While serving in Vietnam, a demolitionist witnesses the brutal torture/rape/murder of a young woman…ultimately, he becomes a serial rapist and killer himself, preferring explosives as his murder weapon of choice.
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Dove vai in vacanza? / Where Are You Going on Holiday? (1978) Mauro Bolognini, Luciano Salce, Ugo Tognazzi, Stefania Sandrelli, Pietro Brambilla, Comedy
Three shorter comedies: In “Saro Tutta Per Te” (I Will Be All Yours), Tognazzi is Enrico, a dentist who has agreed to vacation with his ex-wife at her lover’s villa. In “Si Buana” (Yes, Buana), Villaggio is Wilson, a man in charge of a group of tourists in Kenya. In the final episode, “La Vacanze Intelligenti” (Intelligent Vacation), Alberto Sordi is Remo, a greengrocer who, along with his wife, gets sent on a vacation by their well-meaning children who want to “improve” their parents’ minds by sending them off to see Etruscan tombs, hear performances of atonal modern music, and appreciate the wonders of avant-garde modern art.
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Een vrouw als Eva / A Woman Like Eve (1979) Nouchka van Brakel, Monique van de Ven, Maria Schneider, Marijke Merckens, Drama, Erotic
Young mother of two Eva is send on holiday to France by her husband to relief her stress. There she meets lesbian Liliane who lives in a commune.
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Medea (1988) Lars von Trier, Udo Kier, Kirsten Olesen, Henning Jensen, Drama
Medea is in Corinth with Jason and their two young sons. King Kreon wants to reward Jason for his exploits: he gives the hand of his daughter, Glauce, to Jason as well as the promise of the throne. In exchange, Medea and the boys are to be banished. Jason explains that his actions ensure a rich future for Medea and her sons. She asks that she be allowed to stay; Kreon refuses. She asks for one more day, and begs Jason to seek the king’s permission to allow their sons to stay in Corinth. Jason agrees and Medea prepares a gift for her sons to give to Glauce. Will Medea leave peacefully?
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Riarizumu no yado / Ramblers (2003) Nobuhiro Yamashita, Keishi Nagatsuka, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Machiko Ono, Comedy
Tsuboi and Kinoshita have just arrived at a desolate town. Both of them are amateur filmmakers. Tsuboi is a screenwriter and Kinoshita a director. They have come to this town because Funaki, an actor, has tempted them to come here, but he has yet to arrive. Tsuboi and Kinoshita start wandering around the town and happen to meet a young woman, Atsuko. The three of them go on a journey together and become friends. But one day, Atsuko disappears.
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Roberto Succo (2001) Cédric Kahn, Stefano Cassetti, Isild Le Besco, Patrick Dell’Isola, Biography, Crime, Drama
‘Kurt’ claims to be a sales rep. He also claims to be English in spite of his heavy Italian accent. Kurt is an habitual liar and a dangerous driver, at the very least. In the south of France he meets Léa, age 16. Between his increasingly strange dates with Léa, Kurt engages in a number of armed robberies, some successful, some not… The police are perplexed by a series of crimes including disappearances and a murder. They conclude that they are dealing with a madman… After he proposes, Léa breaks up with Kurt. The attempt to find a new girlfriend leads to a shooting by Kurt, now calling himself André. Léa’s information identifies Kurt/André as Roberto Succo, psychiatric patient and parental murderer. The police hunt for Roberto covers three countries.
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Roozi ke zan shodam / The Day I Became a Woman (2000) Marzieh Makhmalbaf, Fatemeh Cherag Akhar, Hassan Nebhan, Shahr Banou Sisizadeh, Comedy, Drama
A film comprised of three interconnected vignettes that depict women at three stages of life in Iran. The first part centers on a young girl on her ninth birthday who is told that she can no longer play with the boys she had been playing with only the day before because she is now a woman. Told from the perspective of a 9-year-old girl who does not feel like or know what the word “woman” refers to, we see how devastatingly this affects both the girl and the boy with whom she had been friends. The second part is about a young woman who decides to enter a bicycle race against her husband’s wishes. As first, the husband and then increasing numbers of men from her village ride beside her on horseback to convince her to return home. The race begins to symbolize a freedom that she desperately wants from the limitations that have been placed on her. Finally, the third part shows us an old woman who has come into some money and is now free to do what she wants.
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Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat (1944) Phil Rosen, Sidney Toler, Joan Woodbury, Mantan Moreland, Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Thomas P. Manning, businessman and chess expert mysteriously shot in a locked room, dies clutching some chess pieces. Police are baffled, and finally abandon the case. Six months later, victim’s daughter Leah Manning, stung by a scurrilous book about the case, enlists the aid of Charlie Chan and Number 3 Son. Additional murders follow, leading to a climactic confrontation in a seemingly deserted “Fun House.”
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Dangerous Money (1946) Terry O. Morse, Sidney Toler, Gloria Warren, Victor Sen Yung, Comedy, Crime, Mystery
A treasury agent traveling aboard a ocean liner confides to fellow passenger Charlie Chan that he’s on the trail of a counterfeiting ring operating from the South Pacific and has survived two recent attempts on his life. Chan helps him avoid a third but is helpless to prevent a knife thrown in his back in the ship’s club room. Although the ship will be docking shortly in Samoa, Charlie is confident that he will unmask the killer before then. Among the suspects are an elitist reverend and his wife, a beautiful young woman traveling with forged papers, a shady loudmouth of a salesman, a larcenous ship’s steward, and a professional knife-thrower.
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The Scarlet Clue (1945) Phil Rosen, Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland, Ben Carter, Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Charlie Chan investigates the theft of government radar papers (the laboratory is located in the same building as a radio station!) with the help of Number Three Son Tommy and comic sidekick Birmingham Brown.
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