Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Marquis de Sade's Philosophy : Eugenie de sade 1970

                
Look–we’ve all got them. Call them “chick flicks” or the male equivalent thereof, there are films of a nature that make them utterly unappetizing to our domestic partners but which sing their siren song to us, beckoning us to view their forbidden excellence when disapproving eyes are out of range. My own brand of “chick flick” is the kind of hazy, languorous, nudity-packed kink-tragedy produced Continentally during the 1970s. I know that for many, the long shots of Significant Glances and the injection of La Philosophie dans le boudoir adds up to boredom of the most excruciating sort, but for me, it’s pure bliss. A master of the form, director Jess Franco delivers the titillating goods once again in 1970′s “Eugenie de Sade.”
http://www.teammovies.com/

One of five adaptations of the Marquis de Sade's Philosophy in the Boudoir directed by cult filmmaker Jesus Franco, this version was perhaps the most subdued, although it was still explicit enough to encounter censorship problems. Maria Rohm stars as Mme. de St. Ange, who reads the Marquis' book and fantasizes about its excessive content. St. Ange has sex with a man named Mistival (Paul Muller) in exchange for permission to take his lovely daughter Eugenie (Marie Liljedahl) to her vacation island. When they arrive, St. Ange and her lover Mirvel (Jack Taylor) seduce Eugenie into joining their bizarre sexual role-playing. A party follows, during which Eugenie is drugged and forced to submit to sadomasochistic games directed by Dolmance (Christopher Lee) and his oddly-dressed followers. When she awakens from her stupor, however, Eugenie finds that the games have turned to murder. Nino Korda and Herbert Fuchs co-star in this provocative exploitation film. Christopher Lee's role as the narrator Dolmance was originally accepted by George Sanders, whose personal crises forced him to withdraw prior to production. Franco returned to the same source material for Eugenie de Sade (1970), Plaisir a Trois (1973), Cocktail Special (1978), and Eugenie, Historia de Una Perversion (1980).

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Funny Movie from 1977: Il ginecologo della mutua

              
The story starts from the events of the Dr. Guido Lo Bianco, a gynecologist very famous. Because of speculation unorthodox, is covered by debt and to avoid trouble decide to go abroad for a few months. When they could not close the private clinic, she decides to contact Dr. Franco Giovanardi ( Renzo Montagnani ), a good and honest mutual gynecologist, very libertine for having married a wife lesbian. Dr. Franco Giovanardi environmental immediately in the new study, asserting itself both as a doctor and as a lover. After a short time in fact all of his customers are queuing up to have its particular services. 
Recommended by the clever and cunning secretary Pamela ( Paola Senatore ), Dr. Franco Giovanardi from his utmost towards its customers, especially to Tina ( Daniela Doria ), the wife of Arlotti, a wealthy businessman, who wants to all costs a son by his young wife. In love with the wife of Arlotti, who becomes pregnant, Dr. Franco Giovanardi manages to get finance the construction of a new clinic with the help of Tina and her husband, who ignores it is not the natural father of the child. Made from the clinic, Dr. Franco Giovanardi will you install once, and it is a real success. Cede the old studio to a young colleague, perennial with white women. Dr. Lo Bianco, however, will remain abroad to do the gynecologist on the tropical island where he fled.

Classic Horror: The Mephisto Waltz (1971)

              
The title of the purportedly most difficult piece every written for piano, by Franz Liszt. You get to hear parts of that piece quite a bit in this horror film. The aging grandest piano player alive, Duncan Eli (played magnificently by German master actor Curd Juergens), is quite obsessed with this piano solo. While giving a young music journalist Myles Clarkson (Alan Alda) an interview, he recognizes Myles' large hands, and starts to invite him and his beautiful wife (Jacqueline Bisset) into his circle of friends. Of course, he has ulterior motives to do that ...
It is amazing how this film from 1971 can still conjure up a good deal of chills. A demonic soundtrack and moody camera settings together with great acting are all that it takes. No gore is required, and when in one of the most dramatic scenes the devil himself appears, actually showing him would only have detracted from the suspense already built up, and no image of him would have been able to scare you more than the look on the face of Bisset summoning the Master.
Great acting from Juergens, two even in today's world stunning actresses (Bisset and Barbara Parkins as Duncan's daughter and then some), fantastic music and soundtrack, a great story with a few unexpected twists: a classic but still relevant after all these years!
In another words adapted from a Fred Mustard Stewart novel, this offbeat occult thriller stars Alan Alda (just prior to his eleven-year stint on M*A*S*H) as journalist and burgeoning musician Myles Clarkson, whose long-sought interview with ailing concert pianist (and closet Satanist) Duncan Ely (Curt Jurgens) leads to a mysterious ritual in which Ely's soul is transferred into Clarkson's body at the moment of the elder man's death. Further complications ensue when Myles' wife Paula (Jacqueline Bisset) discovers the none-too-subtle change in her husband's behavior, and she is pulled deeper into Ely's twisted circle. The plot thickens as further soul-swapping, dark family secrets, and demonic possession come into play. A heavy sense of doom pervades this bizarre film, thanks to some offbeat cinematography and eerie music, as well as some truly shocking setpieces courtesy of prolific TV director Paul Wendkos, who helmed the excellent Legend of Lizzie Borden. The prosaic Alda lacks the dangerous edge his character demands, but Bisset's performance is chillingly effective.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Complicated Movie: La petite Lili


Mado, a famous actress, spends his summer at his home in Britain holiday with his brother Simon, his son Julian, who wants to become a filmmaker, and Brice, her current lover, director of her latest film. Between mother and son relationships are tumultuous. Julien is madly in love with Lili, a young local girl who aspires to be an actress. This is more fascinated by Brice, a renowned stage director who does not seem indifferent to its charm. He takes her to Paris soon. Five years later, Lili was successful and became a famous actress. She left Brice. By chance, she learns that Julian will make his first feature film and it speaks for itself.In another words The plot is based on the 1896 stage play The Seagull by Anton Chekhov.

A group of cinematics spend a holiday in the French countryside. The film provides insight in their relationships, including that between a young man and a local girl, Lili. She uses the opportunity to work her way into the cinematic world, and for which she swaps her young friend for his mother's lover. This settled filmmaker takes Lili on a trip to Paris.A few years later the young man has become a filmmaker himself. His first film is inspired by the mentioned holiday. Lili, by now an actress, learns about it and works herself in a refined way into its cast. Ending up as the star of this production. No more than that, for the young filmmaker remains faithful to his wife and young daughter.Happiness cinema, is to see films like THE LITTLE LILI ... with a wonderful cast, a simple story, stunning scenery, dialogue that hit ... This is all that the cinema géantissime CLAUDE MILLER ... one of our greatest filmmakers. Robinson Stévenin is nice to see in this role while LUDIVINE SAGNIER confirms its status as a great actress. A side of them, NICOLE GARCIA, JULIE Depardieu and JEAN-PIERRE MARIELLE we feast. That is what a great French film, a tasty blend of ingredients to the delight of moviegoers.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Dramatic Drama: My Life Without Me (2003)


My Life Without Me is a 2003 Spanish/Canadian drama film directed by Isabel Coixet and starring Sarah Polley, Mark Ruffalo, Scott Speedman, and Leonor Watling. Based on the book Pretending the Bed Is a Raft by Nanci Kincaid, it tells a story of a 23-year-old woman, with a husband and two daughters, who finds out she is going to die soon. The film was produced by Pedro Almodóvar's production company, El Deseo.

Isabel Coixet's Mi vida sin mi (My Life Without Me) is a tale of a woman dying before her time. Sarah Polley plays Ann, a 24-year-old mother of two. Ann is married to Don (Scott Speedman), and they live near Ann's mother (Deborah Harry), who is bitter about the fact that Ann's father is serving a ten-year prison sentence. Ann learns that she has only a few months to live.

She makes a series of goals to complete before her time on Earth comes to an end. Among her accomplishments are taking a lover (Mark Ruffalo), finding someone to care for Don, and recording birthday greetings for her two daughters. My Life Without Me was screened in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. My Life Without Me received generally positive reviews from film critics.The film won many international and festival awards, including the Genie Award for Best Actress (Polley) and the Goya Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (Coixet) and Best Song ("Humans Like You" by Chop Suey). The film was released on September 26, 2003 and ran for 12 weeks. It grossed $400,948 domestically and $9,326,006 from the foreign markets for a worldwide total of $9,726,954.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Laura Antonelli again : Casta e pura 1981


Antonio is the husband of a rich heiress who shortly before the death of his wife, including the risk of being ousted from the capital, he convinces the dying to ask a vow of chastity to young daughter Rosa, so that this had not been able to marry up to father's death.Twenty years later, Rose is now a beautiful girl, the whole house and church, who lives in accordance with the oath he swore on his deathbed of his mother. Soon, however, Rosa began first to have strange dreams and then to have the alluring nightly visits by the cousin Fernando. Extremely upset by these events, Rose confided to his confessor priest and nun of wanting to give to charity all his possessions. As soon as his father Antonio is aware of this idea, rather than lose the heritage that is usufructuary, is organizing a group of sexual initiation for their daughter.Laura Antonelli plays a chaste young woman who has difficulty understanding--and reining--her blossoming sexual desires.

Salvatore Samperi may have been bitter when he shot this "sexy comedy", because apart from the lovely virgin Rosa - played by the still bombastic Laura Antonelli - no one is likeable here !The movie is about a rich girl that everybody's interested in only to get a hand on the loads of cash she inherited. Between her tyranic father (Fernando Rey, getting old and less picky with scripts, it would seem) and some pimpin' playboy (Massimo Ranieri, looking sleazy and dubious), her doctor wants her to get laid, and apparently so does the village priest !But daddy doesn't want Rosa to get married, because this would mean the end of his reign on the girl's money...Conventionally shot, with a humor that the french dubbing probably obliterates, this one's fine but it's not highly entertaining or innovative. There are a few glimpses of flesh here and there, lots of suggested incest, a collective rape during a medieval party which is very confusingly shot, and a small role given to the lovely Gabrielle Lazure.If this is an attempt to mock the modern bourgeois family, it is half obtained, everybody being so morally corrupt that it is almost banalised ! We've seen it all before; the father being more interested in money than family, the wild virgin looking to burst out of her shell... It would have appeared daring during the 70's but in 1984, I will have to say that this is average filmmaking and that it's sadly forgottable.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Nice Brazilian Movie : Casa de Areia aka House of Sand 2005

                 
Three generations of women struggle to make lives for themselves and their families in the desert wastes of Northern Brazil in a drama from filmmaker Andrucha Waddington. In 1910, Vasco de Sá (Ruy Guerra) leads his wife, Áurea (Fernanda Torres), and her mother, Dona Maria (Fernanda Montenegro), to their new home -- a ramshackle cabin in Maranhão, a tiny village in the middle of a barren sand dune. Vasco and Áurea's new neighbors are hardly welcoming of the new arrivals, especially Massu (Seu Jorge), and when Vasco unexpectedly dies, Áurea and Dona Maria are left to fend for themselves, an especially vexing challenge as Áurea is with child. Nine years later, Áurea and Dona Maria have turned their cottage into a home, but life in Maranhão remains a constant uphill battle, and Áurea dreams of moving away with her daughter, Maria (Camilla Facundes).

Áurea becomes infatuated with Luiz (Enrique Diaz), who works with a group of astronomers who have come to Maranhão to observe an eclipse, but their romance comes to a crashing halt when Dona Maria is killed. By 1942, Maria (now played by Fernanda Torres) is a promiscuous alcoholic who brings shame to Áurea (now played by Fernanda Montenegro). After the body of an Air Force pilot is found near Maranhão, a military officer is sent to investigate -- Luiz (now played by Stenio Garcia). When Luiz meets Maria, he sees the image of the woman he longed for years before, and while she doesn't have the same feelings for him, Maria realizes that Luiz represents her best hope of finally escaping the village she's come to hate. The House of Sand received its North American premiere at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Drama to watch 1992: Ángel de fuego

                 
The shabby and weird side of impoverished Mexico is brought wonderfully alive with delicate choices of color and lighting and composition, the barking of dogs and crowing of roosters. Prepare for shabby tents and trucks, and lots of rusting junk and odd circus characters somehow wonderfully put on film. The is not a Merchant Ivory film!!! There is some lovely naive or "primitive" art in it in the puppet show for example, and in the trappings of the circus.The young girl is born into an odd community of circus people that are crabby and focused on staying alive.
There is little love or fellowship and she finds it only with her father and ends up getting pregnant by him just before he dies. Then there is nothing for her in the circus and she goes out on her own. She is determined to have the baby because it represents the only love she has ever had.She falls into friendship with a charming little boy that has been taken in by a female preacher and her young son who thinks he is a prophet and free of sin.

The four tour around poor settlements with a visually charming biblical puppet show and the preachers offers to redeem people for their sins and poor gullible peasants place their hopes in her. They donate money of course.People degraded by their conditions and their naivete are shown to be vulnerable to this sort of cheap charisma. I see this as iconic of the exploitations of people in Mexico and elsewhere by wacky religious ideas and a little theatre.The preacher predictably ends up misleading and using the girl for her own selfish and crazy purposes, and the fetus is lost. The preacher of course justifies it as a "greater good" sacrifice for God.In a general way, the ending that follows is not too very hard to guess. The girl seeks revenge. But I won't spoil the plot by going into detail.If you don't take the film literally but instead metaphorically, and if you sometimes wonder why good people do bad things, there is a lot to ponder in this film.

Le Mari de la coiffeuse I like it!

                   
The film begins in a flashback from the titular character, Antoine. We are introduced to his fixation with female hairdressers which began at a young age. The film uses flashbacks throughout and there are frequent parallels drawn with the past. Though Antoine tells Mathilde that 'the past is dead', his life is evidence that on some level the past repeats itself. As a young boy he fantasised about a hairdresser who committed suicide and as a man in his 50s he begins an affair with a hairdresser which ends after ten years in her suicide. However there are differences, Mathilde commits suicide because she is so happy she is afraid of the happiness she has found with Antoine ending.We are unsure what Antoine has done with his life; we know, however, that he has fulfilled his childhood ambition: to marry a haidresser. The reality proves to be every bit as wonderful as the fantasy and the two enjoy an enigmatic, enclosed and enchanting relationship. The final sequence shows Antoine, in the salon, dancing to Eastern music just as he has done throughout his life. His last line is the enigmatic comment that the hairdresser will return.The film is awesome in how it begins, how it continues, and how it ends. It is profound.

It is about our foolish dreams. I doubt it has ever found a single viewer who yearns to be a hairdresser's husband, but it allows us all to understand such a thing is quite possible. He isn't a hair fetishist. He is a hairdresser fetishist. Leconte shows us the very moment when he was seized by his desire. His young eyes are wide and solemn as he glimpses in a gap in another hairdresser's blouse that form we all learn, as our first lesson, is the source of all goodness, love and comfort: a woman's breast. He is lost.Not only lost, but mad. There is no sanity in his intense focus. Is she mad? She must be. But they're both so happy. Real life hardly seems to be a factor. We never see them eat. We never see them sleep. We know they live in a room above the shop, but we don't see it.Their days pass in a serene parade, sometimes enlivened by his fondness for dancing to recordings of the music of "The Arabian Nights." He can't dance, as he is the first to admit. But what he does is wonderful, and Rochefort's gyrations, always with a solemn face, are very funny. Why this music? Why this dance? Why do we need to ask?

Malèna Sexy Italian Movie


The film begins in Sicily in 1940 during World War II just as Italy enters the war. A young boy, 12-year old Renato, experiences three major events in one day: First, Italy goes to war, second, he gets a new bike, and third, he first sees the beautiful lady, Malena. Malena's husband, Nino Scordia, has been taken away to fight in Africa and Malena is left alone with her father, an elderly and almost-deaf man. Malena tries to cope with her loneliness, as the town she has moved to tries to deal with this beautiful woman who gets the attention of all the local men, including Renato. However, in spite of the gossip, she continues to be faithful to her husband. Renato becomes obsessed with Malena and starts fantasizing about her. His fantasies become increasingly elaborate and he becomes obsessed with the shy young woman, peeping in her window often as she waits sadly for her beloved husband to return. Renato eventually steals Malena's underwear and begins to fantasize about her in bed, to the horror of his parents. They do everything to stop his behavior, but it is all in vain.
Malena soon receives word that her husband has been killed and her grief consumes her. Renato continues to watch Malena as she suffers from grief. Malena is shunned by the townspeople who begin to believe the worst about her, simply because of her beauty. Women spread terrible rumors and men encourage the rumors by lurking around the poor widow, who does nothing to defend herself; she just wants to be left alone.She visits her father regularly and helps him with his chores, but when a slanderous letter reaches his hands, their relationship suffers a catastrophic blow. Things only get worse when the wife of the local dentist takes Malena to court, accusing her to having an affair with her husband, but Malena is acquitted.

                 

Court is told that Malena is being harassed for being beautiful as other ladies feel insecure and threatened by her. The only man that the lonely and sad Malena has a romance with, an army officer, is sent away after saying he and Malena were "just friends". The betrayal cuts deeply, but Malena says nothing to condemn the officer. After her acquittal, Malena's lawyer Centorbi comes to her home and asks for dance and during dance, using her unpaid legal fee as leverage, rapes her while Renato peeps in from outside her house.Renato increasingly sees himself as Malena's protector, but he does not even realize that his views of her are little better than those of the townspeople. While he asks God to protect her and personally performs little acts of vengeance against those who slander Malena, he takes no time to realize how Malena herself feels. He even rationalizes the rape as a choice Malena made to pay her legal fee.Meanwhile, the war reaches Sicily and the town is bombed. Malena's father dies and she is left completely alone. Desperate for food, Malena's poverty finally forces her to become a prostitute. She cuts off her long black hair and begins to dress provocatively. When the German army comes to town, Malena gives herself to Germans as well. The townspeople smugly watch as she is forced into the role of whore; they are almost more content now than when she was a virtuous young wife. Renato sees her in the company of two German officers and faints. His mother and the older ladies think that he has been possessed and take him to church for an exorcism. His father however takes him to a brothel; Renato has sex with one of the prostitutes while fantasizing that she is Malena.When the war ends and the Americans arrive, the women gather and publicly beat and humiliate Malena viciously, forcefully shaving her hair and stripping her in the square. A depressed Malena leaves for Messina to escape further persecution. A few days later, Nino Scordia, Malena's husband, returns looking for her, to the shock of all the residents. He finds his house occupied by people displaced by the war and nobody willing to tell him what became of his wife. Renato tells him through an anonymous letter about Malena's whereabouts and the fact that she always loved only him and all the rumors about her cheating were not true. Nino goes to Messina to find her and a year later they are seen walking down the street, Nino proudly arm-in-arm with his still-beautiful wife.
The villagers, especially the women, astonished at her courage, begin to talk to "Signora Scordia" with respect. Though still beautiful, they think of her as no threat, claiming that she has wrinkles near her eyes and has put on some weight. Malena, however, is as shy as ever and wary of the attention after her experiences.In the last scene near the beach, Renato helps her pick up some oranges that had dropped from her shopping bag. Afterwards he wishes her "Buona fortuna, Signora Malena" (good luck, Mrs. Malena) and rides off on his bicycle, looking back at her for a final time, as she walks away. This is the first and only time they speak to each other in the movie. As this final scene fades out, an adult Renato's voice-over reflects that he has not forgotten Malena, even after the passage of so many years. He says, according to the English subtitles, "Time has passed and I have loved many women. And as they've held me close and asked if I will remember them, I believed in my heart that I would. But the only one I've never forgotten, is the one who never asked ... Malena"
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