——UPGRADED——
In his fourth feature, Århus loyalist Nils Malmros continues his reminiscing fiction portryals of school days in the 1950s. You follow a class during its final years of grade school. The kids are teenagers, clannish, clownish, sweet and vicious, struggling to make sense of their physical and mental growing pains. The film was shot over two years: the cast literally grew up along with the action.
——UPGRADED——
Two prisoners in complete isolation, separated by the thick brick walls, and desperately in need of human contact, devise a most unusual kind of communication.
Five boys and a girl make up a gang and are fans of Beat bands, following them from concert to concert. Juli, fiancée of one of the boys, falls in love with a musician and travels to the countryside with him for a gig. The jealous fiancé and his friends go after them and the whole affair comes close to violence when suddenly the lover allows Juli to make her own choice. This noble gesture rekindles Juli’s true love for him.
Gianni, Nicola and Antonio become close friends in 1944 while fighting the Nazis. After the end of the war, full of illusions, they settle down. The movie is a the story of the life of these three idealists and how they deal with the inevitable disillusionments of life.
Three attractive young women who run a men’s clothing store also share living arrangements. They have grown quite bored with the usual pick-up scene, with its endless series of one-night stands. When a suitably attractive and virginal young man, Georg Hermes, comes in looking for a suit, they collectively decide to adopt him as their boyfriend.
Experimental ballet film with choreography by Eske Holm. Lighting and trick shots emphasize and expand body movements.
Dog owner James Haggin buys “Big Red,” an Irish setter, for a large sum in hopes of making him a champion show dog. However, Big Red is unruly and does not take to being handled. At this point, Haggin meets Rene, an orphan boy who needs work, and makes him Big Red’s trainer. The two get along so well that Haggin fears the dog will not listen to anyone else. He tries to separate them, but the bond between Rene and Big Red has become too strong.
Having chosen jobs at a gas station over school, 14-year-old friends Tyson, Hector and Bao are getting pushed around by some of the older boys in their Boston neighborhood. Despite the stability provided by their relationship with youth club worker J.J., the boys are tempted by the fast money of the drug trade and touched by untimely death. Amid the flurry of mixed messages, the boys must decide which paths to follow.
