Author Archives: rarefilm

Brev til Kongen / Letter to the King (2014) Hisham Zaman, Ali Bag Salimi, Zheer Durhan, Nazmi Kirik, Drama

Brev til Kongen AKA Letter to the King (2014)
Letter to the King portrays five people on a day trip from a refugee camp to Oslo, a welcome change in an otherwise monotonous life. But we soon realize that each and every one of them has an agenda for their trip. All five will make decisive choices on this day, as they discover happiness, humiliation, love or fulfill a long-awaited revenge. The five stories are tied together by a letter, written by eighty-three year old Mirza. Mirza wants to hand over the letter to the King personally.
Read More »

Les amants du Flore (2006) Ilan Duran Cohen, Anna Mouglalis, Lorànt Deutsch, Caroline Silhol, Biography, Drama

Les amants du Flore (2006)
En 1924, Simone de Beauvoir, jeune fille à l’apparence policée, prépare son agrégation de philosophie et fait la connaissance de Jean-Paul Sartre. Ce dernier semble être le seul à connaître la vraie personnalité de Simone et la considère comme la seule femme digne d’être son interlocuteur. Leur amour chaotique sert de prémisse à l’oeuvre majeure de Simone de Beauvoir: Le Deuxième Sexe.
Read More »

La mosca en la ceniza / A Fly in the Ashes (2009) Gabriela David, Luis Machín, Luciano Cáceres, Cecilia Rossetto, Drama

La mosca en la ceniza AKA A Fly in the Ashes (2009)
Two rural Argentinean girls head for the capital with horrifying consequences in “A Fly in the Ashes,” a punchy drama about human trafficking that neatly balances grim social realism with a good story, an urgent message and a memorable perf from a Maria Laura Caccamo as an urban street saint. Helmer Gabriela David has wisely larded her joyless little tale with strong characterizations and suspense, and the result has generated decent fest play on the Spanish circuit. Further exposure is warranted for an item that, while local in treatment, carries universal resonance.
Read More »

La grande bellezza / The Great Beauty (2013) Paolo Sorrentino, Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Drama

La grande bellezza AKA The Great Beauty (2013)
Journalist Jep Gambardella has charmed and seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades. Since the legendary success of his one and only novel, he has been a permanent fixture in the city’s literary and social circles, but when his sixty-fifth birthday coincides with a shock from the past, Jep finds himself unexpectedly taking stock of his life, turning his cutting wit on himself and his contemporaries, and looking past the extravagant nightclubs, parties, and cafés to find Rome in all its glory: a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.
Read More »

Monanieba / Repentance (1984) Tengiz Abuladze, Avtandil Makharadze, Ia Ninidze, Zeinab Botsvadze, Comedy, Drama

Monanieba AKA Repentance (1984)
The villainous mayor of a small town in Georgia, Varlam (Avtandil Makharadze), responsible for Stalin-like terror in his megalomania, dies and is given a pompous burial. Problem arises when the attractive Guliko (Iya Ninidze), someone whose two daughters were persecuted by the mayor, keeps digging up his grave and placing it somewhere else. She is arrested after telling authorities Varlam has no business being buried with such honor. During her trial, the story of the evil mayor is told in flashback, using the power of symbols and surreal dream images to bring back the recollections of that nightmarish regime.
Read More »

The Night Stalker (1972) John Llewellyn Moxey, Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley, Simon Oakland, Horror, Mystery

The Night Stalker (1972)
Carl Kolchak is a newspaper reporter with an abrasive personality that has gotten him fired ten times from various big-city papers. Now he’s reduced to reporting for a relatively small-time paper in Las Vegas. It’s here he gets the story of his life. But will the local sheriff, or the D.A., or even his own boss, let him print it? He has an ally in the FBI agent brought in to investigate this strange case. It seems someone is biting the necks of young girls and draining their blood. Can this killer with supernormal powers really be a 70-year-old Rumanian millionaire? Can he really be a vampire? And can an aging reporter do anything to stop him?
Read More »

Akibiyori / Late Autumn (1960) Yasujirô Ozu, Setsuko Hara, Yôko Tsukasa, Mariko Okada, Comedy, Drama

Akibiyori AKA Late Autumn (1960)
Family and friends of the late Shuzo Miwa have gathered for his annual memorial service, this one marking the seventh anniversary of his passing. Three of his long time friends – married Shuzo Taguchi, married Soichi Mamiya, and widowed Seiichiro Hirayama – have long known and admitted to each other that they have always been attracted to his widow, Akiko Miwa, who they believe has gotten even more beautiful as she has matured. The three friends take it upon themselves to find a husband for the Miwa’s now twenty-four year old daughter, Ayako Miwa, who they believe as beautiful as her mother, and who, as a pure innocent, deserves a good husband. Their self-appointed task is despite them knowing that Ayako does not want them to do so. She doesn’t want to get married, at least not yet, as she struggles with her traditional sensibilities in post-war modern Japan. Her first priority as she sees it is to take care of her widowed mother, who would be alone if she were to get married.
Read More »