Archive for the ‘Austria’ Category
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March/April 1917. the first world war is already a couple year old. A sealed train with Russian emigrants keeps on driving from Zurich through Germany and Sweden to Saint-Petersburg. The bolsheviks on the train are lead by Vladimir J. Lenin (Kingsley). There are some unpleasant collisions taking place between enthusiastic Socialists and workers concerned about the war. During the train travel time Lenin's affair with the gracious Inessa comes to an end, and his Nadja is prepared to take him back. The triumphant arrival in Saint-Petersburg exceeds all expectations. |
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Saturday, June 12th, 2010 |
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Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years just before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. The abused and suppressed children of the villagers seem to be at the heart of this mystery. |
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This Simon Aeby's scope period drama uses its narrative to explore conflicts and tensions during the notorious 16th century Inquisition. Nikolaj Coster Waldau and Peter McDonald play Martin and Georg, two men who meet and bond as youths in a European monastery, then part ways and diverge paths; Georg becomes a cleric at a nearby abbey, Martin a soldier in the Army. The adult men reconnect following a fifteen year absence, and not long after, Martin (in the face of overwhelming dissuasion from Georg) falls head over heels in love with Anna - a social outcast because of her father's role as executioner. Martin and Anna marry, and - in a beat that recalls Berlanga's El Verdugo - Martin is forced to enter his father's line of work as a decapitator - a role he performs fluidly and effectively. Trouble brews, however, on two fronts: from Fabio, a handicapped local who covets Martin's new job, and from an Inquisitor (legendary playwright Steven Berkoff) who arrives to oversee George's execution when the local archbishop grows dissatisfied with him - forcing Martin to step in and act as George's salvation. Meanwhile, Brother Bernhard schemes to rob the church of stability. |
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The backstage intrigue behind the creation of one of the world's great operas provides the story for this historical drama from director Carlos Saura. Lorenzo Da Ponte (Lorenzo Balducci) is a defrocked priest who, after a failed marriage and a spell running a brothel, has found himself in Vienna, where his gifts as a poet and friendship with Casanova (Tobias Moretti) have led to an introduction to composer Salieri (Ennio Fantastichini). Salieri has been commissioned by the Viennese court to write an opera and is in need of a lyricist. Da Ponte agrees to write the libretto for Salieri's latest project, but when the composer becomes disinterested, he passes the opera on to one of his associates, Mozart (Lino Guanciale). As Da Ponte juggles both serious and casual relationships with several women and Mozart struggles with his muse, their adventures become a reflection of the story Da Ponte and Mozart are setting to music. Io, Don Giovanni (aka I, Don Giovanni) was an official selection at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. |
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A little loggerhead turtle follows in the path of her ancestors on one of the most extraordinary journeys in the natural world. Born on a beach in Florida, she rides the Gulf Stream all the way to the frozen north and ultimately swims around the entire North Atlantic to Africa and back to the beach where she was born. |
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The winner of the International Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Die Leitze Bruecke (The Last Bridge) was the most financially successful postwar effort of its co-director, veteran German filmmaker Helmut Kauetner. Filmed in a manner resembling Italian neorealism, the story concerns a German lady doctor, played by Maria Schell. While serving in WW II, Maria is captured by Yugoslavian partisans. Despite her distaste for her captors, she nonetheless tends to their wounded. As the film progresses, Maria realizes that people are people no matter what the color of their uniform. None of this altruism matters, however, when she voluntarily crosses "the last bridge," which, symbolically, is her bridge to the Next World. Like the film itself, Maria Schell won the Cannes Film Festival award; equally impressive is future director Bernhard Wicki as the partisan leader. |
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Upon arriving in Austria, Caroline meets her father and his crew, which include the ubiquitous director's assistant Marcus, the irascible sound manager Steven, and the aged, gentle special effects manager Otto. These, among others, have come to Austria to make the film against the backdrop of a long-historied castle. While exploring this castle, Caroline meets and befriends a boy called Lakob and his dog Hannibal; who in turn introduce her to the castle's community of ghosts. These ghosts are variously the animated memories of the castle's deceased inhabitants or spirits of the nearby forest. |
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Thursday, June 10th, 2010 |
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Guilt. Anne and Georges Laurant have a book-lined Paris townhouse, jobs at a publishing house and as the host of a high-brow talk show, and a teenage son, Pierrot, who's on the swim team. Their dinner parties sparkle, but there's tension. They have little to say to each other: Anne may be on the verge of an affair with a close family friend, and Pierrot is monosyllabic and out with friends some evenings. There's new strain when they begin to receive tapes of their home under surveillance—tapes accompanied by childlike drawings of a boy and blood. Anne and Georges are unnerved, dreams give Georges a clue, but he shares little with Anne. What part of himself and his past has he kept hidden? |
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The Counterfeiters is the true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936. Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch is the king of counterfeiters. He lives a mischievous life of cards, booze, and women in Berlin during the Nazi-era. Suddenly his luck runs dry when arrested by Superintendent Friedrich Herzog. Immediately thrown into the Mauthausen concentration camp, Salomon exhibits exceptional skills there and is soon transferred to the upgraded camp of Sachsenhausen. Upon his arrival, he once again comes face to face with Herzog, who is there on a secret mission. Hand-picked for his unique skill, Salomon and a group of professionals are forced to produce fake foreign currency under the program Operation Bernhard. The team, which also includes detainee Adolf Burger, is given luxury barracks for their assistance. But while Salomon attempts to weaken the economy of Germany's allied opponents, Adolf refuses to use his skills for Nazi profit and would like to do something to stop Operation Bernhard's aid to the war effort. Faced with a moral dilemma, Salomon must decide whether his actions, which could prolong the war and risk the lives of fellow prisoners, are ultimately the right ones. |
Current time is: 28 Aug 2010 21:15
