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This Italian film was released in 1995 and slowly made its way around the world; its English title is The Star Maker. Like the Oscar-winning Cinema Paradiso by the same writer-director, Guiseppe Tornatore, it's drenched in the filmmaker's love for cinema. In Sicily in the early 1950s, Joe Morelli (Sergio Castellitto) is a con man who travels by truck from village to village posing as a film company representative. For a fee, he offers the rubes screen tests, using passages from a script of Gone with the Wind and encouraging their hopes with lines such as "Success awaits you!" Morelli's camera brings out people's hidden sides, including a soldier's war trauma, a woman's protests at being accused of prostitution, and a policeman who recites poetry. Begging for a chance at the stardom Morelli purportedly offers, Beata (Tiziana Lodato) asks Morelli to take her with him. - by Michael Betzold - allmoviePLOTDownload:Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8 no pass
Elodie Bouchez and Natacha Regnier both won "Best Actress" honors at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival in this naturalistic drama about two women alienated from mainstream society. After a trio of short films, this is the feature directorial debut of 41-year-old French filmmaker Erick Zonca. With opening scenes reminiscent of Agnes Varda's Vagabond (1985), optimistic hobo Isa (Bouchez), with her life in her backpack, has a gritty existence on the road, going from one town to another through northern France, working factory jobs and selling cards. After she loses a garment-factory job, her withdrawn, near-catatonic co-worker Marie (Regnier) lets Isa share space in her Lille living quarters -- an apartment actually belonging to a hospitalized mother and daughter. Marie begins an affair with burly bouncer Charly (Patrick Mercado) before achieving an emotional breakthrough with sleazy, animalistic club-owner Chriss (Gregoire Colin). Meanwhile, Isa becomes fascinated with the girl who lived in the apartment but now lies in a coma at the hospital. The film combines handheld camerawork with a minimalist music score (Yann Thiersen) and documentary-like street sounds. - by Bhob Stewart - allmoviePLOTDownload:Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 no passDownload Torrentno pass
Paris has its share of homeless people, and some of them live in little communities near the oldest bridge in the city, the Pont-Neuf. In the story, street-person Alex (Denis Lavant) has passed out along a much-traveled road, and a taxi has slightly injured his leg, which was in the way of traffic. When he limps back to his usual resting spot under the bridge, he finds a surprisingly unspoiled young woman (Juliette Binoche) wearing an eye patch sleeping there and confronts her about it. They become acquainted, and he learns that she is Michèle, a painter from a good suburban family who has taken to the streets in order to practice her art uninterruptedly until the time when she will inevitably lose her vision to a degenerative eye disorder. Alex earns his booze money through doing street theater: fire-eating and gymnastic routines. The two become buddies and lovers, share many adventures while practicing the arts of street survival, and even have some fun along the way. So close do they become that, when Alex is imprisoned for a violent act of jealousy, a newly cured Michèle visits him in prison and promises to meet him on the bridge when he is released. Despite this film's setting among the poor, it cost a lot of money to make: one of the big costs was the need to build a replica of the Pont-Neuf. - by Clarke Fountain - allmoviePLOTDownload:Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 no passDownload Torrentno pass
This is a nostalgic French coming-of-age drama from director Andre Techine set in a Provence deeply divided over the war for independence being waged against French colonialism in Algeria. In 1962, Francois (Gael Morel) and Maite (Elodie Bouchez) are best friends and students at a boarding school in southwestern France, where Maite's mother Madame Alvarez (Michele Moretti) is an instructor. Francois is realizing he's gay because of his attraction to his working class roommate Serge (Stephane Rideau). Although Serge seduces Francois one night, he is not gay and is actually attracted to Maite. So is Henri (Frederic Gorny), a radically-politicized Algerian-born Frenchman who supports France in the war, an unpopular position, particularly with Madame Alvarez, a communist. The classroom sparring between Henri and Alvarez galvanizes the school, but then word comes that Serge's older brother has been killed in the war. Madame Alvarez, who loved him but refused to help him desert the military, becomes so unhinged that she must be sent away for treatment. Wild Reeds (1994) won four Cesars (France's equivalent of the Oscar), including the award for that year's Best Picture, beating such other notable films as Red (1994) and Queen Margot (1994). - by Karl Williams - allmoviePLOTDownload:Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 no pass
Roger Santet (Alain Delon) is a convicted murderer sprung from prison by the Sicilian clan headed by the aging Vittorio Manalese (Jean Gabin). They conspire to steal a large cache of jewels from an exhibit in Rome. As they are preparing for the heist, the mobster's American friend Tony Nicosia (Amedeo Nazzarri) suggests that a better way to get the rocks would be to hijack the transport plane while it is en route to New York. The dogged inspector Le Goff (Lino Ventura) is using all the available resources to thwart their plans. Though the heist itself is successful, Santet finds himself trapped by the mob because of his fling with Manalese's daughter-in-law (Irina Demick). - by Yuri German - allmoviePLOTDownload:Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8 Part9 pass: warez-bb.org
The award-winning director Andrei Tarkovsky, (one of his better known films is Andrei Rublev), the son of a famous Russian poet, was born in 1935 and grew up in and around Moscow during the Second World War. This non-linear autobiographical film is considered by many Russian-speakers to be his best film and is his most personal meditation on time, history and the Russian countryside. In a series of episodes and images, he captures the mood and feeling of the period just before, during and after the war. Lyrical reminiscences of his mother and of his father's poetry figure large in the film, along with extraordinary images of nature. Combining black-and-white and color work, with some unusual documentary footage, this highly regarded movie is structured with the logic of a dream. - by Clarke Fountain - allmoviePLOTDownload:Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8 pass: ilightDownload Torrentno pass
In this thriller, an aging cat burglar becomes a crusader embroiled in a deadly cat-and-mouse game involving murder and a government cover-up. Adapted by distinguished scenarist William Goldman from a novel by David Baldacci and featuring a powerful all-star cast, the story works at different levels, not only as a straight-forward thriller but also as an insightful look at the love between the old thief and his estranged daughter, a highly successful prosecuting attorney. The trouble begins when ex-con Luther Whitney (Clint Eastwood, who also directed) decides to pull off one last heist before retiring. Just as he finishes looting the vault of a well-fortified mansion, a drunken couple enters the adjoining bedroom apparently eager to start making love. But something goes awry and a violent tussle ensues that abruptly ends when gun-wielding men bust in and shoot down the woman. During the ensuing chaos, Luther slips out. (more)PLOTDownload:Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8 no passDownload Torrentno pass
This Argentine film freshens up an old cinematic device: juxtaposing science fiction and religion. A Buenos Aires mental hospital is thrown into an uproar when a mysterious male patient appears out of nowhere. As the psychiatrists grill the stranger, he sticks to a story that suggests that his origins are far from earthly. In fact, if his seemingly supernatural powers are any proof, he may well be a space alien. Unable to comprehend the incomprehensible, the authorities decide to lock the visitor away from public view, maybe even put an end to his life--and the analogies to Christ and Christianity are lost on no one. - by Hal Erickson- allmoviePLOTDownload:Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8 no passDownload Torrentno pass
In this grim crime melodrama, fascist Spanish taxi drivers unite to become a xenophobic vigilante force dedicated to eradicating all undesirables from the streets of Madrid. Velasco is the leader of the murderous cabbie clan that is comprised of Dani and his father Reme, the skinhead Nino and the nearly insane ex-policeman Calero. Velasco's daughter Paz secretly desires Dani, but her dreams are dashed when she learns about the nefarious activities of Dani and her father. The gang's self-appointed mission is to kill all undesirable foreigners (Arab immigrants are a favorite target), gays and lesbians, blacks and drug addicts. Internal turmoil comes from the burgeoning romance between Paz and Dani coupled with Dani's gradual realization that "the family" may be in the wrong. - by Sandra Brennan - allmoviePLOTDownload:Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8 no pass
The film is set during the late 1930s: the occasion is the first meeting between Mussolini and Hitler. Left alone in her tenement home when her fascist husband runs off to attend the historic event, Sophia Loren strikes up a friendship with her homosexual neighbor Mastroianni. As the day segues into night, Loreon and Mastroianni develop a very special relationship that will radically alter both of their outlooks on life. Beyond the "sensational" aspect of virile Marcello Mastoianni playing a gay character, A Special Day garnered a great deal of American attention when the stars promoted the film on the very first installment of PBS's Dick Cavett Show (that's the one in which Mastroianni might have said the F-word). - by Hal Erickson - allmoviePLOTDownload:Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8 pass: www.AvaxHome.ru
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A man who thinks he's found an easy ride through the Army during World War I has his world turned upside down when facial injuries render him unrecognizable in this wartime drama. In the summer of 1914, Adrien Fournier (Eric Caravaca) is an engineer conscripted into the French Army, where he is made a lieutenant and assigned to join a group of soldiers helping to design and build a bridge to move troops near the front lines. While scouting a suitable location for the bridge, Fournier and his fellows are caught in the middle of an attack, and a shell explodes in his face. Fournier survives the attack, but while his limbs and his body suffer only minimal damage, his face is torn to shreds -- only landing in the mud prevents him from bleeding to death (the dried muck seals off a number of key blood vessels severed by the blast). (more)PLOTDownload:Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8 Part9 Part10 no pass
The Last Metro is set virtually in its entirety in a crumbling French theatre. During the Nazi occupation, Jewish director Lucas Steiner (Heinz Bennent) hides in the basement of the theatre, while his wife Marion (Catherine Deneuve) stars in its latest production. Marion is enamored of leading man Bernard Granger (Gerard Depardieu), and he with her, but they resist temptation out of respect to her husband. When she is given a choice between loyalty to her husband and to her countrymen, her dilemma offers two logical solutions--both of which are acted out on stage during the play. This Pirandellian ending aside, The Last Metro is one of the few films to accurately capture the feeling of what it was like to live in Paris under the thumb of the Nazis. - by Hal Erickson - allmoviePLOTDownload Movieno pass
"You don't make up for your sins in church; you do it in the streets; you do it at home. The rest is bulls--t, and you know it." Returning to the autobiographical milieu of his 1968 debut Who's That Knocking at My Door? for his third feature, Martin Scorsese examined the daily struggles of a wannabe hood to keep his morals straight on the streets of Little Italy. Driven equally by his wish to become a respectable gangster like his uncle (Cesare Danova) and his desire to live his life like St. Francis, Charlie (Harvey Keitel) takes on his energetically unhinged friend Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro) as his own personal penance, intervening to get Johnny Boy to pay off a debt to the local loan shark Michael (Richard Romanus). Despite his promises to his epileptic girlfriend Teresa (Amy Robinson) that they will move out of Little Italy once he strengthens his position in his uncle's world, Charlie's involvement with Johnny Boy further ensnares him in the neighborhood. When Johnny Boy decides to mouth off to Michael rather than pay him, Charlie, Johnny Boy, and Teresa try to flee Michael's murderous anger (and an assassin played by Scorsese), forcing Charlie to realize that the rules of the streets do not mesh with absolution. (more)PLOTDownload:Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8no passDownload Torrentno pass
The debut feature from Spanish wunderkind Alejandro Amenábar (Open Your Eyes, The Others), Tesis is a thriller starring Ana Torrent as Ángela Márquez, a film student who, while researching for a thesis paper on violence in cinema, stumbles upon a snuff film featuring the murder of a former student at the university. Enlisting the help of classmate and violent-movie buff Chema (Fele Martínez), Angela begins an investigation into the crime that leads them to several suspects. One of them is Bosco (Eduardo Noriega), a handsome classmate to whom Angela finds herself attracted, much to the chagrin of Cheme. Tesis was the recipient of seven awards at the 1997 Goya Awards including Best Film. - by Matthew Tobey - allmoviePLOTDownload:Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8 no passDownload Torrentno pass
Based on the testimony of survivors, this historical drama recounts the WWII heroism of female prisoners of war. (Glenn Close) stars as Adrienne Partiger, a society doyenne who flees Singapore with other expatriate women, mostly the wives of servicemen, when Japanese forces invade in 1942. When their gunboat is sunk in an air attack, the survivors wash ashore on Japanese-held Sumatra. The women are interned in a grim POW camp where punishments for even minor infractions are extreme. With the help of a missionary (Pauline Collins), Partiger corrals the women, including a tough American (Julianna Margulies), an Australian nurse (Cate Blanchett) and a young wife (Jennifer Ehle) into a musical group. Since singing is not allowed, the a cappella chorus dubs itself "a vocal orchestra" and is tolerated -- if barely -- by their Japanese captors. Though living conditions are squalid, food is scarce, and a thin sliver of soap inspires a shower brawl, the music keeps spirits uplifted and a Jewish-German doctor (Frances McDormand) provides some medical aid. Writer-director Bruce Beresford interviewed real-life participants in similar POW musical groups. Some provided, from memory, sheet music of the pieces they performed, which were used in the film. - by Karl Williams - allmoviePLOTDownload:Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8 Part9 no pass
Bernardo Bertolucci directed this Italian drama co-scripted by Bertolucci and Clare Peploe from a story by British-born writer James Lasdun (co-scripter of Jonathan Nossiter's Sunday). In Rome, reclusive British composer Jason Kinsky (David Thewlis) lives in the building he inherited from his aunt, while his cleaning woman Shandurai (Thandie Newton) resides in the basement, studying medicine. One day, Kinsky tells Shandurai that he loves her and will do anything for her, so she asks him to free her husband, a political prisoner back in Africa. To acquire funds for the man's release, Kinsky begins selling his possessions, including his piano, while Shandurai hangs out with her friend Agostino (Claudio Santamaria), a man angling to get her into bed. Location filming took place in Italy and Kenya. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival and the 1998 San Sebastian Film Festival. - by Bhob Stewart - allmoviePLOTDownload:Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 no pass
