
A very beautiful film. This is a Ken Takakura vehicle, and as such follows his formula. Takakura plays to type as the laconic brooder who suffers multiple tragedies with manly stoicism. While the variety of his film varied greatly, his films with director Yasuo Furuhata were always of the highest quality, and this is no exception. Takakura is a cop training to be a sharpshooter for the Olympic games, he divorces his wife and abandons his daughter when he discovers she’s had an affair. Later his coach is gunned down by a fleeing criminal. Years later Takakura returns to his snowy hometown and starts an affair with a middle-aged bar owner. The story is a bit thick, with a number of subplots, yet it is extrordinarily melancholic, as Takakura seems to regret everything he’s done in his life and is made over and over again to relive his mistakes. There is very little “action” as such, and no yakuzas of any kind; but beyond that this is one of the most lushly beautiful and emotional films you can see (if you can see it), with an excellent score by Ryudo Uzaki.
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Tag Archives: english subtitles
Un carnet de bal / Dance Program (1937) Julien Duvivier, Marie Bell, Françoise Rosay, Louis Jouvet, Drama

After the death of her husband, Christine realizes she has possibly wasted her life by marrying him instead of the man towards whom, in her youth, she had a stronger inclination. To overcome these dreary thoughts, she decides to find out about him and the other men who danced with her during a ball that was a turning point in her life, many years ago. She pays a visit to those forgotten acquaintances one after the other; Christine is not only surprised to see how they have fared, but also discovers the impact she had, unknowingly, on the feelings and the destiny of these persons.
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Die verliebte Firma / The Company’s in Love (1932) Max Ophüls, Gustav Fröhlich, Anny Ahlers, Lien Deyers, Comedy

The story follows a movie crew who is filming a musical in a small and idyllic alpine village. After their temperamental leading lady drops out of the film, they decide to replace her with the village’s young post office clerk Gretl, who returns to Berlin with them. There she has to struggle with the movie’s all-male crew, who all try to woo and win her.
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Il tuo dolce corpo da uccidere / Your sweet body for killing (1970) Alfonso Brescia, George Ardisson, Françoise Prévost, Eduardo Fajardo, Horror

Tells the story of a husband who wants to kill his unfaithful wife. He has many murderous fantasies in which he murders her. After the disposal of her beautiful dead body our hero looses incriminating suitcase. It’s time to get the crime evidence back.
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Francesca (2009) Bobby Paunescu, Monica Barladeanu, Dorian Boguta, Luminita Gheorghiu, Drama

Wanting to follow the current trend, Francesca, a young teacher from Bucharest, is eager to emigrate to Italy. Unfortunately,whilst desperately seeking support from those nearest and dearest to her, various untold truths unravel.
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Daisy Miller (1974) Peter Bogdanovich, Cybill Shepherd, Barry Brown, Cloris Leachman, Drama, Romance

In this comedy of manners, the American Winterbourne tries to figure out the bright and bubbly Daisy Miller, only to be helped and hindered by false judgments from their fellow friends.
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Early Spring / Sôshun (1956) Yasujirô Ozu, Chikage Awashima, Ryô Ikebe, Teiji Takahashi, Drama

A young man and his wife struggle within the confines of their passionless relationship while he has an extramarital romance.
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Die Niklashauser Fart / The Niklashausen Journey (1970) Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Michael Fengler

Can a small group of people start a proletarian revolution, asks the “Black Monk” in a leather jacket. The medieval shepherd, Hans Boehm, claims to have been called by the Virgin Mary to create a revolt against the church and the landowners. The “Black Monk” suggests that he would have more success if he dressed up Johanna and had her appear as the Virgin Mary.
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Une liaison pornographique / An Affair of Love (1999) Frédéric Fonteyne, Nathalie Baye, Sergi López

They recount their impressions to the Interviewer. They met through a magazine ad, She and He. They corresponded through the Internet. He responded to her ad seeking someone to fulfil her fantasy for “a pornographic affair”. This is their first meeting in a Paris café. He’s a little reticent. She wants to know whether or not he’s hairy. (He is; he’s Spanish.) They retire to a nearby hotel room. The door of the room closes. Unseen, the affair is consummated… They continue to see one another regularly each week. They find they get along well together. Soon she suggests that they try normal sex the next time…
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Les dimanches de Ville d’Avray / Sundays and Cybele (1962) Serge Bourguignon

After killing a child on a routine bombing mission in Vietnam, Pierre suffers from delayed stress and partial amnesia. Returning to France, he lives like a vegetable until he meets a young girl who has been dumped by her father at a boarding school. Posing as her father, Pierre contrives to meet the girl every Sunday, to play with her and perhaps recover his memory. The innocent friendship is misread by nearly everyone, even people who know Pierre well.
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