A village girl goes to Tokyo and becomes a hooker to support her ailing mother. While there she meets an unmarried teacher (at least he says he’s unmarried) and falls in love. When she learns that he lied and is married to a woman whose child was fathered by another man, she is crushed. He returns to his wife. The woman becomes more distraught when she learns her uncle has misused the money she has sent. As the final straw, her mother dies, and the girl becomes sick.
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Drama
Chronicle of the Town Magistrate / Machibugyo Nikki (1987) Eiichi Kudô, Enami Anko, Ikariya Chousuke, Kimiko Ikegami, Action, Drama
In a maelstrom of evil, can a new magistrate, samurai Mochizuki Koheita, with a reputation like an alley cat, bring order to the town of Horisoto, or is he, too a corrupt villain looking to gain wealth from the oppressed people?
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Amici Miei / Mes Chers Amis (1975) Mario Monicelli, Ugo Tognazzi, Gastone Moschin, Philippe Noiret, Comedy, Drama
Like in many other Monicelli movies, the main theme of Amici miei is friendship, seen from a rather bitter point of view. It tells the story of four middle-aged friends in Florence who organize together idle pranks (called zingarate, “gypsy shenanigans”) in a continuous attempt to prolong childhood during their adult life…
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Los suicidas (2005) Juan Villegas, Laura Agorreca, Eugenia Alonso, Leonora Balcarce, Drama
Daniel es un periodista al que le encargan un artículo a partir de la fotografía de un presunto suicida. Al iniciar la investigación, conoce a Marcela, la enigmática fotógrafa que le asignan como compañera, con la que no ha mantenido antes ninguna relación, y de la que comienza lentamente a enamorarse.
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Le stagioni del nostro amore / Seasons of Our Love (1965) Florestano Vancini, Enrico Maria Salerno, Anouk Aimée, Jacqueline Sassard, Drama
Vittorio (Enrico M. Salerno) is a 40-year-old journalist who reaches a mid-life crisis. His wife nags him constantly for ignoring her and their child. After his mistress dumps him, Vittorio returns to the town where he spent his childhood to reflect on the state of his life. Flashbacks are used to tell of Vittorio’s relationship with his parents as a child and the effects World War II had on his development.
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The Children’s Hour (1961) William Wyler, Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner, Drama, Romance
Longtime friends Martha (Shirley MacLaine) and Karen (Audrey Hepburn) run a boarding school for girls. When an unruly child, Mary (Karen Balkin), is punished for lying, she concocts a story that Karen and Martha are having a lesbian relationship. When the story spreads, parents withdraw their children from the school. The women’s lawsuit for libel hits many snags when they lack witnesses to speak for them. All the stress adversely affects Karen’s engagement to Joe Cardin (James Garner).
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Hitori Musuko / Le Fils Unique (1936) Yasujirô Ozu, Chôko Iida, Shin’ichi Himori, Masao Hayama, Comedy, Drama
The film starts in the rural town of Shinshu in 1923. A widow, Tsune (O-Tsune) Nonomiya (Choko Iida), works hard at a silk production factory to provide for her only son, Ryosuke. When Ryosuke’s teacher Okubo (Chishu Ryu) persuades her to let her son continue to study beyond elementary school, she decides to support her son’s education even until college. Her son promises to become a great man…
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Huang tu di / Yellow Earth (1984) Kaige Chen, Xueqi Wang, Bai Xue, Quiang Liu, Drama, Music
‘Yellow Earth’ focuses on the story of a communist soldier who is sent to the countryside to collect folk songs for the Communist Revolution. There he stays with a peasant family and learns that the happy songs he was sent to collect do not exist; the songs he finds are about hardship and suffering. He returns to the army, but promises to come back for the young girl, Cuiqiao, who has been spell-bound by his talk of the freedom women have under communist rule and who wants to join the Communist Army.
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Plein soleil / Purple Noon (1960) René Clément, Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet, Marie Laforêt, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Tom Ripley is sent to Europe by Mr. Greenleaf to fetch his spoiled, playboy son, Philippe, and bring him back home to the States. In return, Tom will receive $5,000. Philippe toys with Tom, pretending he will go back home, but has no intentions of leaving his bride to be, Marge, and honoring his father’s wishes. After some time passes, Mr. Greenleaf considers the mission a failure and cuts Tom off. Tom, in desperation, kills Philippe, assumes his identity, and lives the life of a rich playboy. However, he will need all his conman abilities to keep Philippe’s friends and the police off the trail.
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Umarla klasa / Dead Class (1977) Andrzej Wajda, Tadeusz Kantor, Maria Kantor, Zofia Kalinska, Documentary, Drama
The Dead Class (1975), by Tadeusz Kantor and the Cricot 2 company, is considered one of the most innovative and influential works of twentieth-century theatre. The breakthrough first version of the production – performed to great critical acclaim, but only rarely seen live by audiences outside Poland – was documented on film in 1976 by the Oscar-winning director Andrzej Wajda.
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The Savage Eye (1960) Ben Maddow, Sidney Meyers, Barbara Baxley, Gary Merrill, Herschel Bernardi, Drama
This drama takes the form of a story told using documentary material as an intrinsic part of the narrative. In this journey through the dark side of 1950s urban life, the camera follows Judith – a newly divorced woman looking for a fresh start – through the streets of Los Angeles as she encounters the strange denizens of the city, ranging from trendsetters to religious fanatics. All the tawdry and desperate faces of this world become a mirror for Judith’s personal failures and struggles to claim her new life.
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In a Lonely Place (1950) Nicholas Ray, Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy, Film-Noir, Mystery, Drama
When a gifted but washed-up screenwriter with a hair-trigger temper – Humphrey Bogart, in a revelatory, vulnerable performance – becomes the prime suspect in a brutal Tinseltown murder, the only person who can supply an alibi for him is a seductive neighbor (Gloria Grahame) with her own troubled past. The emotionally charged In a Lonely Place, freely adapted from a Dorothy B. Hughes thriller, is a brilliant, turbulent mix of suspenseful noir and devastating melodrama, fueled by powerhouse performances. An uncompromising tale of two people desperate to love yet struggling with their demons and each other, this is one of the greatest films of the 1950s, and a benchmark in the career of the classic Hollywood auteur Nicholas Ray.
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Les yeux sans visage / Eyes Without a Face (1960) Georges Franju, Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel, Drama, Horror
After causing an accident that left his daughter Christiane severely disfigured, the brilliant surgeon Dr. Génessier works tirelessly to give the girl a new face. He does so however by kidnapping young women and attempting face transplants. He has been woefully unsuccessful to date. The doctor’s world begins to collapse around him when his daughter realizes just what he has been doing.
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L’Uomo, l’Orgoglio, la Vendetta / L’Homme, l’Orgueil et la Vengeance (1968) Luigi Bazzoni, Franco Nero, Tina Aumont, Klaus Kinski, Action, Drama, Romance
The film tells the story of a Spanish soldier, who falls in love with a gypsy only to end up deserting the army and being chased into the border lands, where he joins the gypsy smugglers to rob money for a journey to America. But it turns out his love has a husband and is only using him again and again….
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The End (1978) Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Dom DeLuise, Comedy, Drama
Wendell Lawson has only 6 months to live. Not wanting to live his last few months of life waiting for the end, he decides to take his own life. He enlists the help of a humorously delusional mental patient, and the movie chronicles his many unsuccessful attempts to kill himself. Will he ever succeed…?
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