The Substance

This May in the town seems to be warmer and gloomier than the previous years. Still, everyone seems to be happy despite their small worries and lives closed for any surprises. However, this happiness is a little disturbed by the arrival of Muzaffer who has made up his mind to shoot a film in this town where he had passed his childhood.

Sorelle Mai nasce dall'esperienza di Marco Bellocchio alla direzione dei corsi di Fare Cinema a Bobbio, città in provincia di Piacenza dove il regista è nato e dove nel 1965 girò la sua folgorante opera d’esordio, I pugni in tasca. Articolato in sei episodi, il film narra le vicende della…

A gang of robbers, lead by career criminal Charlie Croker, create the largest traffic jam in Los Angeles history, giving them time to pull off a theft of gold bullion. They get away in their Mini Coopers, which are small enough to drive on sidewalks so they can make a clean get away before the traffic jam clears.

Near the Baie de la Seine swamps, opposite the Port of Le Havre, Auguste Maroilleur, an elderly farmer, exploits 400 hectares of crop land with the help of his family, over which he rules with an iron hand. Things go awry the day he discovers one of his grandsons is involved in drug traffic.

A work of poetry and dark humor, Les visiteurs du soir is a lyrical medieval fantasy from the great French director Marcel Carné. Two strangers dressed as minstrels (Arletty and Alain Cuny) arrive at a castle in advance of court festivities - and are revealed to be emissaries of the devil, dispatched to spread heartbreak and suffering. Their plans, however, are thwarted by an unexpected intrusion: human love. Often interpreted as an allegory for the Nazi occupation of France, during which it was made, Les visiteurs du soir - wittily written by Jacques Prévert and Pierre Laroche, and elegantly designed by Alexandre Trauner and shot by Roger Hubert - is a moving tale of love conquering all.

Dexter is a crime drama about Dexter Morgan, a man who leads a double life as an incredibly likeable forensics expert for the Miami Police Department and as an emotionless vigilante serial killer. Taught by his foster father to harness his lust for blood and killing, Dexter lives by his own strict moral code - he only kills murderers who can't otherwise be brought to justice. Dexter is a killer who grapples with fitting into society while, at the same time, he struggles with his inability to feel emotion. The irony of Dexter's life is that he works closely as a blood splatter analyst with the very people who hunt his kind - the homicide department.

As well as their famous Frankenstein and Dracula series of films, Universal also shot a number of one-off horror titles during the height of their horror sucesses in the 1930s and 1940s, this set brings together five of those starring their unique and distinctive leading man, Bela Lugosi. In four of the films he is also joined by frequent screen sparring partner, Boris Karloff.
The films range from the original and exciting Invisible Ray (1936) to the missed opportunities of Horror/Gangster fusion in Black Friday (1940). The Edgar Allan Poe based stories range from decent Black Cat (1934) to the average Raven (1935) and the dull Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932).

In Arnaud Desplechin’s beguiling A Christmas Tale (Un conte de Noël), Catherine Deneuve brings her legendary poise to the role of Junon, matriarch of the troubled Vuillard family, who come together at Christmas after she learns she needs a bone marrow transplant from a blood relative. That simple family reunion setup, however, can’t begin to describe the unpredictable, emotionally volatile experience of this film, an inventive, magical drama that’s equal parts merriment and melancholy. Unrequited childhood loves and blinding grudges, brutal outbursts and sudden slapstick, music, movies, and poetry, A Christmas Tale ties it all together in a marvelously messy package.

Ozu’s hilarious Technicolor reworking of his silent I Was Born, But … , Good Morning (Ohayô) is the story of two young boys in suburban Tokyo who take a vow of silence after their parents refuse to buy them a television set. Shot from the perspective of the petulant brothers, Good Morning is an enchantingly satirical portrait of family life that gives rise to gags about romance, gossip, and the consumerism of modern Japan.

Love it or hate it, the pop decade that brought us, variously, Wham!, Bananarama, Annie Lennox, Morrissey, Michael Jackson, S'Express and, er, Joe Dolce certainly had variety. Award-winning author Dylan Jones is in the driving seat for this authoritative four-part look back. No stone (rose) remains unturned, as he revisits the New Romantics, hip-hop, indie jingle, synth-pop and club culture. Not to mention Culture Club…