Author Archives: rarefilm

Hebi no michi / Serpent’s Path (1998) Shô Aikawa, Teruyuki Kagawa, Shiro Shitamoto, Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Hebi no michi AKA Serpent's Path (1998)
Serpent’s Path and its companion piece Eyes of the Spider (Kumo No Hitomi) both start from the same premise: a man taking revenge for the murder of a child. Kurosawa used this premise as the jumping-off point for the two films rather than their definition, resulting in a pair of works which are not so much occupied with revenge, but with the mental processes of human beings in situations that have placed them outside everyday life.
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College Holiday (1936) Frank Tuttle, Jack Benny, George Burns, Gracie Allen

College Holiday (1936)
Sylvia Smith and Dick Winters share a romantic kiss at a dance, but Sylvia is called away before Dick can learn her full name. Sylvia’s father is about to lose his California hotel, the Casa Del Mar, thanks to the financial blundering of his new business partner J. Davis Bowster. The mortgage is held by eccentric heiress Carola P. Gaye, whose current fascination is with the ancient Greek-style eugenics championed by Prof. Hercules Dove.
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Anything for John (1993) Dominique Cazenave, John Cassavetes, Seymour Cassel, Peter Falk

Anything for John (1993)
An intimate portrait of actor-writer-director John Cassavetes and a loving tribute to his genius for studying and depicting the human character. In-depth, candid interviews with his wife and muse Gena Rowlands as well as his most trusted friends and co-workers like Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara, Seymour Cassel, etc. Clips from Cassavetes’ greatest films, and many rare photos illustrate this touching documentary.
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La moustache (2005) Emmanuel Carrère, Vincent Lindon, Emmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Amalric

La moustache (2005)
Marc is sitting in his bath one morning and asks his wife, “how would you feel if I shaved off my mustache?” She doesn’t think it’s a great idea, for the 15 years they’ve been married, she’s never known him without his ‘stache. He shaves it off anyway, but when he sees his wife, she doesn’t notice, neither do their friends at dinner that night, neither do his co-workers. Marc finally flips out, shouts at everyone, tells them he’s tired of their little joke, and what do they really think. His wife and co-workers are appalled, what is he talking about, he’s never had a mustache. In fact, he’s imagining other things as well, or is he?
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The Big Boss (1941) Charles Barton, Otto Kruger, Gloria Dickson, John Litel

The Big Boss (1941)
The Big Boss is Jim Maloney (Otto Kruger), who pulls all the political strings in an unnamed major metropolis. Maloney’s chief antagonist is scrupulously honest “reform” governor Bob Dugan (John Litel). The fact that Maloney and Dugan are actually brothers, orphaned in childhood and raised separately, adds both texture and poignancy to their current adversarial relationship. Intending to reveal his fraternal ties to Dugan at a crucial moment in the latter’s anti-corruption campaign, Maloney is ultimately defeated by the forces of Righteousness. Outside of the always dependable Otto Kruger and John Litel, the film’s best performance is delivered by the underrated Gloria Dickson as a fairly realistic newspaperwoman.
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