Updated to 1970s London, this faithful adaptation of Herman Melville’s classic follows a young accounting clerk rebelling against his employer by responding to demands to do work by saying, “I prefer not to.” This is carried on ad absurdum until the office is in chaos because the other employees must do Bartleby’s work. His boss is unable to fire or help him and eventually has him placed in a mental hospital. Paul Scofield (A Man for All Seasons), John McEnery (The Duellists) and Thorley Walters (TV’s “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”) star in this impeccably mounted study of employment, insanity, and the rigors of everyday life from one of literature’s most acclaimed geniuses.
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After the Fox / Caccia alla volpe (1966) Vittorio De Sica, Peter Sellers, Victor Mature, Britt Ekland, Comedy, Crime
Peter Sellers plays Aldo Vanucci (aka the Fox), one of the greatest criminals of the world, and master of disguise. After Aldo escapes from the Italian prison he was held in, he meets again with his friends, and plans to retrieve the “gold of Cairo” a large shipment of gold, that waits to be unloaded somewhere in Italy. Aldo devices the perfect plan. Posing as a famous director, he finds the ideal coastal village to unload the shipment, and persuades the entire population that he has chosen their village as the set for his new movie. Everybody, including the idiot chief of the local police is so excited, that they can’t even imagine that in fact they are helping the Fox to get the “gold of Cairo”…
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The Light at the Edge of the World (1971) Kevin Billington, Kirk Douglas, Yul Brynner, Samantha Eggar, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Pirates take over a lighthouse on a rocky island. They then execute a devious plan to cause ships to run aground, pillaging their wrecks. A lone member of the lighthouse crew survives, and he deperately fights their plot. A shipwrecked maiden that avoids the pirates slaughter soon complicates the situation.
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Steve + Sky (2004) Felix van Groeningen, Titus De Voogdt, Delfine Bafort, Johan Heldenbergh, Romance, Drama, Comedy
Steve + Sky is a story about two struggling teenagers who are trying to find their own place in the world. He is a small-time crook recently released from prison and she is a prostitute craving some love and affection. They find each other in an obscure part of Gent. Jean-Claude is responsible for their meeting ; he is also an ex-inmate who has just traded the low-life crime scene for life as a pimp. Will their love survive?
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Mysterious Intruder (1946) William Castle, Richard Dix, Barton MacLane, Nina Vale, Film-Noir, Mystery
A private detective is hired by the owner of a music store to find a young girl he grew up with. Suspicious as to why someone would pay a lot of money to find someone he hasn’t seen in years, the detective digs further and soon winds up in a scheme involving a set of valuable old phonograph records, a dead millionaire and murder.
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Nouvelle-France / Battle of the Brave (2004) Jean Beaudin, Noémie Godin-Vigneau, David La Haye, Juliette Gosselin, Drama, History, Romance
Prejudice, perfidy, love, and bravery in Québec. In 1779, a priest on his deathbed receives a young woman. Flash back 20 years: Marie-Loup, an herb-dispensing peasant, falls for François, a man of property. The priest’s perfidy and the treachery of a soldier separate the lovers and set in motion a chain of events leading to a death, a trial, and an execution. The action unfolds against a backdrop of England’s take-over of French-Canada, the Church’s manipulations to maintain spiritual hegemony, and the limited rights of woman and indigenous peoples. Watching it all is Marie-Loup’s daughter, named France, who, when grown, is the dying priest’s visitor in prelude and coda.
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Nishijin Shinju / Double Suicide at Nishijin (1977) Yoichi Takabayashi, Yoshie Shimamura, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Goichi Yamada, Drama
Yumi, an exceptionally beautiful call girl, has a close call with death when a client forces her to die with him. An old cop pities her and agrees to be her guarantor so that she could join a Nishijin weaver workshop. Yumi wishes to put her dark past behind her, but she’s exposed by an ex-client. Despite the unwavered support of the old cop, she sees no way out and uses her seductive body again to get what she wants. Hiroyuki, her co-worker at the weaver workshop, is a pure-hearted young man who may redeem Yumi from her deadly path as a femme fatale.
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A Dama do Cine Shanghai / The Lady from the Shanghai Cinema (1987) Guilherme de Almeida Prado, Maitê Proença, Antônio Fagundes, José Lewgoy, Crime, Mystery
Real estate broker and former boxer enters an old cinema in the decadent downtown São Paulo and meets an intriguing and mysterious woman, very much alike the leading lady of the film. He gets involved with her and her problems and in no time is being accused of a crime.
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Antonia / Antonia’s Line (1995) Marleen Gorris, Willeke van Ammelrooy, Jan Decleir, Veerle van Overloop, Comedy, Drama
In an anonymous Dutch village, a sturdy, strong-willed matriarch looks back upon her life, the generations of family and friends gathered around her table, and ponders the cyclical nature of time.
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Brev til Kongen / Letter to the King (2014) Hisham Zaman, Ali Bag Salimi, Zheer Durhan, Nazmi Kirik, Drama
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.
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