August 8, 1995
Deux fois cinquante ans de cinema francais (1995) *
Michel Piccoli discusses the centennial of cinema with Jean-Luc Godard.
Le Rocher d'Acapulco (1995) **
Interesting French film about a young girl encouraged into prostitution.
Nelly et M.Arnaud (1995) **
Interesting French film about a young woman (Emmanuelle Beart) and her friendship with an older man (Michel Serrault).
Un Indien dans la ville (1995) **
A French "Crocodile Dundee", starring Thierry Lhermitte as a Parisian stock-broker, whose son (raised among Amazonian Indians), comes for a visit. It was later remade as a Hollywood film, "Jungle 2 Jungle", starring Tim Allen.
Gazon maudit (1995) **
Vulgar, but enjoyable sex farce starring Victoria Abril as a young housewife torn between her lesbian lover (Josiane Balasco, who also directed) and her cheating husband.
Poussieres de vie (1995) *
Depressing film set in a Vietnamese labor camp for Amerasian children, left behind by their American fathers after the fall of Saigon in 1975.
Le Bonheur est dans le pré (1995) **
Amusing comedy about a middle-aged man (Michel Serrault) trying to find a new life.
July 7, 1995
Talk Of The Town (1995) **
German comedy starring Katja Riemann as a radio talk show host who has an affair with her best friend's husband.
Maborosi (1995) *
Story of a widow who remarries and lives happily ever after. A Japanese film inspired by Ozu.
Lover Of The Last Empress (1995) *
Directed by Andrew Lau. With Chingmy Yau, Tony Leung Kar-Fai. Historical drama about the last Empress Dowager of China.
The Ride (1995) **
Good Czech film about two young men meeting a young woman during a ride in the country.
Pensionat Oskar (1995) *
A Swedish drama about homosexuality, partly inspired by Pasolini's "Teorema" (1968).
Pasolini An Italian Crime (1995) **
This film explores the mysterious circumstances surrounding the tragic death of the great Italian filmmaker, Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Over My Dead Body (1995) *
A philandering husband is killed by a professional hit-man hired by his evil wife. A German black comedy starring Katja Riemann.
Cinema de lagrimas (1995) ***
A tribute to the Latin American cinema in general and Mexican melodramas in particular. It features sequences from 17 classic films. Highlights include: a vengeful father killing his daughter's lover while they exchange their wedding vows, another father killing his daughter with a knife while she dances in her lover's arms ("Historia de un gran amor", 1942), a mother forced by a gangster to abandon her newborn baby in a trash can ("Victimas del pecado", 1951), a grief-stricken lover entering the tomb of his beloved ("Abismos de passion", 1954), a husband buying a nude sculpture of his wife ("La Diosa arrodillada", 1947), a mean woman kicking a bankrupt man out of her house ("Dona diabla", 1950), a wild party girl scandalizing her guests by singing and dancing, a son commiting suicide after learning about his beloved mother's sinful life ("Armino negro", 1953). Directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos.
Maybe...Maybe Not (1995) **
Katja Riemann stars in this German farce about drag queens, unfaithful boyfriends and pregnant women. Aka "Pretty Baby".
Manneken Pis (1995) **
Bizarre film about a twisted courtship between two very weird young people. Surrealism, Belgian style.
Love And Hate: European Stories (1995) *
This film consists of five parts, set in Norway, Poland, Denmark, Yugoslavia and Sweden. The first one is about a funeral. The second introduces an aspiring dancer and the third one - a bored housewife. The fourth episode is a gruesome story about graverobbers. The final segment is also the funniest - it concerns two neighbors who suddenly loose their privacy.
"Sara" *
"Steps" *
"The Letter" *
"Pigs And Pearls" *
"Open Doors" **
"Sara" *
"Steps" *
"The Letter" *
"Pigs And Pearls" *
"Open Doors" **
The Flower Of My Secret (1995) *
Pedro Almodovar is known for his flamboyant and kitchy melodramas. But this one isn't flamboyant or kitchy - just boring.
Don't Die Without Telling Me Where You're Going (1995) *
Campy Argentinian movie about love and reincarnation.
Gonin (1995) **
Violent gangster movie about five disgruntled men organizing a daring robbery. Unfortunately, their victims happen to be Yakuza kingpins and the bandits will pay dearly for their impudence.
Un Eroe Borghese (1995) *
Absorbing drama about an Italian government official fighting against the Mafia.
Daze Raper (1995) **
Directed by Yip Wai-Sun. With Farini Cheung. Sleazy Hong Kong film about a former prison guard who robs women by putting sleeping medecine into their drinks. The Mandarine version of the film runs 88 minutes and contains some brief nudity.
Day Of The Beast (1995) **
Directed by Alex De La Iglesia, it's a Spanish horror comedy about a priest trying to prevent the birth of the Antichrist.
Cyclo (1995) **
The winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival is a shocking and quite brutal film about crime in modern Vietnam.
Cudowne miejsce (1995) **
Jeden ze slabszych filmow Jana Jakuba Kolskiego. Wiele orginalnych pomyslow, ale za malo humoru.
The Postman (1995) *
A shameless rip-off of Kieslowski's "Krotki film o milosci" ("A Short Film About Love"), set in China.
A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box (1995) **
It's not particularly funny, but this parody of the "wu xia pian" (sword & sorcery) movies has its moments.
Passover Fever (1995) *
Directed by Shemi Zarhin. With Gila Almagor, Ichio Avital and Alon Abutbul. An Israeli soap opera about a dysfunctional family meeting for the Seder banquet on Passover eve. There are suspicions of marital infidelity, mysterious eating disorders, predictions of snowstorms in April and other pressing matters. The film got an award for best screenplay at the 1995 Montreal WFF, but it should have won a Daytime Emmy instead.
Buried In Light (1995) *
An experimental Italian film about Eastern Europe, made by a Jewish-American director born in Afghanistan.
La Vie en fleurs (1995) **
A documentary about a hippie family (one woman, three men, five kids). It consists of home movie footages and contemporary interviews.
Ulysses' Gaze (1995) **
Slow moving film about a Greek-American filmmaker (Harvey Keitel) travelling across the Balkans in search of an old movie. Some brilliantly directed scenes crying out for an editor to turn them into a motion picture.
American Daughter (1995) *
Quite a rarity - a Russian film set in United States. It's a story of a father looking for his daughter.
June 6, 1995
Soul Survivor (1995) **
A companion piece to Clement Virgo's "Rude", again dealing with Jamaican immigrants in Toronto.
Feast Of July (1995) *
A ridiculous melodrama. One of those films where young girls are seduced by deceitful men, illegitimate children die at birth, abandoned women wander in the wilderness and jealous lovers murder their rivals. Superb musical score by Zbigniew Preisner.
Eclipse (1995) **
A neat variation on Max Ophuls' "La Ronde", set in Toronto during an eclipse of the Sun.
Circle Of Friends (1995) **
Charming little film from Ireland. It starts very well, but suffers from some melodramatic complications near the end.
Carrington (1995) **
Emma Thompson and Jonathan Price star in this English drama about friendship and love.
May 5, 1995
L'Enfant d'eau (1995) **
Une jolie histoire d'amour entre une fille de 12 ans et un handicape mental de 20 ans. L'action se deroule sur une ile deserte.
April 4, 1995
El Secdleto de la tlompeta (1995) *****
One of the best examples of a pure brechtian comedy - self-reflexive, modernist and screemingly funny. Directed by Javier Fesser.
Le Bus (1995) ****
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