
It’s 1933, and eight young women are friends and members of the upper- class group at a private girl’s school, about to graduate and start their own lives. The film documents the years between their graduation and the beginning of the World War in Europe, and shows, in a serialized style, their romances and marriages, their searches for careers or meaning in their lives, their highs and their lows.
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Tag Archives: english subtitles
L’Ora di Religione / Le Sourire de ma Mère (2002) Marco Bellocchio, Sergio Castellitto, Jacqueline Lustig, Chiara Conti, Drama

Marco Bellocchio’s My Mother’s Smile was deemed blasphemous by the Roman Catholic Church for what the Church referred to as Bellocchio’s “systematic destruction of family and religious values.” Contrary to the Church’s presumptions about Bellocchio, My Mother’s Smile is a fascinating portrait of a man (Sergio Castellitto as Ernesto) who is forced to reconcile with his own atheism after receiving a shocking appeal from the Church requesting his participation in the canonization of his “saintly” mother.
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Midare karakuri / Murder in the Doll House (1979) Susumu Kodama, Shin Kishida, Koichi Kitami, Yûsaku Matsuda, Drama, Sci-Fi, Horror

In the best traditions of Japanese mystery stories which place fiendishly elaborate plots at their centre, Murder at the Doll House more than succeeds as a classic detective story. We’re presented with a set of strange occurrences which our master sleuth will explain to us in a long lecture at the end and even if one or two twists are a little obvious, the satisfaction involved in having figured them out ahead of time outweighs any kind of disappointment. Toshio may say he wants to be like Philip Marlowe but in actuality his detective is a little more in the European mould – almost like a more active Poirot or a slightly less obtuse Sherlock Holmes. Still, donning a trench coat with a turned up collar yet eschewing the classic hat which would have obscured his giant ‘70s perm, Matsuda once again turns in a very “cool” performance as super smart private eye.
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The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) William A. Fraker, Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse, Christopher Lloyd, Action, Adventure, Western

When the young Texas Ranger, John Reid, is the sole survivor of an ambush arranged by the militaristic outlaw leader, Butch Cavendich, he is rescued by an old childhood Comanche friend, Tonto. When he recovers from his wounds, he dedicates his life to fighting the evil that Cavendich represents. To this end, John Reid becomes the great masked western hero, The Lone Ranger. With the help of Tonto, the pair go to rescue the President Grant when Cavendich takes him hostage.
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Yakuza gurentai / Yakuza Hooligans (1966) Sadao Nakajima, Hiroki Matsukata, Shigeru Amachi, Kazuko Inano, Action

A bunch of young angry misfits and hoods who aren’t quite up to joining the yakuza, hatch and execute a variety of petty scams. The youngest, a high school student who has a way with women, is approached by a yakuza and asked to spy for them.
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The Demon of Mount Oe / Ooe-yama Shuten-dôji (1960) Tokuzô Tanaka, Kazuo Hasegawa, Raizô Ichikawa, Shintarô Katsu, Fantasy, Horror

A demon-faced monster seeking revenge appears in the forms of a gigantic ox and a huge spider! The young Genji warrior protects the Fujiwara Clan and the beautiful lady in tragic love! A grand visual epic told with mesmerizing extravagance!
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A Month by the Lake (1995) John Irvin, Vanessa Redgrave, Edward Fox, Uma Thurman, Comedy, Drama, Romance

For 16 years Miss Bentley has been spending April at an elegant hillside villa on Lake Como. This year, 1937, her London society artist father has recently died and the only other English-speaking guests are brash Americans. Then Major Wilshaw arrives. He suggests they meet for cocktails and Miss Bentley stands him up – not even thinking about it – as she helps the new nanny of an Italian family settle in. Miss Beaumont, a tall, young American who has dropped out of finishing school in Switzerland, is bored and finds some amusement in flirting with the major, whose libido is awakened for the first time since before the great war. And Miss Bentley now finds more about the major to admire than his ears.
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Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) Robert Bresson, Anne Wiazemsky, Walter Green, François Lafarge, Drama

The story of a mistreated donkey and the people around him. A study on saintliness and a sister piece to Bresson’s Mouchette.
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Pickup on South Street (1953) Samuel Fuller, Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter, Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller

On a crowded subway, Skip McCoy picks the purse of Candy. Among his take, although he does not know it at the time, is a piece of top-secret microfilm that was being passed by Candy’s consort, a Communist agent. Candy discovers the whereabouts of the film through Moe Williams, a police informer. She attempts to seduce McCoy to recover the film. She fails to get back the film and falls in love with him. The desperate agent exterminates Moe and savagely beats Candy. McCoy, now goaded into action, confronts the agent in a particularly brutal fight in a subway.
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Uden en trævl / Without a Stitch (1968) Annelise Meineche, Anne Grete Nissen, Ib Mossin, Joan Gamst, Comedy, Drama, Erotic

When a high-school girl complains of her inability to reach sexual climax, her doctor suggests that she keep a diary of her sexual encounters. She does just that and soon finds herself caught up in a sexual merry-go-round that includes making a hardcore porno film in Sweden, an escapade with a German sadist and a lesbian encounter.
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