
Three people live in a remote Buddhist monastery near Mount Chonan: Hyegok, the old master; Yong Nan, a young man who has left his extended family in the city to seek enlightenment – Hyegok calls him Kibong! Read More »
Author Archives: rarefilm
Strange Intruder (1956) Irving Rapper, Edmund Purdom, Ida Lupino, Mimi Gibson, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller

During the Korean War, a soldier promises his dying buddy that he’ll look after the man’s family when he gets home. He winds up getting more than he bargained for. Read More »
The Kid Brother (1927) Ted Wilde, Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Walter James, Comedy, Drama, Family, Romance

The most important family in Hickoryville is (naturally enough) the Hickorys, with sheriff Jim and his tough manly sons Leo and Olin. Read More »
Scarlet Négligée (1968) Ron Scott, Byron Lord, Shirley Boyd, Nancy Reeves, Crime, Romance

Three robbers hide out in a brothel. Read More »
Murder on the Orient Express (1974) Sidney Lumet, Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Crime, Drama, Mystery

Having sorted a matter out in the Middle East, detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) is returning to England aboard the Orient Express. Read More »
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) Richard Fleischer, Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas, Adventure, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

In 1866, Professor Pierre M. Aronnax (Paul Lukas) and his assistant Conseil (Peter Lorre), stranded in San Francisco by reports of a giant sea monster attacking ships in the Pacific Ocean, are invited to join an expedition to search for the creature. Read More »
Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954) Don Siegel, Neville Brand, Emile Meyer, Frank Faylen, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Producer Walter Wanger, who had just been released from a prison term after shooting a man he believed was having an affair with his wife, wanted to make a film about the appalling conditions he saw while he was incarcerated. Read More »
Violette (2013) Martin Provost, Emmanuelle Devos, Sandrine Kiberlain, Olivier Gourmet, Drama, Romance, Biography

Violette Leduc, born a bastard at the beginning of last century, meets Simone de Beauvoir in the years after the war in St-Germain-des-Prés. Read More »
Flowers of Shanghai / Hai shang hua (1998) Hsiao-Hsien Hou, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Michiko Hada, Michelle Reis, Drama

In Shanghai in the 1880s there are four elegant brothels (flower houses): each has an auntie (called madam), a courtesan in her prime, older servants, and maturing girls in training. Read More »
Finis Hominis / The End of Man (1971) José Mojica Marins, Teresa Sodré, Roque Rodrigues, Comedy, Drama

Stark naked man comes out from the sea and begins to walk the streets, interfering in daily episodes, always in search of justice. Read More »