It is close to Christmas. In a snow covered landscape in the countryside of Norway we meet 12 year old CECILIE, her friend KLARA and Cecilie's family. They are all preparing for Christmas Eve. Cecilie, however, is seriously ill and spends most of her time in bed, daydreaming about the Spanish boy SEBASTIAN who she met on holiday last summer. One night ARIEL shows up in Cecilie's bedroom, a small strange looking fellow who claims he is an angel and starts talking to Cecilie about the wonders of life. Cecilie finds Ariel quite irritating, but they agree that if Cecilie tells Ariel how it feels to be a human being, Ariel will tell Cecilie about angels and the mysteries of the universe. "Through a Glass, Darkly" is a moving, magic and playful story about a young girl who, at the end of her life, learns to accept death and understands how wonderful life really is. The script is based on the novel "Through a Glass, Darkly" by world famous Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder ("Sophie's World")...  
Director: Jesper W. Nielsen.
Cast: Marie Haagenrud, Aksel Hennie, Trine Wiggen, Mads Ousdal, Maria Sundell, Johannes Piene Gundersen, Àlex Batllori, Liv Ullmann, Asta Busingye Lydersen, Celine Engebrigtsen.
Norway, Denmark, 2008.
Language: Norwegian.
Subtitles: Russian, Danish, English, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian.
Download I et speil i en gåte / Through a Glass darkly.

 

 

Single mum (father of child dead) from the country with 6th grade boy comes to Tokyo, leaves the boy to live with his uncle's family - wife, male, female teens, run a struggling greengrocer - and lives/ works in local inn. He gets bullied/ fights with local boys, goes to the baths, plays basketball, is befriended by his male cousin and becomes friendly with grade 4 girl who's the daughter of the innkeeper, who employs his mum and is the longterm mistress of a businessman from another town, who's the girl's father and who brings her half sister and brother to meet her but they're mean to her. Meanwhile the boy's mother gets friendly with one of the inn's clients and chucks her job for a trip or something more permanent with him. The young girl takes him shopping, and wants the boy to live with her and her mother, but mother and father refuse so the two kids go to a seaside where he sprains his ankle and they're late back even though the police get them and they're in trouble. The boy loses his beetle and tries to get another for the girl for a school project but when he does, she's moved house with her mother at the urging of her father. Clear? It's better in the film.
Director: Mikio Naruse.
Cast: Nobuko Otowa, Jun Fujimaki, Kamatari Fujiwara, Yôsuke Natsuki, Natsuko Kahara, Daisuke Katô, Seizaburô Kawazu, Hisako Hara, Kin Sugai, Naoya Kusakawa, Murasaki Fujima.
Japan, 1960.
Language: Japanese.
Subtitles: Russian, English.
Download Aki tachinu / Autumn Has Already Started.

 On a hot summer day three boys are splashing around the river. One of them gets his hand caught in the stone masonry of a railway bridge. Many peasants, the passengers from the train, which stops nearby, and the crews of tanks taking part in a military exercise flock to the scene of accident. People drop out whatever they are doing; even the maneuvers get stopped to come to the help of a child. Action must be taken quickly because the water level is rising fast. The concerted efforts of all involved people help save the child. Thus a particular case, an extreme situation has served as a test of significant and insignificant in our life, which often happens to become transposed.
Director: Зако Хеския / Zako Heskija.
Cast: Plamen Nakov, Petar Slabakov, Grigor Vachkov, Rousy Chanev, Gerasim Mladenov, Vladislav Molerov, Kalina Antonova, Ivan Bratanov, Dimitar Panov, Kyamil Kyuchukov.
Bulgaria, 1965.
Language: Bulgarian.
Subtitles: Russian.
Download Горещо пладне / Goreshto pladne.

 

 

 Den tiårige Anders, der er besat af dykning, bor i en lejlighed sammen med sin alkoholiske far, der selv har en fortid som sportsdykker. Skønt de på grund af farens misbrug er under skarpt opsyn af de sociale myndigheder, er Anders 100% loyal. For det er stillet i udsigt, at hvis faren holder sig fra flasken, kan de sammen rejse til syden og holde en dykkerferie. Anders køber ind, laver mad og holder facaden overfor de udefrakommende, men da de når ned til varmen og den billige sprut, bliver situation uoverskuelig for Anders.
Director: Morten Giese.
Cast: Helle Fagralid, Luke McQuillan, Mads Mikkelsen, Malene Schwartz.
Denmark, 2003.
Language: Danish.
Subtitles: Russian.
Download Dykkerdrengen / The Boy Below.

 

  PL. Trzech bezdomnych chłopców, dwaj bracia i ich kolega, mieszka na rosyjskim dworcu kolejowym. Pewnego dnia postanawiają wyruszyć w poszukiwaniu lepszego jutra. Chcą przejść przez zieloną granicę do Polski, aby znaleźć wszystko to, czego do tej pory nie mieli - dom, przyjaciół, szczęście...
EN. Six-year-old named Petya (Oleg Ryba). Petya, his brother Vasya (Jewgieni Ryba), and their friend Liapa (Akhmed Saralov) travel overland with dreams of a better life in Poland and the hope that tomorrow will be better. They learn they must rely on each other to find their new home.
Director: Dorota Kędzierzawska.
Cast: Oleg Ryba, Jewgienij Ryba, Akhmed Sardalov, Stanisław Sojka, Aleksandra Billewicz, Zygmunt Gorodowienko, Kinga Walenkiewicz, Antoni Łanczkowski, Maria Cichonczyk.
Poland, 2011.
Language: Russian, Polish.
Subtitles: Russian.
Download Jutro będzie lepiej.

 FR. Années 30, dans un milieu ouvrier.
C'est l'histoire d'Elisa. Elisa est la femme de Gilles. Gilles travaille dans les hauts-fourneaux, parfois le jour, parfois la nuit. Un haut-fourneau ne s'arrête jamais.
Elisa s'occupe des enfants, de la maison et vit chaque jour dans l'attente du retour de Gilles. Victorine est la sœur d'Elisa, elle travaille depuis peu dans un magasin en ville et vient souvent rendre visite à sa sœur pour jouer avec les enfants et donner un coup de main...
Elisa attend un enfant. De drôles d'idées lui traversent la tête. Gilles et Victorine, Victorine et Gilles... Mais non, ce sont de drôles d'idées. C'est bizarre l'humeur d'une femme enceinte.
Et puis un jour, une sensation, une certitude qui s'abat, insupportable : il se passe bien quelque chose entre Gilles et Victorine. Un étrange combat intérieur commence alors, fait de courage, d'abnégation, de silences. Pour retrouver ce qui était perdu. Pour redevenir la femme de Gilles.
EN. Gilles' wife, Elise, who smiles when she thinks of him, cooks and scrubs and cheerfully makes love to him, suspects during her third pregnancy that he is having an affair with her coquettish younger sister, Victorine. Elise suffers, usually in silence. She listens to her husband rave; she asks her priest; she breaks picture frames; she weeps. She decides on a strategy to keep him.
Director: Frédéric Fonteyne.
Cast: Emmanuelle Devos, Clovis Cornillac, Laura Smet, Colette Emmanuelle, Gil Lagay, Alice Verlinden, Chloé Verlinden, Yoann Blanc, Philippe Jeusette, Benjamin Ramon, Jean-François Wolff, Patrick Quinet.
Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Italy, Switzerland, 2004.
Language: French, Russian.
Download La femme de Gilles / Gilles' Wife.

 The two best films of Shūji Terayama on one DVD.
1. 上海異人娼館 / Les Fruits de la passion. 1981.
A girl loves a rich and much older man (played by Klaus Kinski). She is willing to do everything he wants to show her love, but he is playing a sick game with her. As part of this game he sends her to a Chinese brothel. A poor young boy sees her and falls in love with her. To get the money needed to sleep with her, he joins "the revolution". Additionally the movie shows the fate of some of the other prostitutes.
Director: Shûji Terayama.
Cast: Isabelle Illiers, Klaus Kinski, Arielle Dombasle, Pîtâ, Keiko Niitaka, Sayoko Yamaguchi, Hitomi Takahashi, Miyuki Ono, Yuka Kamebuchi, Kenichi Nakamura, Takeshi Wakamatsu.
France, Japan, 1981.
Language: French, English.
Subtitles: Russian.
2. 草迷宮 / Grass Labyrinth. 1979.

 

A young man, haunted by his past, travels the land in search of the lyrics to a lullaby his mother used to sing to him.
Director: Shûji Terayama.
Cast: Hiroshi Mikami, Takeshi Wakamatsu, Keiko Niitaka, Yasumi Nakasuji, Miho Fukuya, Jûzô Itami.
Japan, France, 1979.
Language: Japanese.
Subtitles: English, Russian.
Download DVD Shūji Terayama / 寺山 修司. The best films:
2 parts archive:
Part-1
Part-2

Follows a precocious, eleven-year-old Allan, who tries desperately to keep his dysfunctional, rural family together during the social upheavals of the early seventies. Allan reveres his father, Henry, the local milkman, and can't understand why others don't feel the same way. His family life is so twisted he thinks it's perfectly normal to stay awake all night dealing with his father's hysterics and suicidal threats. Allan's older brother left town several years ago, and his mother gave up long before that, relying on sleeping pills to escape Henry's tantrums. Allan then becomes obsessed with a rival family, whom he considers foolish white trash until they start taking away Henry's customers. He is frustrated that his mother doesn't take his father's complaints seriously, and is perplexed by the increasingly rebellious and bizarre behavior of his sister, Sanne. Incapable of understanding what's going on and heavily influenced by his father, Allan commits appalling acts...
Director: Peter Schønau Fog.
Cast: Jannik Lorenzen, Jesper Asholt, Hanne Hedelund, Julie Kolbech, Thomas Knuth-Winterfeldt, Gitte Siem, Rita Angela, Bjarne Henriksen, Laura Kamis Wrang, Tue Frisk Petersen.
Denmark, 2006.
Language: Danish.
Subtitles: Russian, English.
Download Kunsten at græde i kor / The Art of Crying.

 

Chronicle of a Boy Alone is an indictment of a fascist regime running roughshod over its most vulnerable citizens, its children. Focusing on the bleak life of eleven-year-old bad boy Polin, who's been abandoned by his family and sent to live in a state-run orphanage, it's also a moving portrait of the human spirit imprisoned by the chains of well-intentioned fools. Inside the harsh confines of the supposedly beneficial institution, Polin and his fellow inmates must deal with constant physical and psychological abuse by the staff, as well as the natural emotional tensions brought on by their own burgeoning adolescence. But through it all, they manage to keep their hopes alive with optimistic talk of freedom and bold plans of escape. One day, when the opportunity finally arises, and Polin learns that freedom, too, has its price.

Cast: Diego Puente, Tino Pascali, Cacho Espíndola, Victoriano Moreira, Beto Gianola, Leonardo Favio, María Vaner, Elcira Olivera Garcés, María Luisa Robledo, Hugo Arana, Carlos Lucero, Amadeo Sáenz Valiente, Juan Castro.

Language: Spanish.
Subtitles: English, Russian.

 

 

 

After five years of leaving her and her mother Barbara to work as a doctor abroad, 17-year-old Alma sees her father Fred at a subway station in Berlin. She finds his job, makes contact with him, and starts to spend time with him. Soon the feelings of both go beyond a father-daughter relationship. They begin to feel erotically attracted to each other..
Director: Jeanette Wagner.

 PL. Film Doroty Kędzierzawskiej traktuje przede wszystkim o potrzebie miłości. Bohaterkami są dwie fascynujące, małe dziewczynki. Kędzierzawska często pracująca z dziećmi tak o tym mówi: "Myślę, że trudniej porozumiewać się z dorosłymi, którzy udają, zakładają maski. Dziecko jest szczere: jeśli jest złe to krzyczy, płacze i tupie nogami, jeśli jest głodne - mówi, że chce jeść. Dorośli nie są tak otwarci." "Wrony" to opowieść o samotnej dziewczynce, która pozbawiona czułości matki, porywając inną, młodszą od siebie dziewczynkę wchodzi w rolę matki, tak jak sobie tę rolę wyobraża. Wielkością filmu nie jest postawienie diagnozy społecznej. Problem społeczno-psychologiczny opowiedziany został w innej, z pozoru obcej diagnozom socjologicznym poetyce. Bohaterka filmu porusza się w niezwykłej, poetycznej przestrzeni miasta i w obszarze nieograniczonego obszaru morza. Wolność małej pozwala jej w "magiczny" sposób anektować każdą przestrzeń. Porywając inną małą "wronę", z resztą za jej przyzwoleniem, przeżywają jednodniową przygodę. Kiedyś M. Tournier, wielki wielbiciel dzieci, utrzymywał, że dziecko w sposób naturalny odwraca się od rodziców, kierując się ku podbojom świata zewnętrznego. Reżyserka sytuuje obie bohaterki zarówno w krajobrazie Kultury (miasto), jak i Natury (plaża i morze); z tym, że niezwykłe dzieci, wolne i niebezpieczne dla dorosłych zdecydowanie lepiej egzystują w świecie Natury. Ten typ myślenia jest jedną z uniwersalnych figur wyobraźni naszego widzenia dzieci. Bez wątpienia Dorota Kędzierzawska, tak jak L. Carroll uwielbia dzieci "z wyjątkiem małych chłopców." nagrody:Nagroda Specjalna Jury na FPFF Gdynia 1994; nagroda główna za zdjęcia na MFF "Camerimage" Toruń 1994 
EN. A thin child of about 10, nicknamed "Crow" because she mimics the bird, has no friends and rejects a teacher's hug. At home, she is left on her own, her mom locks her out while entertaining a lover or is asleep. One morning, Crow sees a chubby, cherubic child hugged by both parents as the father leaves for work. When the toddler is left alone, Crow lifts her through the fence and kidnaps her. That day, Crow tries to mother the child, alternately playing with and scolding her, taking her to the beach, leaving shore in a boat, pushing her into the sea in a pique, and eventually carrying the sleeping child back home. Crow returns to her own mother and asks for affection.
Director: Dorota Kędzierzawska.
Cast: Karolina Ostrożna, Katarzyna Szczepanik, Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik, Anna Prucnal, Krzysztof Grabarczyk, Agnieszka Pilaszewska, Antoni Majak, Paul Verkade, Marek Bukowski, Katarzyna Gajewska.
Poland, 1994.
Language: Polish.
Subtitles: Russian.
Download Wrony / The Crows.

 

Cast: Michel Terrazon, Linda Gutenberg, Raoul Billerey, Pierrette Deplanque, Marie-Louise Thierry, René Thierry, Henri Puff, Marie Marc, Maurice Coussonneau.
France, 1968.
Language: French.
Subtitles: Russian.
Download L'enfance nue / Naked Childhood.

 

 DK. Ditte (Tove Maës) fødes udenfor ægteskabet, og forlades af moderen Sørine (Karen Lykkehus). Det bliver bedsteforældrene Maren (Karen Poulsen) og Søren Mand (Rasmus Ottesen) der må tage sig af Dittes opdragelse. Efter Søren er død bliver Ditte den gamle kones eneste trøst og støtte. Det er den lille piges store sorg at hun ikke som andre børn har en far, så hun er lykkelig da prangeren Lars Peter (Edwin Tiemroth) skal giftes med Sørine og de skal flytter sammen. I "Skadereden" oplever vi nu Ditte som opofrende lillemor for sine tre små halvsøskende som er kommet til i mellemtiden. Fattigdommen er så trykkende at Sørine i desperation myrder sin mor, og kommer i fængsel. Nu må Ditte trods sin unge alder bære en husmoders pligter og ansvar på sine spinkle skulder. Som tiden går opstår der et varmt venskab mellem Ditte og Lars Peter. En dag dukker der en fremmed op, det viser sig at være Lars Peters bror Johannes (Ebbe Rode) der ernærer sig ved at slibe sakse og knive for godtfolket, han har store planer, men han er også noget af en taskenspiller, så han bringer dem kun bitter skuffelse. Lars Peter flytter til Lejet og får part i en båd, så Ditte må ud og tjene. Den nu halvvoksne og blide Ditte kommer i tjeneste som pige på Bakkegården. Den karaktersvage søn Karl (Preben Neergård), som er under tøflen af sin mor Karen Bakkegaard (Maria Garland), forelsker Ditte sig i og indleder et forhold til ham, med det resultat at hun bliver gravid. Da Karls mor opdager dette, bliver hun rasende og jager Ditte af gårde. Dybt ulykkeligt søger hun hjem til Lars Peter, den kærlige stedfar som egentlig er det eneste der nogensinde har forstået hende. Dittes mor er i mellemtiden blevet løsladt fra fængslet, Ditte skal nu starte en ny tilværelse, hvor hun skal forsøge at tilgive og hjælpe sin mor. Trods det at hun stadig kun er et barn, bærer Ditte allerede et barn under sit hjerte.
EN. Ditte grows up with her grandparents. When the mother moves with Lars Peter, Ditte is taken home to take care of her siblings. She comes to work at Bakkegården, but is thrown out as she awaits children. 
Director: Bjarne Henning-Jensen.
Cast: Tove Maës, Karen Poulsen, Ebbe Langberg, Rasmus Ottesen, Lars Henning-Jensen, Karen Lykkehus, Jette Kehlet, Edvin Tiemroth, Ebbe Rode, Henny Lindorff Buckhøj.
Denmark, Nordisk Film, 1946.
Language: Danish, Russian.
Download Ditte menneskebarn / Ditte, Child of Man. 1946.

 

This film is about tribes in Africa and South America who turn toward magic as a means of survival and way of life. The Mundari tribe in Africa herd cattle but do not slaughter them for meat. They make use of the cattle urine as an insect repellent and shower underneath their cows. They also use the dung as a body covering to further thwart insects and pest. The cattle are so prized to the Mundari that they are treated as a member of the family and a number of Mundari are shown puffing into the cattle's vagina to encourage an early birth. A hunt is then shown where the Mundari are able to bring down mighty Elephants and Giraffes with ease. Yet unlike sport hunters they hunt merely for survival and pay respect to the beast before eating them. The Dinka tribe is another group who praise their cattle but they bleed the cows and mix it in their milk to help sustain tribes during periods of hunger. They also migrate to different areas along the Nile as to not over consume their pastures. The camera then moves to the South American continent where The Yanawana people are shown in their full glory. They sleep in simple hammocks and allow their dogs every freedom. One woman is even shown suckling a puppy along with her own child. Hunters prepare to catch their meal and a feast of spiders, crab and tapir is enjoyed by all. The Yanawana hold a gathering each year where the shamans drink a mixture of the crushed skulls of their dead shamans to transfer the soul and release it to the heavens. Psychic healers in the Philippines are shown next, they appear to do surgery without leaving scars and impress those around them. Christians are then shown self inflicting wounds as a form of penance to their saints. The cameras move back to Africa where children in Ethiopia have their Uvula removed for no real reason known to us. An Arab woman takes her daughter to a woman called a Marabou and has her checked to insure she is still pure, others use her services to heal themselves with holy messages from the Koran. The final scene has a tribe which takes woman and uses them as fertility gods, they help insure fertility and a big family.
Directors: Alfredo Castiglioni, Angelo Castiglioni.
Cast: Mac Mauro Smith (Narrator).
Italy, 1975.
Language: Russian (Italian).
Download Magia nuda / Mondo Magic.

A 12-year old boy (Isham Samzudeen) is accused of the murder of one Courtseen. His father was a retired judge (Ravindra Randeniya) and his mother (Piyumi Samaraweera) was also a famous magistrate. The movie depicted a controversial scene where child and his mother both get into a bathtub nude. After the child overcomes the initial shock of seeing her mother completely nude, insists on breastfeeding - a request which then the mother forcefully turns down. The film was banned due to issues of incest, murder, rape and contempt of court.

Cast: Isham Samzudeen, Piyumi Samaraweera, Ravindra Randeniya, Saumya Liyanage, Jayani Senanayake, Prasannajith Abesuriya, Somasiri Alakolange, Deshith Gamage, Gayani Gisanthika, Dinithi Sevwandi.

Language: ... 
Subtitles: English.

 

 1. To be Chosen, that is the most important life goal in the strict-religious environment of Katelijne. For her though, reading and stories are much more important. Is she thus risking her "Grace period"?
2. Dorsvloer vol Confetti tells the story of young Katelijne, who grows up in a religious family in the countryside in Zeeland. Based on the novel by Franca Treur.
Director: Tallulah Hazekamp Schwab.
Cast: Hendrikje Nieuwerf, Suzan Boogaerdt, Steven van Watermeulen, Yannick de Waal, Tom van Kessel, Marie Louise Stheins, Genio de Groot, Beate Uma Haije.
Netherlands, Belgium, 2014.
Language: Dutch.
Download Dorsvloer vol confetti.

 

It is 1940. Chuchu and Luo Xiaoman are Chinese students who have been sent to study in Moscow, at the International School. She is 13; he is 12. Xiaoman is from Yanan, Mao's base after the Long March; Chuchu had seen her father executed by Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang. The youngsters fit in well and learn to speak Russian... A large group of students, including Chuchu, leave for summer camp in Byelorussia accompanied by their teacher, Miss Vera. Xiaoman remains behind... The Nazis invade the Soviet Union. Moscow remains unoccupied. Xiaoman takes a job delivering condolence letters to soldiers' families. At one apartment, he finds a mother has died. Her very young daughter, Nadia, has not realized it... The summer camp is occupied by Germans. Miss Vera is murdered. One of the Russian boys, Carl, is half-German, and helps the others to escape. They are quickly recaptured. Chuchu and several other students are sent by Gen. von Dietrich to work as servants at Nazi headquarters in the Yakovliv Monastery. The general is also a medical doctor with a peculiar hobby, tattooing...
Director: Daying Ye.
Cast: Ke-Yu Guo, Hsiao-Ling Hsu, Vladmill Nizmiroff, Ervant Arzumanyan, Anzhela Belyanskaya, S. Butenko, Natalia Krachkovskaya, Sergey Kulikov, Pavel Ledogorov.
China, 1995.
Language: Russian, Mandarin.
Subtitles: English.
Download Hong ying tao / Red Cherry.

 Ten boys and ten girls, aged between eight and eleven, are given the chance to experience life without adults for two weeks.

An ambitious four-part documentary series sees ten boys and ten girls aged between eight and eleven being given the chance to experience life without mum and dad for two weeks. Living in two 'villages' and separated on gender lines, they decide everything about how they live - what they do, what they eat, when they get up, whether they clean and wash and how they organise and entertain themselves.

Who will cope best without mum and dad? And who will build the better world - boys or girls?

Episode 1:

In the first programme, the children arrive in their exciting new surroundings and get to know each other. With comfy beds, and stocks of food, necessities and toys, there's everything they could need to have a...

Episode 2:

After only three days of adventure, the boys - most of who can't cook - are wet, hungry and missing their mums. Meanwhile, the girls have gone from baking cakes to splitting into warring gangs. Looking on, their...

Episode 3:

Last week the children struggled with money, and their self-appointed leaders faced revolution. Now they have a new challenge: a two-day camping trip in the great outdoors.

Episode 4:

The boys and girls face their biggest test: living with the opposite sex. It's not a prospect that thrills everyone - and as the girls make a grab for space they test their limits of the boys' hospitality...

Director: Mark Henderson, Martin Fuller.

United Kingdom, Channel4, 2009.

Language: English.

 

 The House was reviewed a little less favorably than Bartas' earlier films (regular cinemagoers having given up long ago), but personally I found it his most beautiful film yet.
Bartas does tend to repeat himself, it's true. Reviewers love his grim shadowscapes, shot in B/W, of anonymous, more or less lonely, drunk or disheveled men and women stumbling through a haze of cold forests, smoky houses and city wastelands in seemingly arbitrarily fashion - but even they get, I assume, weary of it.
(Contrary to what you might think based on the above, there is nothing gothic about Bartas' depressed realities; and he himself insists, whenever somebody dares suggest a socio-political interpretation, there's nothing Soviet about it either. It's existential. No matter, to me his 'The Corridor' still serves as a brilliant visual summary of the comfortless, hopeless human condition of the former Soviet Union).
But The House, the way I experienced it in any case, showed a whole new step. Not just because there was some color. But because abstract, surrealist scenes of indulgence - eating, caressing - and a suggested presence of tales about the house were added to the mere stumbling in the dark, making the film sensual, almost, without ever lessening the impact of how lost (these) people seem.
More than that. Having suspended, first, your urge to recognize or follow any story line, then, even, your urge to formulate any analysis or interpretation of the images he's providing you with - by the time you're just looking at what you see and *feeling* - suddenly you find yourself watching at a fire outside, on the ice in the lake, and there is a glow, and even the sound of unexplained fireworks, and although it's still lonely, it's *pretty*, and you - well, I was, in any case - are moved, sincerely moved.
Director: Šarūnas Bartas.
Cast: Francisco Nascimento, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Alex Descas, Leos Carax, Oksana Chernych, Viktorija Nareiko, Eugenija Sulgaite, Leonardas Zelcius, Ingrida Kucinskaite.
France, Portugal, Lithuania, 1997.
Language: Lithuanian.
Subtitles: Russian.
Download A Casa / The House:
2 parts archive:
Part-1
Part-2

A Casa / The House. 1997.

 

Jack. 2014.

 A small boy opens his eyes in the morning, astonished by the sunlight. The family life is as usual, almost idyllic. But the boy starts to hear noises during the nights; arguments and crying. The father disappears; the mother takes the kids to the grandparents’ house. What are the consequences when the child’s unconditional trust and admiration for his parents breaks?

Director: Peter Franzen.
Cast: Olavi Angervo, Matleena Kuusniemi, Milja Tuunainen, Samuli Edelmann, Ismo Kallio, Marja Packalén, Peter Franzén, Mio Hamari, Tommi Raitolehto, Jonna Järnefelt.

Language: Finnish.

Subtitles: English.

 

 

 Lovely Rita is not lovely at all. She is a sulky, deceitful, calculating teenager bent on seducing the local bus driver. She is very much an outsider at school and is the source of many arguments at home.

In the title role Barbara Osika gives a good rendition of a frustrated and unbalanced youngster, despite the fact that the script is both rather dull and uninteresting.

A couple of sex scenes are suggested rather than portrayed in any detail. The faces of the participants are immobile and unseen by the camera. The back of the young girl's head is seen blocking out the face of the bus driver. With very little movement the rest is left to the imagination of the viewer. The scene is short. One wonders if the censor has been at work here.

The director seems to have an obsession with the backs of heads, but sometimes it can be quite effective. The bus driver is filmed from behind as he sits at the wheel ( just as the passengers see him) while Rita exchanges fleeting glances with him in the mirror above his head.

It's amazing how the lid of a pedestal toilet seat can start an argument which grows from day to day to an unexpectedly very tense situation.

The final climax comes quite suddenly and adds a nice bit of drama sadly lacking in the earlier part of the film.

Director: Jessica Hausner.

Cast: Harald Urban, Felix Eisier, Agnes Napieralska.

Language: German.