Tag Archives: 1990s

This Spanish/French film presents a loving ode to a woman’s breasts and the three men who love them. The fairy tale is told from the viewpoint of 9-year old Tete, who jealous of his new brother’s access to his mother’s breasts, implores the moon to give him a nurturing breast of his own. French cabaret performers Estrellita, the Queen of Stuttgart, and her jealous husband Maurice, come to town with their surprisingly vulgar act. When Tete sees Estrellita, he knows his wish has been granted. Trailer-park electrician Miquel is also very attracted to Estrellita’s charming chest and begins serenade her. Tete gets to sample her charms after he brings her a frog.
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A young girl, Jane gets a job as a maid to a lecherous old billionaire. During her time there he dies, and decides to leave his money to the object of his desire, rather than his own son. His son’s wife however is less than happy about this and sets in motion a chain of sexual dalliances and murder.
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Mark (John Larroquette) and Jessie (Kirstie Alley) get blindsided by an unexpected visit from Mark’s cousin, Fred (John Diehl), and his pregnant wife, Bernice (Jessica Lundy). The family reunion is suddenly extended from five days to six months after an accident renders Bernice bedridden, and Mark and Jessie’s life is slowly turned upside down by a seemingly never-ending stream of house guests, including Jessie’s neurotic sister (Alison La Placa) and her obnoxious son (Bradley Gregg).
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A girl in traditional female clothing, with her arm in plaster, comes out of school one day and doesn’t find her mother meeting her. She decides to travel home herself though she doesn’t know her address and remembers the road only visually.
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The young and fanatical Jon is appointed pastor to a remote church in 17th century Iceland. As is custom, he marries the widow of his predecessor, a woman much older than he is. He is ardent in his fight against Satan, and the villagers don’t dare to question his authority. When he falls for a beautiful young woman, Jon is convinced witchcraft is at work, and his crusade leads to cruel executions of innocent people. The stronger his lust, the deeper his madness drives him in his religious fervor.
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The story takes place in Yugoslavia at the end of the 19th century, in an isolated village near the Adriatic sea. Because of the extreme patriarchal culture there is a superstition that families without male heirs are cursed. When the wife of a farmer gives birth to their fourth daughter, father decides that the child will be brought up to become a so-called “Virgina” and that she will live as a man, so that she can work and be the family heir. This heartbreaking story of Virginas life is told with strong words, augmented with harsh inviroment.
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All seems lost. And then, in an old, lonely and icy park two shadowy figures meet: those of Deus and a Messenger from God. The Messenger gives the crook (the temporary state of poor João de Deus) a suitcase stuffed with money. His mission accomplished, the Messenger leaves. João counts the bank notes. The silent waters of a nearby lake are disturbed when a heavy object plunges in. João goes to see what is happening. A young girl (Joana) is drowning. João throws himself into the water and carries the unconscious Joana off to a convent (Capucines?). How Responsible! João de Deus returns to the park to recover the case and its precious contents: happily, nothing has been touched…
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In 1999, Gregory Peck (1916-2003) visits the Barter Theatre, Abingdon, VA, where he had acted in 1940 and where this evening he tells stories and answers questions about his career. Interspersed are clips from Peck’s films and from interviews recorded over the years and vérité contemporary footage of visiting with his daughter Cecilia before and after the birth of her son, receiving the National Medal of Arts, chatting with Lauren Bacall and with Martin Scorsese, and dining with Jacques Chirac, always with his wife of forty-four years, Veronique Passani, beside him. Throughout, Peck is informal, candid, and wry.
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In Faraway, So Close! angels watch over the people of Berlin. The world weighs heavily upon these men and women. Their attachment to things diminishes their desire for the invisible. As one angel laments, “It’s so exhausting to love people who run away from us.”
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A Choice between Loyalty or Duty of the Samurai! Can the heartlessness of society crush the honor of an individual? In the spring of the 18th year of Kanei (Feb/30/1624 – Dec/16/1644), Hosokawa Tadatoshi, feudal lord of the Higo area, died. Although Tadatoshi forbade his vassals to follow him in death before he died, they still committed seppuku one after the other. The new feudal lord, Mitsunao, Tadatoshi’s son, also gave the order forbidding seppuku. Abe Yaichiemon obeyed his former lord’s last wish but is now being called a coward by his comrades and finally decided to follow Tadatoshi in death in order to save his family’s honor. Mitsunao, upset by Yaichiemon actions, punished the Abe family unfairly. Objected to this, the Abe family shut themselves up in their manor as the lords troops moved in… This is the true story of what happened within the Hosokawa clan in early Edo era. A masterpiece by director Kinji Fukasaku that boldly depicts the struggle between humanity and the code of the Samurai.
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