This off-beat psychological drama by Sohrab Shahid Saless dissects German post-war society with a cutting edge. Herbert is a solid, middle-class engineer who one day quits his job and ensconces himself at home (preferably in the bathroom), refusing to say very much to anyone. His wife is all the more upset at his behavior because on Sunday mornings he goes out into the street and yells at the top of his lungs for everyone to “get up.” Eventually, the hard-working wife who is also earning their support convinces Herbert to go to a clinic for treatment, but will it change him?
Tag: 1980s
Smith, the deaf and dumb son of a rural black preacher, refuses to accept the menial labour on offer in the small farming community where he’s grown up. He tries to earn a living in the city, but this ends in assault, and his return home sparks off a cycle of vengeful violence. What Roodt’s film lacks in subtlety, it makes up for in dirty authenticity. A hard-hitting independent venture (the director went on to make Sarafina!), completed and released against the odds in apartheid South Africa.
A security company conjures up fake computer-generated “ghosts” so they can buy abandoned property at below-market value at auctions. However, a mysterious couple appear out of seemingly nowhere to thwart the company’s plans.
During the filming of Ragtime, the 81-year old Cagney talks about his career. Cagney tells us about becoming a dancer and meeting his wife, his route from Broadway to Hollywood, the emergence of his tough-guy persona, and his post-war creations of insane characters. Donald O’Connor, Pat O’Brien, Milos Forman and others also try to distill what it is Cagney brings to the screen. Clips from several of his films illustrate their points.
A patient escapes from a lunatic asylum and runs into a woman being chased by an apparently indestructible maniacal cackling goon who works for a mysterious mobster. He decides to help her, but nothing is what it seems. Not even the past.
A caucasian prospective grad student’s affluent family won’t pay his way through law school, so he takes tanning pills to darken his skin in order to qualify for an African-American scholarship at Harvard. He soon gets more than he bargained for, as he begins to learn what life is really like for blacks in America.
After the Japanese surrender to the U.S., ending World War II, the residents of a small fishing village feel great humility in the wake of the defeat. But some of the children — Ryuta and Saburo in particular — react with anger and confusion. Their uncertainty about the future is magnified when U.S. troops occupy the area and treat the villagers with kindness, adhering to Gen. MacArthur’s proclamation. Tensions ease, but profound complications still linger.
