David Gladwell (Requiem for a Village) was just 20 years old when he made A Summer Discord, an imaginative amateur, silent short film set in the countryside which tells the story of a little girl who is reprimanded by her mother. Of particular note is the film’s dark nightmare sequence which is shot in colour (unlike the rest of the film) and which anticipates Gladwell’s later, highly poetical films.
Tag: 1950s
Towards the end of the year, in a train station, a passenger stops to chat with a peddler who is selling his almanacs and asks him an apparently simple question: “Is the forthcoming year going to be happy?” Based on a dialogue by Giacomo Leopardi.
A promising post-graduate literature student is transformed into a psychotic killer following the suicide of his father and a sleazy affair by his mother with a younger man. One of the first “lonely hit-man” or “lonely killer” films.
Song-and-dance girls Curly and Stormy Tornado hide out with the guys at Bristol College when they know they can identify the killer of a fellow performer at their San Francisco cabaret. But they rather stand out in their stage costumes and soon all sorts of trouble is heading their way.
——UPGRADED——
This wry chamber piece from director Mikio Naruse focuses on a couple whose pet peeves and minor irritations escalate into major rifts and animosity.
During New Year’s Eve a young model spends the day searching for her grandmother who has suspiciously gone missing.
Hanna Amon and her brother Thomas live on an estate they’ve inherited from their parents. Local veterinarian Brunner loves Hanna from afar, and Thomas is in love with the daughter of the local mayor. Love, however, doesn’t always mean happiness, as both Hanna and Thomas are soon to find out.
When man-about-town Saheiji finds himself unable to pay for a bill at a brothel, he is forced to remain there to work off his debt. However he finds his wit and resourcefulness enable him to turn this situation to his advantage, as he interacts with a whole range of characters, from rivalling courtesans to political activists.