Author Archives: rarefilm

Raven’s Cabin (2012) Loren Johnson, Andrea Burdett, Luke Ledger, Pia Prendiville, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

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Bound, gagged and blindfolded, several teens are grabbed in the middle of the night and taken to Redback, a youth behavior modification facility deep in the Australian bush. They’re completely cut off from the rest of the world; isolated and tested in the unforgiving camp. Rumors travel through the camp that a few years earlier a girl reportedly hanged herself. But that’s just a rumor. Only the dead girl and her murderer know the truth and the dead don’t talk… unless they find someone who can hear them.
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Yo soy la felicidad de este mundo / I Am Happiness on Earth (2014) Julián Hernández, Hugo Catalán, Gabino Rodríguez, Andrea Portal, Drama

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Emiliano looks at his life with the eyes of a film director, mixing the objective reality with the processes of the artistic creation. The story he is filming flounders with his daily life, until his world is trapped in the lens of his camera. Confused, always alone and in front of a screen, now become a transfigured reality, but at the same time a measurable, controllable and manipulable one, he listens in loop to a song: one of those songs you sing or repeat as a prayer and forcing you to remember, believe and convince yourself.
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Dream On (2013) Lloyd Eyre-Morgan, Bradley Cross, Joe Gosling, Janet Bamford, Drama, Romance

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The course of true love does not run smoothly for two young lads in Norman’s Cozy Welsh campsite in the mid 80s. Paul, an innocent northerner from Rochdale, meets George, a jack the lad, nervy young man from London. Paul has come on holiday with his domineering mum Denise and her attempts to control him, though comic, throw him further into thrall with George. Both teenagers dream of escape but their dreams go through many ups and downs in the course of Dream On.
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Godless (2015) Joshua Lim, Craig Jordan, Michael E. Pitts, Garrett Young, Drama

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The talented Craig Jordan plays Nate, a college graduate whose life plans change after he has to move back in with his mother following the death of his father. Through flash backs we get a rather brief sampling of his maternal bond, but there is just enough to discover the true focus of the drama—his undying love for his brother, Steven. Michael E. Pitts portrays the sibling who returns home to comfort his brother and share the grieving process, knowing all too well that their time together could rekindle a physical affection they’ve shared since puberty.
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Anata-ga suki desu, dai suki desu / I Like You, I Like You Very Much (1994) Hiroyuki Oki, Chano, Kazunori Shibuya, Hisanori Kitakaze, Drama

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This groundbreaking drama, one of few to feature gay lifestyles in a Japanese context, is the work of writer, editor, cinematographer, director and co-star Hiroyuki Oki, an avant-garde filmmaker. In the liberal enclave of Kochi City, Japan, a gay college student, You (pronounced using two syllables as “Yo-ooh”), is living a contented life with his lover and classmate. Then he spies an attractive young man at a train station, and their meeting leads to a subsequent sexual encounter. Although You confesses his infidelity to his boyfriend and even seeks the advice of an ex-lover, he does not completely break off his new relationship, leading to a love triangle that forces each of the men to question his sexuality and identity. Running barely one hour long, I Like You, I Like You Very Much (1995) was short for a feature-length film but earned critical respect for tackling what remains an extremely sensitive cultural issue in its home country.
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