August 8, 1996
Chacun cherche son chat (1996) **
Charming little film about a young woman looking for her missing cat.
L'Appartement (1996) **
Ingeniously plotted film about a young man searching for a woman of his dreams. It's a neat mixture of romantic comedy and film noir thriller, with a hefty dose of "Cinderella" and "Vertigo" added in for good measure. Everything is so complicated that at least two viewings are required to fully understand the story.
Enfants de salaud (1996) **
Story of three half-sisters and one half-brother, children of a murderer.
Le Cri de la soie (1996) **
Marie Trintignant's finely nuanced performance earned her a Cesar (i.e. Gallic Oscar) nomination as best actress for playing a young woman obsessed by fine fabrics, especially silk. Her psychiatrist, also a fetishist, falls in love with her. The film is set in France during World War I. The pacing is sluggish and the erotic obessions strangely unarousing. The best erotic films usually eschew textile industry products.
Le Huitieme jour (1996) **
A divorced businessman (Daniel Auteuil) befriends a mentally-challenged man (Pascal Duquenne). Sentimental, often ridiculous film. Also quite funny, profoundly moving and sad.
Pedale douce (1996) *
A bizarre love triangle involving a woman (Fanny Ardant), a straight man (Richard Berry) and a gay man.
Love etc (1996) *
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Charles Berling and Yvan Attal star in this rather boring film loosely inspired by "Jules et Jim".
July 7, 1996
Quem matou Pixote ? (1996) **
Tragic story of Fernando da Silva, a young Brazilian actor, who first played the title role of a delinquant in "Pixote" (1981), but then became a juvenile delinquant himself and died tragically while still a teenager.
Pokuszenie (1996) **
In Poland under Stalin, a young nun is forced to cooperate with the secret police by spying on a bishop.
Adosados (1996) **
One lie leads to a nightmare in this Spanish drama. Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the Montreal Film Festival.
Dr Wai In The Scripture With No Words (1996) **
A brechtian and modernist film from Hong Kong that uses story-within-a-story format.
Cwal (1996) **
Autobiograficzny film Krzysztofa Zanussiego, opisujacy jego dziecinstwo w czasach stalinowskich.
A Chef In Love (1996) **
A French chef falls in love with Georgia and a Georgian princess in the 1920's. There are some lovely close-ups of culinary delights, but the film is mostly concerned with politics. Once again, evil Bolsheviks ruin everything for everybody.
Kolya (1996) **
Czech film about an older man who takes care of a little Russian boy while his mother defected to the West.
God Of Cookery (1996) **
Stephen Chow's clowning can get on one's nerves sometimes, but there are some fine moments in this Hong Kong comedy about a great culinary battle.
Les Lumiere de Berlin (1996) **
Wim Wenders' tribute to Max, Emil and Eugen Skladanowsky, the inventors of Bioskop.
My Name Is Adam (1996) *
Pretentious Romanian film about a musician interrogated by the authorities.
La Lupa (1996) *
Embarassingly bad Italian film about a horny mother-in-law lusting after her daughter's husband.
Luna et l'altra (1996) *
Maurizio Nichetti's comedy about a mousy woman and her more provocative shadow. Good idea, tediously executed.
Hamsun (1996) *
The life of the famous Norvegian writer, who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.
Gracze (1996) *
Film Ryszarda Bugajskiego, ktorego akcja rozgrywa sie podczas kampanii prezydenckiej w 1990 roku.
Faire un film pour moi c'est vivre (1996) *
A documentary about the filming of Antonioni's "Beyond The Clouds".
Wielki tydzien (1996) *
Mloda Zydowka ukrywa sie przed Gestapo podczas powstania w getcie warszawskim.
Velvet Gloves (1996) **
Directed by Billy Chan. With Jade Leung and Farini Cheung. A Chinese "G.I.Jane".
A True Story (1996) **
An Iranian film director is looking for a young boy to play in his movie. Originally planned as a work of fiction, it ultimately became a cinéma-verité documentary.
Tesis (1996) **
Two young students find a videotape with a recording of a real-life torture and murder. A suspense thriller from Spain.
Tai Chi 2 (1996) **
Fine martial arts film "dealing", among other things, with opium trade. Directed by Yuen Woo-Ping.
The Phantom Lover (1996) *
Directed by Ronnie Yu. With Leslie Cheung and Wu Chien-Lien. Sad melodrama about true love.
Revisor (1996) *
This adaptation of Gogol's play starts well, but soon becomes much too burlesque for its own good.
Satan Returns (1996) **
A martial arts/horror movie from Hong Kong. The Devil is searching for his daughter. Nice ending.
Super Atragon. Part II (1996) *
A Japanimation feature with impressive sea battles. Directed by Mitsuo Fukuda.
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