| The
screenings sponsored by the CSUN Cinematheque support the academic
mission of the Cinema and Television Arts Department. They are
usually provided in conjunction with a required class lecture.
Seating is reserved for those students enrolled in the course.
If extra seating is available, it will be offered to anyone wishing
to audit the lecture. SEATING IS ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SEATED BASIS. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE GENERAL ADMISSION SEATS HELD FOR GUESTS WHO ARE NOT READY TO BE SEATED. THIS MEANS THAT GUESTS MAY NOT HOLD SEATS FOR FRIENDS WHO WILL BE ARRIVING LATE OR WHO ARE FURTHER BACK IN THE QUEUE. The
public is also warmly invited to attend the series of free screenings
and events presented by the Department of Cinema and Television
Arts. The
Alan and Elaine Armer Theater is located in Manzanita Hall. Click
on DIRECTIONS for a map of the campus.
The University requires a parking permit to park in the University
parking lots. Parking permits are available for purchase ($5)
at the Information Booths located on Prairie Street on the west
side of campus and Lindley Avenue on the south side of campus.
Exact change is required.
| July 2008 |
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2 July– Wednesday
Cinema of Alfred Hitchcock
Psycho
(1960 -- 1 hr. 49 min. -- w Joseph Stefano d Alfred Hitchcock)
When a woman is discovered as missing--last seen at the infamous Bates Motel in the desert--her sister and boyfriend visit the place only to find it run by a voyeuristic, taxidermist loner whose possessed by his dead mother and dresses himself up like her, adopting her personality. (movies.yahoo.com)
The Birds
(1963 -- 2 hr. 0 min. -- w Evan Hunter d Alfred Hitchcock)
An immense flock of birds descends upon a seacost town, makes it their nesting ground, and begins to attack and kill the townsfolk. (movies.yahoo.com)
Program begins at 5 PM. |
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7 July– Monday
Cinema of Alfred Hitchcock
Marnie
(1964 -- 2 hr. 10 min. -- w Jay Presson Allen d Alfred Hitchcock)
A woman with a penchant for stealing money from the places she works as a receptionist marries one of her bosses who knows she's guilty. He then proceeds to try to uncover the mysteries surrounding her past. (movies.yahoo.com)
Frenzy
(1971 -- 1 hr. 56 min. -- w Anthony Shaffer d Alfred Hitchcock) A murdering rapist has been terrorizing London. The police manage to track him down and sentence him to life imprisonment. However Inspector Oxford has his doubts as to whether or not they have indeed the right man... (movies.yahoo.com)
Program begins at 5 PM. |
PRINCIPLES OF NARRATION
Maybe we are, in fact, the witnesses––or the artisans––of a certain death, that of the art of narrating, from which proceeds the death of storytelling in all of its forms. Maybe it is necessary, in spite of everything, to continue to believe that new forms of narrative, which we are not yet in a position to identify, are already in the process of being born. For we have no idea of what a culture could be in which one no longer knew what it meant to narrate.
––Paul Ricoeur
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9 July – Wednesday
NARRATOLOGY––INTRODUCTION
Film Extracts Snake Eyes
(1998 -- 1 hr. 39 min. -- w David Koepp, Brian De Palma d Brian De Palma)
In Atlantic City, during a hurricane, the Secretary of Defense attends a heavy-weight boxing title match. Rick Santoro, a local corrupt cop, watches with his old friend Kevin Dunne, who is now part of the navy guard on the politician. The Defense Secretary is assassinated during the fight while Dunne is distracted by a mysterious redhead. Santoro wants to cover his friend and in the process begins to uncover a more complex conspiracy. He listens to the testimony of various witnesses, including the boxer who throws the fight, and a blonde woman seen talking to the Secretary. He is led to question his own involvement in corruption and to discover more serious abuses of power. (movies.yahoo.com)
Program begins at 6 PM. |
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14 July – Monday
BRITISH PUBLIC SCHOOL
Film Extracts The History Boys
(2006 -- 1 hr. 44 min. --
play/scr Alan Bennett d Nicholas Hytner)
Centers on an unruly class of bright, funny teenage boys in pursuit of sex, sport and a college degree. Bounced between their maverick English teacher, a young and shrewd professor hired to up their test scores, a grossly out-numbered history teacher, and a headmaster obsessed with results, the boys attempt to sift through it all to pass the daunting university admissions process. Their journey becomes as much about how education works, as it is about where education leads. (movies.yahoo.com)
Program begins at 6 PM. |


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16 July – Wednesday
BRITISH PUBLIC SCHOOL
The Browning Version
(1951 -- 1 hr. 29 min. --
play/scr Terence Rattigan d Anthony Asquith)
Andrew Crocker-Harris, "The Crock" as his students call him, knows he isn't loved like the fictional Mr. Chips, but in the span of just over a day he is forced as Robert Burns would say, "to see ourselves as others see us." Michael Redgrave, the father of the British theatrical family and himself a former schoolmaster, brings a quiet resolve to the role of a man coming to terms with the failure of his life. His much younger wife, Jean (Jean Kent), has come to the end of her frustration with his failure to rise in his profession and becomes bitter when illness forces his early retirement. When a small act of kindness by one of his students lets him see how he has never imparted to them his own love of the classics, he begins to reflect on the rest of his life. His marital problems, confessed in terms far less explicit than are common to today, is perhaps even more effective for its verbal restraint.Anthony Asquith, who directed Redgrave in THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, takes a successful contemporary play by Terance Rattigan and provides a seamless transition to the screen. Jean Kent strikes just the right note as a woman who, in the name of honesty, has become heartlessly cruel, adding to the pleasure of watching Michael Redgrave's wonderful performance build to its deeply emotional climax. (movies.yahoo.com)
The Winslow Boy
(1999 -- 1 hr. 44 min. -- play Terence Rattigan w d David Mamet )
Based on the real-life story of a young naval cadet who is accused of stealing a five shilling postal order. Convinced of the boy's innocence, the Winslow family persuade the country's leading lawyer, Sir Robert Morton to take on the defense. As the case proceeds, it challenges many long-accepted legal notions and sets off a national frenzy--exacting a heavy price on the family. (movies.yahoo.com)
Program begins at 6 PM. |
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21 July – Monday
Gender Ideology
Carrie
(1952 -- 1 hr. 29 min. -- novel Theodore Dreiser w Ruth Goetz, Augustus Goetz d William Wyler)
A sterling performance by Olivier is the centerpiece of this drama based on the novel Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. When a farm girl follows her dreams to turn-of-the-century Chicago, she enters a bleak world of grueling, poorly-paid factory work. Determined to better her condition, she attaches herself to a salesman and then to a married restaurant manager who loses everything in order to keep her. As she ascends to success in the footlights, she leaves behind the man who rescued her. (movies.yahoo.com)
Oleanna
(1994 -- 1 hr. 58 min. -- w d David Mamet)
Based on David Mamet's two character play about sexual harassment, focusing on a male professor accused of harassing a female student. (movies.yahoo.com)
Program begins at 6 PM. |
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23 July – Wednesday
Ernest Hemingway
Only Angels Have Wings
(1939 -- 2 hr. 1 min. -- w Jules Furthman d Howard Hawks)
Geoff Carter (Carey Grant) is the head of a crumbling air freight service in desperate need of a replacement pilot. He is forced to hire a descredited aviator (Richard Barthelmess) who arrives with his wife (Rita Hayworth), Carter's ex-lover. Meanwhile, traveler Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur) tries to get close to the emotionally closed-off Carter. The film received two Academy Award nominations. (movies.yahoo.com)
Program begins at 6 PM. |
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28 July – Monday
Ernest Hemingway
Rio Bravo
(1959 -- 2 hr. 21 min. -- w Jules Furthman, Leigh Brackett d Howard Hawks)
A texas border town is in the clutches of an evil cattle baron and his band of thugs. When the former is arrested for murder, he vows to the sheriff that his gang will enact revenge. The sheriff is confronted with mustering up any strong men he can get--including his drunken deputy--to fight a fight that the odds won't tip in his favor. (movies.yahoo.com)
Program begins at 6 PM. |
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30 July – Wednesday
Formalism
Children of Paradise
(1945 -- 3 hr. 15 min. -- w Jacques Prévert d Marcel Carné)
Filmed during the German occupation, this French milestone centers around the theatrical life of a beautiful courtesan and the four men who love her. Voted the "Best French Film in History" by the French Film Academy in 1990. Academy Award Nominations: Best Original Screenplay. (movies.yahoo.com)
Program begins at 6 PM. |
| August 2008 |
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4 August – Monday
Realism
The Battle of Algiers
(1966 -- 2 hr. 0 min. -- w Gillo Pontecorvo, Franco Solinas d Gillo Pontecorvo)
True-to-life chronicle of the Algerian people's struggle to overthrow the French Colonial Government in the mid-1950s. The focus is thrown on the leaders of the Liberation Movement and the French general who is driven obsessively with catching them. (movies.yahoo.com)
The Thin Blue Line
(1988 -- 1 hr. 46 min. -- w d Errol Morris)
Using interviews and re-enactments, the film examines the 1976 murder of a Dallas policeman, and the wrongful conviction of one of the two men implicated in the killing. (movies.yahoo.com)
Program begins at 6 PM. |
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6 August – Wednesday
David Hare Art Cinema
Wetherby
(1985 -- 1 hr. 37 min. -- w d David Hare)
When a young man, a casual acquaintance of a middle-aged woman, decides to kill himself right before her eyes, the woman is then forced to reexamine her past and becomes occupied by the memory of a man she was once in love with. (movies.yahoo.com)
Strapless
(1989 -- 1 hr. 43 min. -- w d David Hare)
An American woman living in London becomes involved with a mysterious man from Rome. (movies.yahoo.com)
Program begins at 6 PM. |
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11 August – Monday
Film Noir: Adaptation
The Reckless Moment
(1949 -- 1 hr. 19 min. -- story Elisabeth Sanxay Holding w Mel Dinelli, Henry Garson d Max Ophüls)
After discovering the dead body of Bea Harper's lover, Bea's mother Lucia hides the body under the assumption that it was her daughter who killed the man. Martin Donnelly comes to blackmail Lucia on behalf of his partner Nagel and falls in love with Lucia instead. Nagel wants the money and Donnelly kills Nagel to protect Lucia, and then kills himself to end the impossible relationship with the married Lucia. (Written by Sam Goldberg -- imdb.com)
The Deep End
(2001 -- 1 hr. 39 min. -- story Elisabeth Sanxay Holding w d Scott Mcgehee, David Siegel)
Lake Tahoe, California. A mother wakes early one morning to find the body of her closeted seventeen-year-old son's lover impaled on an anchor on the beach of their lakefront home. With her husband away and nowhere to turn, she makes a reckless decision to move the body and hide it in the lake. Soon she finds herself and her family in even greater danger when the body is found and, impossibly, she is confronted by blackmailers. She tries desperately to raise the money, but repeatedly fails. Inexplicably, one of the blackmailers softens and begins to help her. But can she trust him? And how can she explain to her now suspicious son what's going on with this stranger who suddenly begins stopping by to see her? (movies.yahoo.com)
Program begins at 6 PM. |
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13 August – Wednesday
Film Noir:
noirs costume
Amadeus -- Extracts
(1984 -- 2 hr. 38 min. -- play/scr Peter Shaffer d Milos Forman)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's career and life are threatened by an envious court composer Antonio Salieri. (movies.yahoo.com)
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
(2006 -- 2 hr. 25 min. -- novel Patrick Süskind w Andrew Birkin, Bernd Eichinger, Tom Tykwer d Tom Tykwer)
Based on the bestselling novel by Patrick Süskind, "Perfume" is a story of murder and obsession set in 18th-century France. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille has a unique talent for discerning the scents and smells that swirl around him, which he uses to create the world's finest perfumes. Strangely lacking any scent of his own, he becomes obsessed with capturing the irresistible but elusive aroma of young womanhood. As Grenouille's obsession turns deadly, twelve young girls are found murdered. Panic breaks out as people rush to protect their daughters, while an unrepentant and unrelenting Grenouille still lacks the final ingredient to complete his quest. (movies.yahoo.com)
Program begins at 6 PM. |
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18 August – Monday
Film Noir: anti-genre narration
Funny Games
(2007 -- 1 hr. 52 min. -- w d Michael Haneke)
The vacation begins with Ann, George and their son Georgie on their way to their summer home. The neighbors, Fred and Eva, are already there. They make a date to play golf the next morning. It's a perfect day. Ann begins to make dinner, while her husband and son are busy with their newly restored sailboat. Suddenly, Ann finds herself face to face with a polite young man, the neighbors' guest Peter, who has come to ask for some eggs because Eva has run out. Ann is about to give Peter the eggs, but hesitates. How did he get onto their property? Peter explains that there's a hole in the fence--Fred showed it to him. Things seem strange from the beginning. Soon, violence erupts. (movies.yahoo.com)
Program begins at 6 PM. |
| Coming this Fall |
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Rawhide
(1951 -- 1 hr. 19 min. -- w Dudley Nichols d Henry Hathaway)
Four escaped killers hold a way-station keeper, his assistant and a beautiful passenger hostage as they await a coach containing gold. The keeper and the female passenger plan their escape and while the outlaws are arguing among themselves, the couple make their move. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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The Furies
(1950 -- 1 hr. 49 min. -- novel Niven Busch w Charles Schnee d Anthony Mann)
Director Anthony Mann's dark, psychological western tells the story of a ranch owner T.C. Jeffords (Walter Huston) at odds with his upstart daughter Vanca (Barbara Stanwyck) over matters of marriage and ultimately land. The mythic grandeur of the Wild West is superimposed with the the soul-churning struggles of Greek tragedy in this unusually intense frontier film. THE FURIES' stark black-and-white cinematography was nominated for an Academy Award. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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El Cid
(1961 -- 3 hr. 4 min. -- w Frederic M. Frank, Philip Yordan d Anthony Mann)
A legendary 11th century knight drives the Moors out of Spain. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
(1988 -- 1 hr. 50 min. -- w Dale Launer, Stanley Shapiro, Paul Henning d Frank Oz)
A French conman working the Riviera meets his match when an American cuts in on his territory. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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Afraid to Die [Karakkaze yarô]
(1960 -- 1 hr. 36 min. -- w Hideo Ando, Ryuzo Kikushima d Yasuzo Masumura)
The notorious Japanese writer, Yukio Mishima, who committed suicide in 1970, stars in Yasuko Masumura's cult yakuza film, AFRAID TO DIE. Mishima plays Takeo, a youthful yakuza who turns back to his criminal ways after leaving prison. Embroiled in the business of assassinations, revenge, and violence, Takeo finds struggling to keep alive for the love of his family and girlfriend Yoshie. One of the great films of the Japanese New Wave, AFRAID TO DIE is a frenetic, visually stunning satire. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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The Fire Within [Le feu follet]
(1963 -- 1 hr. 44 min. -- novel Pierre Drieu la Rochelle w d Louis Malle)
Louis Malle's masterpiece of spiritual and moral decay is a spellbinding account of the last 48 hours in the life of an ex-alcoholic playboy heading relentlessly towards suicide. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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Everything for Sale [Wszystko na sprzedaz]
(1969 -- 1 hr. 45 min. -- w d Andrej Wajda)
The leading man in a movie is killed in an accident on the set, bringing to the surface his own personal problems. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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One from the Heart
(1982 -- 1 hr. 47 min. -- w Armyan Bernstein, Francis Ford Coppola d Francis Ford Coppola)
In Las Vegas, Franny, a Fremont Street travel agent, dreams of taking off to the exotic locales to which she sends her clients. Meanwhile, her husband Hank is preoccupied with the purchase of their spacious, slightly seedy Spanish Moderne home as a good investment. Their anniversary forces the dreamy Franny to realize that neither she nor Hank has changed in the ways she hoped would bring them closer together. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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Youth Without Youth
(2007 -- 2 hr. 4 min. -- novel Micea Eliade, Francis Ford Coppola d Francis Ford Coppola)
A professor's life changes after a cataclysmic incident during the dark years before WWII. Becoming a fugitive, he is pursued through far-flung locations including Romania, Switzerland, Malta and India. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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The Maltese Falcon
(1941 -- 1 hr. 40 min. -- novel Dashiell Hammett w d John Huston)
Detective Sam Spade meet his unlikely match with a double-dealing client. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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Classe tous risques [Consider All Risks]
(1960. novel José Giovanni w Claude Sautet, José Giovanni, Pascal Jardin d Claude Sautet)
Lino Ventura (ARMY OF SHADOWS) and Jean-Paul Belmondo (BREATHLESS) star in this crackling gangster drama. After hiding out in Milan for years, crime boss Abel Davros (Ventura) is determined to return to France--even though he's been given a death sentence there in his absence. Along with his young guardian (Belmondo), Abel encounters old faces and new deceptions in the Parisian underworld. Though there's plenty of chases, shoot-outs, and tough-guy dialogue, the greatness of CLASSE TOUS RISQUES lies in its rich performances and the carefully drawn friendship between the leads. Neglected upon its initial release--and championed by directors John Woo, Bernard Travenier, and Jean-Pierre Melville--Claude Sautet's French noir is a worthy candidate for rediscovery. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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Belle de Jour
(1967 -- 1 hr. 41 min. -- novel Joseph Kessel w Luis Buñuel, Jean-Claude Carrière d Luis Buñuel)
A bored wife of a wealthy doctor spends her afternoons exploring exciting escapades as a call-girl in a chic Paris brothel. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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Goya’s Ghosts
(2006 -- 1 hr. 53 min. -- w Milos Forman, Jean-Claude Carrière d Milos Forman
A biographical tale told through the eyes of celebrated Spanish painter Francisco Goya, whose paintings are best known for their brutality and the colorful depictions of life during the Spanish Inquisition. The drama unfolds as Brother Lorenzo, an enigmatic member of the powerful Spanish clergy, becomes infatuated with Goya's beautiful teenage muse, Ines. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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Blade Runner
(1982 -- 1 hr. 57 min. -- novel Philip K. Dick w Hampton Fancher, David Webb Peoples d Ridley Scott)
In the year 2019, ex-detective Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to track down and eliminate a team of humanoid androids that have escaped from an outer space mining colony and have taken refuge here on Earth. During his search for the fugitives, he discovers some disturbing secrets about the future plans of the androids' manufacturer, the Tyrell Corporation. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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Otto Preminger series
Le Corbeau
(1943 -- 1 hr. 32 min. -- w Louis Chavance, Henri-Georges Clouzot d Henri-Georges Clouzot)
This suspense thriller concerns a small French village whose everyday existence is badly shaken by a series of mysterious poison pen letters. The author of the letters, who signs himself "The Raven," has enough defamatory information to provoke tension and suicide. (movies.yahoo.com)
Laura
(1944 -- 1 hr. 28 min. -- novel Vera Caspary w Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, Betty Reinhardt d Otto Preminger)
A detective investigating a murder falls in love with a dead woman's portrait -- only to find that she wasn't the woman who was murdered. (movies.yahoo.com)
Fallen Angel
(1945 -- 1 hr. 38 min. -- novel Marty Holland w Harry Kleiner d Otto Preminger)
Otto Preminger's classic film noir offering captures the common postwar struggle to get ahead, and one man's balancing act between two women. Dana Andrews stars as a drifter named Eric Stanton, who, after landing in a small California town, falls in love with Stella (Linda Darnell), a diner waitress. She makes it clear that she'll have nothing to do with Eric unless he has some money, so he hatches a plan to marry June Mills (Alice Faye), a wealthy reclusive spinster who is in love with him. Unfortunately, right after the wedding, Stella turns up dead, and the blame is placed on Eric. (movies.yahoo.com)
Daisy Kenyon
(1947 -- 1 hr. 39 min. -- novel Elizabeth Janeway w David Hertz d Otto Preminger)
Based on a book by Elisabeth Janeway, this 1947 feature stars Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews, and Henry Fonda, and is directed by Otto Preminger. The film explores the romantic triangle that is formed when artist Daisy gets involved with married lawyer Dan O'Mara, whose wife Lucille is waiting at home. Meanwhile, Daisy also has a man in the wings, complicating matters even further. (movies.yahoo.com)
Bonjour Tristesse
(1958 -- 1 hr. 34 min. -- novel Françoise Segan w Arthur Laurents d Otto Preminger)
A young girl vacations in the Riviera with her playboy, carefree father, but his lifestyle eventually causes them to reaximine the emptiness in their lives. (movies.yahoo.com)
Anatomy of a Murder
(1959 -- 2 hr. 40 min. -- novel John D. Voelker w Wendell Mayes d Otto Preminger)
A defense lawyer takes on a case of a man accused of murdering a bartender who apparently raped his wife. (movies.yahoo.com)
The Human Factor
(1979 -- 1 hr. 55 min. -- novel Graham Greene w Tom Stoppard d Otto Preminger)
A Cold War nail-biter based on Graham Greene's bestseller. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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Giallo genre
The Girl Who Knew Too Much
(1964 -- 1 hr. 26 min. -- w Mario Bava, Enzo Corbucci d Mario Bava)
The mystery of the Alphabet Murders in Rome was left unsolved ten years ago. When Nora Davis (Roman) travels there on vacation, she gets tangled in a web of death, starting with Edith, an old friend of the family. As Nora tries to find some help for Edith, she witnesses the stabbing murder of yet another woman. She soon discovers that the murder actually happened ten years ago, to Emily Craven, and that the Alphabet Murderer is looking for is still looking for the letter "D". (movies.yahoo.com)
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
(1970 -- 1 hr. 38 min. -- w d Dario Argento)
Sam, an American writer in Rome, is the only witness to an attempted murder. He launches his own personal investigation into the serial killings. (movies.yahoo.com)
Deep Red
(1975 -- 2 hr. 6 min. -- w Dario Agento, Bernardino Zapponi d Dario Argento)
When a little girl's blood is altered with new blood elements called "Reds" which endow people with immortality, a streetwise detective must protect the girl from a power-crazed scientist out to capture her at any cost. (movies.yahoo.com) |
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Manoel de Oliveira centenary celebration
I’m Going Home
(2001 -- 1 hr. 30 min. -- w d Manoel de Oliveira)
Gilbert Valence, a seasoned actor with a long career, learns after one of his performances that his wife, daughter and son-in-law have all died in a highway accident. Valence eventually adopts his grandson and continues with his acting. He even comes close to a flirtation with one of his young co-stars but no longer has the courage to embark upon such an adventure. Valence also resists the offer of a lot of money to star in a commericial telefilm teeming with drugs, sex and violence but does accept a role to work with an American director shooting a new version of Ulysses. Valence is given very little rehearsal time since he is stepping in at the last minute for another actor. On the set, with the cameras rolling, he finally realizes it is time to quit.
A Talking Picture
(2003 -- 1 hr. 36 min. -- w d Manoel de Oliveira)
A contemporary Odyssey from Portugal's finest cineaste, Manuel de Oliveira, this quiet, stirring drama of subtly epic proportions was made when director Oliveira was 96-years-old. Beautiful young history professor Rosa Maria (Oliveira veteran Leonor Silveira) is escorting her precocious eight-year-old daughter Maria Joana (Filipa de Almeida) on a cruise from their native Portugal to Bombay. The first half of the film is a history lesson illustrated through dialectical exchange between the two. Prompted by tourist attractions in France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey, Rosa weaves together a narrative of myth, legend, and fact, often blurring the line that separates them. The second half of the film is dominated by one long dinner conversation, when Rosa joins the captain of her ship (John Malkovitch, BEING JOHN MALKOVITCH, KLIMT) at his table. They are also accompanied by a successful French executive (Catherine Deneuve, DANCER IN THE DARK, 8 WOMEN), a former Italian model (Stefania Sandrelli), and a Greek actress (Irene Papas). As their discussion unfolds, with each speaking in his or her native language, the ship moves toward a startling conclusion that will reveal the director's bold message about the contemporary global community.
Belle Toujours
(2006 -- 1 hr. 10 min. -- w d Manoel de Oliveira)
Henri Husson is older and wiser, but still every bit the sadist libertine who lusted after and callously taunted Severine, a frigid bourgeois wife of a Parisian surgeon who lived out her sexual fantasies through a day job at an exclusive brothel under the moniker "Belle de jour." Severine was found out by family "friend" Henri Husson, but when she refused to have sex with him during his unexpected visit to the brothel, he acrimoniously threatened to reveal Severine's secret to her husband, Pierre. Tragedy struck when Pierre was shot by one of Severine's jealous clients. Left mute and paralytic, Pierre took a visit from Husson, but what Husson told Pierre in their moment together is a secret through which Severine was left to suffer. Thirty-eight years later, Husson spots Severine sitting a few rows away from him at a concert in Paris. Anxious to engage her, Husson rushes after Severine at the concert's end, but she has no interest in revisiting her past and manages to elude her former adversary. Yet Husson is persistent and with a little investigative toil, he traces Severine back to her hotel. They come close to meeting again, but she avoids him by all means. That is, until Husson's stalking begins to wear on her. Eventually, he manages to gain her attention with the intention of revealing the secret that he alone can unfold. After years of lingering torment, Severine is finally offered an opportunity to uncover the truth about what her husband learned--or didn't learn--about her during that fateful visit with Husson so many years earlier. Now a widow, she agrees to meet with Husson over dinner, where she expects that all will be revealed. What she doesn't know is that Husson has his own agenda and that their dinner together will be much more than she bargained for. |

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