs, Ali Choriev, Stasys Eidrigevicius, Dilbar Gunayeva, Drama, Documentary

bouzkachi-le-chant-des-steppes-aka-bouzkachi-the-chant-of-steppes-2009
The Chant of Steppes builds on a love triangle. Mohabat likes two men but she can not make the right choice and decides to marry the one who wins the bouzkachi contest. A poet and an artist have to cross mountains and steppes to engage in a noisy and dusty contest of horsemen in order to gain the hand and the heart of the beautiful Mohabat. The rules of the traditional Oriental game called bouzkachi are strict – a team of riders has to get the headless carcass of a ram clear of the other players to win the contest.
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