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Taking the visual worlds of famous painter Niko Pirosmani (1862–1918) as his starting point, Parajanov evokes, reflects on and shows his great appreciation for the artistic universe of the Georgian artist, his still lives, portraits and genre scenes. A surrealistic and phantasmagorical essay.
A troubled romance set against the backdrop of thepolitically-inspired riots that swept Hong Kong in 1967. The central couple are neighbors in a Kowloon City tenement, situated right under the flight path into Hong Kong’s airport. He drives an unlicensed taxi, she is a go-getting movie actress. Just as they begin to realize how much they need each other, the riots tear them apart.
Boy discovers how to dream travel. Only in this senerio he appears in real life at the location of his dreams while his “other” body lies in bed. He then teaches his girlfriend how to dream travel and together they share the adventures of their dreams.
Parking is director Jacques Demy’s homage to Jean Cocteau’s 1948 masterwork Orpheus. As in the Cocteau film, Demy relates the Orpheus and Euridyce legend in a contemporary setting. Now a rock ‘n’ roll sensation (instead of the poet of the Cocteau film) Orpheus falls in love with Eurydice, who in this version is a sculptress rather than a princess. The rest of the film adheres to the familiar story. Euridyce, who is death personified, beckons Orpheus into Hell, ostensibly to revive his dead lover. A shade brighter and more buoyant than its source material, Parking is the usual Jacques Demy brew of beautiful imagery and hokey dialogue.
Three high-school students tangle with indulgent yakuza and lackadaisical police as they set out in search of the class bully, who has been kidnapped.
This black-and-white cartoon captures the last few moments of a prisoner arriving at the place of execution before the weapons roll. The darkness before death is preceded by the darkness of a blindfold that allows only two bands of light into the world. This is the last time the prisoner can see the nose of his shoes on the pavement.
Soon after Japan relinquishes control of Taiwan in 1945, the Lin brothers face hardships from the changing culture. Bar owner Wen-heung, the eldest brother, falls foul of local gangsters, Wen-sun disappears, and Wen-leung, scarred by his experiences in the war, ends up in an insane asylum. Deaf-mute photographer Wen-ching, the youngest brother, decides to make a stand and fight the Kuomintang government from China that is assuming power.
