Nanni Moretti’s documentary, La cosa (The Thing, 1990), represents the painful transformation of the PCI (Italian Communist Party) through the voices of the party’s members who met throughout Italy to discuss the changes proposed by the PCI’s leadership. From the confronting debates depicted in La cosa, the re-evocation of the history of the Italian Left and of its founding principles emerge as a background, creating a nostalgic longing for a style of politics that had disappeared in Italy.
Month: March 2022
Oscar-nominee Sally Kellerman stars in Dorothy Parker’s 1929 O. Henry Prize-winning short story which poignantly chronicles the life of a vivacious showroom model and good-time party girl in the 1920’s who gives up her high-life for marriage to a traveling salesman – played by four-time Emmy winner John Lithgow. When he turns out to be a hard-drinking philanderer, the marriage deteriorates – and the now-blowsy and dissolute aging flapper turns to drinking for solace, moving from man to man as she sinks into an alcoholic haze.
Zedd is minding his business, when he is stopped by a cop who accuses him of being a junkie. After a short argument he is beaten and dragged to the police station. At the station he is interrogated by a detective and the police chief. After being beaten and tortured several more times, Nick Zedd’s character mutilates himself with some hedge cutters.
Miéville’s first solo feature is a sensitive, emotionally complex portrait of three women: a young opera singer contemplating having a child; her mother, who is torn between two lovers; and her grandmother, who lives a life of solitude. As in so many of Miéville’s films, communication is the theme; each woman must struggle, often against the men in their lives, to find her own voice.
Leland is suicidal, so he hires a hitman called Avocado to kill him. Code word for the hit will be “tulips”. However, that’s when Leland meets his suicidal soulmate Rutanya and changes his mind. Now they must try to stop Avocado.
Real-life husband and wife John McCallum and Googie Withers top the cast of Devil on Horseback. A racetrack drama, the film centers on the activities of natural-born jockey Moppy Parfitt. As he gains prominence on the track, Moppy becomes insufferably egotistical. His “win at all costs” policy ultimately results in the unecessary death of a horse. Much to the delight of horse owner Charles Roberts and trainer Mrs. Cadell. Moppy finally learns that there’s something more to being a jockey than just talent.
Lindsay Wagner stars as Joanne Van Buren, a social worker whose personal and professional life are on the brink of collapse. Her spirit is reawakened, however, when she takes the case of six-year-old Eric Townsend. Found by the police alone at the zoo, Eric shows all the signs of having been molested. Joanne’s compassion for Eric drives her to solve the mystery of Eric’s abuser.