Tag: Italy

#510: Red Desert

Posted in FilmsLeave a comment

jtx7qpvnak7scmulk2abvetm4qm#510 – Red Desert, (Il deserto rosso), 1964, Michelangelo Antonioni
itfr

Amid the modern wastelands and toxic factories of Italy, wife and mother Giuliana desperately tries to conceal her tenuous grip on reality from those around her, especially her successful yet neglectful husband, Ugo. Ugo’s old pal, Corrado, shows up in town on a business trip and is more sensitive to Giuliana’s anxieties. They begin an affair, but it does little to quell Giuliana’s existential fears, and her mental state rapidly deteriorates.

#528: Au Revoir les Enfants

Posted in FilmsLeave a comment

a6qg9x7o3etagupmu67g9yipvpt#528 – Au Revoir les Enfants, 1987, Louis Malle
frdeit

Au revoir les enfants tells a heartbreaking story of friendship and devastating loss concerning two boys living in Nazi-occupied France. At a provincial Catholic boarding school, the precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie—until a secret is revealed. Based on events from writer-director Malle’s own childhood, the film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening.

#540: Army of Shadows

Posted in FilmsLeave a comment

qzwot4fbabl3xsah4holnd8fsn8#540 – Army of Shadows, (L’Armée des ombres), 1969, Jean-Pierre Melville
frit

Betrayed by an informant, Philippe Gerbier finds himself trapped in a torturous Nazi prison camp. Though Gerbier escapes to rejoin the Resistance in occupied Marseilles, France, and exacts his revenge on the informant, he must continue a quiet, seemingly endless battle against the Nazis in an atmosphere of tension, paranoia and distrust.

#601: Germany Year Zero

Posted in FilmsLeave a comment

xupbfxrlinbzixftibiucus35sb#601 – Germany Year Zero, (Germania anno zero), 1948, Roberto Rossellini
it

The final film in Rossellini’s war film trilogy (the first two being Rome, Open City and Paisà). Germany Year Zero takes place in post-war Germany, unlike the others, which take place in German-occupied Rome and post-war Italy, respectively. The story follows a twelve-year-old boy, Edmund Kohler, who is mainly left to his own devices in order to survive and to help his family do the same.

#604: Berlin Alexanderplatz

Posted in FilmsLeave a comment

6v4yhcfarqhsazimkaegbulerya#604 – Berlin Alexanderplatz, 1980, Rainer Werner Fassbinder
deit

Berlin Alexanderplatz, originally broadcast in 1980, is a 14-part television film adapted and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder from the Alfred Döblin novel of the same name, and stars Günter Lamprecht, Hanna Schygulla, Barbara Sukowa, Elisabeth Trissenaar and Gottfried John. The complete film is 15½ hours long.

#638: Nostalgia

Posted in FilmsLeave a comment

il1zno4eeian5k1uowrpmvueyf6#638 – Nostalgia, (Nostalghia), 1983, Andrei Tarkovsky
it

The Russian poet Andrei Gorchakov, accompanied by guide and translator Eugenia, is traveling through Italy researching the life of an 18th-century Russian composer. In an ancient spa town, he meets the lunatic Domenico, who years earlier had imprisoned his own family in his house for seven years to save them from the evils of the world. Seeing some deep truth in Domenico’s act, Andrei becomes drawn to him. In a series of dreams, the poet’s nostalgia for his homeland and his longing for his wife, his ambivalent feelings for Eugenia and Italy, and his sense of kinship with Domenico become intertwined.

#643: Dancer in the Dark

Posted in FilmsLeave a comment

4zz2ax5zrwebgxdihpcxbkxfsvo#643 – Dancer in the Dark, 2000, Lars von Trier
isdkfisenonlitarusgbfrde

Selma, a Czech immigrant on the verge of blindness, struggles to make ends meet for herself and her son, who has inherited the same genetic disorder and will suffer the same fate without an expensive operation. When life gets too difficult, Selma learns to cope through her love of musicals, escaping life’s troubles – even if just for a moment – by dreaming up little numbers to the rhythmic beats of her surroundings.