Arthouse

From out of a snowy, barren landscape, a man appears. He's running, though from what we do not know. The valley ahead holds a large town, modern in convenience but ancient in design. Just before reaching the town, the man (Kosmos) hears the screams of a girl (Neptun) from the other side of an icy river. Neptun's younger brother has fallen into the swift waters and drowned. Kosmos pulls the boy from the river and revives him with his mysterious, healing powers. Grateful for this heroic feat, the townspeople welcome Kosmos as an honored guest (a gesture they soon live to regret).

As a weary sailor named Jan (Matthieu Carrière) sets foot on dry land, he is mysteriously abducted and awakens in the isolated mansion of Malpertuis. There, he is reunited with his sister Nancy (Susan Hampshire) and an eclectic group of distant relatives, each summoned by his dying uncle Quentin Cassavius (Orson Welles). Cassavius wishes to will all of his heirs an equal portion of his fortune. However, in return, each must honor his dying request: They are to remain within Malpertuis for the rest of their lives, the last couple to marry.

Middlebrow Cinema challenges an often uninterrogated hostility to middlebrow culture that frequently dismisses it as conservative, which it often is not, and feminized or middle-class, which it often is. The volume defines the term relationally against shifting concepts of ‘high’ and ‘low’, and considers its deployment in connection with text, audience and institution.

Latin Stacks: Live & Resampled Vol. 2 is the newest installment of our popular Latin Stacks series and continues to pay homage to the classic rhythms, melodies, and live instrumentation of the Latin countries. This collection was inspired by songs of yearning that conceal themes of love, heartbreak, conflict, and celebration. Created in collaboration with Arthouse Acoustics, we recorded live upright pianos, dusty trumpet stacks, spirited acoustic guitars, and moody double bass. Crackling vintage Latin vinyl blend with the sounds and spirit of grindhouse and exploitation cinema.

Hungarian auteur Bela Tarr's seven-hour, black-and-white epic based on the novel by Laszlo Karsznahorkai took two years to film. The complex story follows a group of people living in a dilapidated village in post-communist Hungary. Tarr examines their standstill lives through a series of episodes told from each person's point-of-view. Susan Sontag wrote, "Devastating, enthralling for every minute of its seven hours. I'd be glad to see it every year for the rest of my life." Winner of the Caligari Film Prize and the Ecumenical Jury Prize Special Mention at the 1994 Berlin International Film Festival.