September 15, 2009

Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters)

Based on the memoir by Adolf Burger, the film tells the inspiring story of a pre-World War II criminal who overcomes deadly odds to survive life in Germany's Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The result is a deeply impressive work that addresses the dilemma of victims who were forced to act immorally and illegally for the betterment of their captors. (Stefan Ruzowitzky, Austria, 2007, 98 min.)

November 3, 2009

Ne touchez pas la hache (The Duchess of Langeais)

This masterful adaptation of Honoré de Balzac's novel is about a game of hearts between General Armand de Montriveau, a protégé of Bonaparte in Restoration-era France, and Antoinette, the married but flirtatious Duchess of Langeais. As an emotional war rages between them, the film raises provocative questions about the true sources of desire. (Jacques Rivette, France, 2007, 137 min.)

March 9, 2010

Cautiva

Cautiva tells the story of Cristina, an Argentine teenager whose life is uprooted when she is informed that the people who raised her are not her parents, and that her biological parents were "disappeared" for criticizing the military junta. Ordered to now live with her biological family, Cristina begins an investigation of her own in order to find out the truth, where she discovers the real-life horrors of Argentina's relatively recent history. (Gaston Biraben, Argentina, 2005, 109 min.)

October 13, 2009

Flickorna (The Girls)

The Girls tells the story of three actors who, to their husbands’ and lovers' dismay, take Aristophanes' play Lysistrata on the road. As all three women become increasingly rebellious against their familial and wifely duties, their relationships crumble until they start asking themselves if their rejection of domesticity is beside the point. (Mai Zetterling, Sweden, 1968, 100 min.)

February 9, 2010

The Warriors

Urban lawlessness of New York City street gangs is the theme of this violent and influential drama. When a powerful gang leader is shot during a meeting between all of the city's gangs, the blame is pinned on a Brooklyn clan known as the Warriors. Now members of this small bunch face a night of terror as they try to return to Coney Island with an army of thugs hot on their trail. (Walter Hill, United States, 1979, 94 min.)

April 13, 2010

Lars and the Real Girl

Lars, a strange but likeable young man who keeps mostly to himself, shocks his town when he takes a girlfriend—in the form of a plastic doll that he believes to be real. With this announcement, everyone must admit his precarious mental state and play along, careful not to do anything that might push him over the edge. (Craig Gillespie, United States, 2007, 106 min.)