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In this intense adaptation of the classic Albert Camus novel, Arthur Meursault is a bored clerical worker in 1930s Algeria who is completely isolated from his surroundings. His alienation leads to sudden, mystifying attacks of violence, and eventually culminates in his arbitrary shooting of a man on a beach. In the ensuing trial, the full extent of Meursault’s existential crisis becomes alarmingly clear to judge, jury and prosecutor.
The princess here is a lesbian demon woman running a modeling agency where she “tries out” the models before setting them up on their gigs. A former police officer sets himself up as a private detective and takes a missing-person case, trying to find a young teen-aged girl. The missing girl is found working for the demon woman who preys on snoopy detectives.
Hiroshi Kobayashi is on the run, both away from the police who want him for the murder of his girlfriend Naomi, and towards the yakuza Kimura, from whom he wants to exact revenge for getting her hooked on drugs. The whole film is one long chase scene, shot in wild, semi-abstract patterns so that you’re never quite sure what you’re seeing.
Lieutenant O’Bannion is a US Marine who is tasked with a mission to combat the 1805 activities of the infamous Barbary Pirates. To aid in this venture, he must recruit the help of exiled Hamet Karamanli, the rightful heir to throne of Tripoli who has been deposed by his brother. Also along for the adventure is a rowdy bunch of Greek mercenaries, led by the boisterous Capt. Demetrios and the beautiful but duplicitous Countess D’Arneau.
SHADOW OF ANGELS is the film adaptation of R.W. Fassbinder’s last and most controversial play, “Garbage, the City, and Death,” which was banned in Germany. The story concerns Lily, a prostitute too beautiful to have clients and the real estate speculator she befriends. Lily is paid to listen to her customers’ despairing monologues about politics, power, corruption, and guilt. SHADOW OF ANGELS is quintessential Fassbinder, a fable about victims and victimizers and not so nascent neo-Nazi sympathies in post-war Germany.
A married village worker teams up with an old girlfriend to try to dig a well for his water-starved village. The well collapses and they are trapped. Their enforced confinement leads to them exploring their feelings for each other and those around them.
When a scientist at a research lab is passed over for a promotion, he creates a clone of himself to attempt to seduce the wife of the man who got the job.
Young Martin has been acting strange. At his school, his teacher and classmates notice that he is less talkative and more withdrawn. When those around him begin to prod, they discover that Martin’s single mother has died. Fearful that he will be sent away from home now that he has no parents, Martin looks to his friends for help. With Jerome leading the charge to save Martin from the orphanage, the first thing they decide to do is dispose of the mother’s body.
