Tag Archives: France

A tale set in a decaying Parisian porn theatre, where within its dark confines, male patrons–soldiers, transvestites, married men–regularly engage in anonymous sex acts. In the ticket booth of the theatre, a wise Italian woman serves as benevolent gatekeeper, observing–but never judging–the proceedings occurring under her watchful eyes. One day, one of her regulars engages her in a conversation that leads to an unusual friendship, as these two worldly souls share their common experiences.
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A romantic connection blossoms between two young Parisians during a succession of dreamlike nocturnal visits to a singular, beguiling park. Anna meets Theodore at a party, and together they impulsively climb the fence and enter the a nearby city park, an unusual and striking hillside public garden in northeastern Paris. The two part at dawn, but find themselves drawn back the following night, and, falling in love under the park’s spell, embark on nightly explorations of its topographic mysteries, gradually discovering that, despite feeling entirely alone in the world, they may not be the only ones drawn to this magical place.
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Have you ever met someone who made your body heat up, get a little nervous and sweaty, and made your crotch stir a bit? Sexual Tension: Volatile will reignite those lustful feelings as it weaves six scintillating experiences of men in various stages of nudity and many forms of erotic male bonding. A pulsating, sexually-charged thrill ride, the film begins as a young man feels the adrenaline rush of his sexy tattooist’s needle in “Ari” while in “The Cousin,” a geeky, cute boy finds a hot Summer afternoon triggering his taboo desire for his Speedo-clad cousin. Two straight buddies literally show each other how to make love to a woman in “The Other One,” while a man with ‘Broken Arms’ receives a sensual sponge bath from a male nurse. “Love” is questionable when a broken shower brings a married man and a hairy, innkeeper together when they least expect it and in “Workout” two muscular men, ‘sexting’ pictures to some hot chicks, begin to shed their clothes and inhibitions.
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One could only enumerate the elements to let the film tell itself. And this is besides one possible purpose of Hanoun here. Just let things communicate between themselves without the coercition of usual continuums (space and time) and let’s see and feel what happens. Yet there are clues given, relations but they are separated when one could await a close editing and vice versa. There seems to have two worlds, cinematographic worlds I mean : B&W and colour and things circulate from one world to another, people too…
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No wonder Bisexual Attorney Alain is confused. He’s bedding his female boss, his guilty of murder client, the client’s hairdresser girlfriend and a precocious boy who knows what he wants and tries to convince Alain that ‘he can have it all’.
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The workaholic head of the compliance section of a New York bank flies to Monaco to investigate unusual deposits from an offshore bank and meets a down-on-his-luck international film star who has become embroiled in criminal activities.
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Self-declared aspiring writer Hank Chinaski has neither qualifications, ambition nor ethics. Any dead-end job he lands is soon lost through laziness or mischief. His relationship with fellow deadbeat Jan gets strained to crisis through her insecurity, so he even gives up betting on horses which brought in easy money.
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A social movie about current life in the north of France. Freddy and his friends are all unemployed. They pass away time by wandering around on their motorcycles and by directing their aggressive feelings towards Arab immigrants. Freddy is in love with Marie, a cashier at a local supermarket. When she is proposed to by Kader, a young Arab man, Freddy and his friends have an idea: they decide to punish Kader for what they call “such a provocation.” After they have raped another girl, Marie finally commits to Kader, which seals his fate.
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An English mother and teenage son spend a week in the South of France breaking up a summer home that has become one of the casualties of the boy’s parents’ crumbling marriage. Matters only become more complicated when an enigmatic local boy enters their lives.
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Fanny lives with her brother and his girlfriend in their long time dead parents’ house. Fanny needs some medication so that her behaviour doesn’t bring too much tension to herself and to closed ones.
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Louise Traon never films Manoel De Oliveira directly. Instead, she chooses to avoid him, skirt round him, skim past him and keep her distance, yet all the while drawing close to the art of cinema itself, homing in on its very essence. Her film tells the story of a girl who grew up with the images of an old gentleman, and who now wants to show her own images. This touching self-portrait gives insight into a man who appears to have lived many lives, showing his work through a remarkable link with time.
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After the events of May 1968, the French went on vacations – and they were filmed during three months on the rural fairs, on the beaches, on promotional campaigns for products and politicians. And they spoke to the director’s candid camera on a variety of subjects – from man walking on the moon to eroticism, from advertisement to marriage…
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In an indefinite time somewhere in the Arctic with Soviet soldiers, the nomads Saiva and her stepdaughter Anja are permanently moving seeking a safe place in the arctic tundra. They camp in a remote area far north where Saiva believes they will be safe and survive fishing and hunting reindeer and small animals. Their lives change when Saiva finds Loki, a frozen stranger that is dying in the ice. Saiva brings him to their tent and recalls when she met her boyfriend and his tribe; how soviet soldiers have slaughtered them and raped her; and how she rescued Anja and killed the aggressors. When Loki is recovered, he and Anja fall in love with each other, affecting her relationship with Anja.
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A man has everything: dozens of servants, a palace, vast woods, gardens, a lake, mechanical toys, private entertainment troupes of musicians and dancers. He has it all – but love. When alone, he sits at a desk, sighing, and looking at a photograph of a pretty girl. One day, the circus descended onto his palace, and amidst all the fun it brought, he recognized the Amazon on the white horse – the girl in the photograph. The girl is now the mother of a small boy, Yo-Yo, whom she considers that looks like the millionaire, even under a clown’s make-up. The boy will spend some time in the palace, in awe of so much riches, but he will leave (in a dream-like scene) on the tusks of the elephant. Time passes – and one day Yo-Yo will be the owner of his father’s palace in decay. Starting from scratch, he will rebuilt it, and be praised as a great clown, an artist, a film-maker, a millionaire.
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Pierre is a shy man whose sole focus in life is studying astrology in solitude, which is often difficult since he still lives at and studies in his parent’s house. His parent’s would rather he date and get married. He takes on this task with verve. Not knowing how to approach women in a romantic way, he watches how other men operate and tries to emulate them, most often without success. He ends up attracting the one woman he doesn’t really want, a fun loving woman named Laurence who lives next door, but he becomes obsessed with Stella, a singer he sees on television. He believes her love song is being sung directly to him. As Pierre tries to get away from Laurence while pursuing Stella, he may miss the perfect match who may be right under his nose.
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