Once upon a time in a forest, an elephant encounters a snail, when suddenly it begins to rain. The snail asks the elephant whether he wants to come inside his shell. The elephant accepts this kind invitation even though the snail’s house is a wee bit small.
Year: 2022
Soon after the disparate yet compatible Naoya and Katsuhiro start to settle into a relationship, a slightly unhinged young woman named Asako asks Katsuhiro to father her child. While the couple navigate the implications of this unexpected proposal, they are forced to confront their conflicting understandings of what it means to be gay and in a committed relationship. A landmark work of LGBTQ Japanese cinema by pioneering director Ryosuke Hashiguchi, Hush! humorously and poignantly upends the traditional Japanese genre of the family drama to offer a deeply human story about three people doing their best to be true to themselves.
The first US film to be made under the Dogme 95 vow of chastity, Harmony Korine’s follow up to the controversial ‘Gummo’ tells the story of schizophrenic Julien, his pregnant sister Pearl, and their pedantic, over-bearing father. Using handheld digital cameras, Korine gathers together a series of disparate incidents in the life of the family – Julien’s friendship with a young blind figure-skater, Pearl’s masquerade as her and Julien’s dead mother, their brother’s training as wrestler, a visit to a gospel meeting – while slowly and subtly building towards a tragic climax.
Shot in black and white, with a jazzy soundtrack and no dialogue at all, The Lift tells the classic story of man versus machine. First short film by Robert Zemeckis, made while he was studying in California.
Bank executive Rainier allows his firm to deliver adventurous investor Chevalier d’Aven a huge loan, with what he thinks is his employer Mirement’s total backing. Chevalier’s business proves indeed to be disastrous, which forces the bank to cover up its high deficits. News of the scandal breaks out, and the bank now sees Rainier as the one being responsible for it – he is laid off. Wife Celine and union representative Arlette suggest he should sue his former boss.
Nance Pelot is bravely trying to support herself and her father Joe, the town drunk, by playing piano in an unsavory roadside inn owned by Larry Shayne. Chet Todd, the son of a shop owner, is in love with Nance, but her reputation has been sullied by her profession, and so Chet’s mother disapproves of her. Nance inherits a small farm from her mother, and when Shayne discovers that the property is valuable, he plots to cheat Nance out of her inheritance.
Maya, a New York artist and model, meets Joe, a drifter. They begin a passionate affair. On an impromptu trip to visit Joe’s sister in the country, Joe’s inner demons begin to surface. Maya tries to help and eventually struggles to hold on as Joe becomes increasingly unstable.