Mississippi Mermaid (1969) Actually The Siren of Mississippi, Catherine Deneuve is paired with Jean-Paul Belmondo in François Truffaut’s opulent study of a torrid romance, where a wealthy tobacco plantation owner falls in love with a con-artist who marries him to abscond with all his money. When he finally catches up with her, instead of killing … More Mississippi Mermaid (1969)
Black Venus (2010) Yahima Torres deliveres a stunningly brooding performance as the abused and exploited “Venus Hottentot” in this film directed by Abdellatif Kechiche. Based on the real life of Sarah Baartman, Sawtche was bought from an Afrikaner farmer to nurse the children of a Dutch doctor who, seeing the body of his servant as … More Black Venus (2010)
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen [aka Baron Prášil ] (1961) Czechoslovakian animator Karel Zeman combines live action with puppets and animation to create a highly stylized picture about the outrageous lies of Baron Munchausen. Influenced by the engravings of Gustave Doré, in the tradition of Ray Harryhausen, Zeman’s fantasy world revels in a childlike delight and … More The Fabulous Baron Munchausen [aka Baron Prášil ] (1961)
L’Immortelle (1963) Alain Robbe-Grillet wrote and directed this black and white cubist narrative about an unidentified traveler from France who meets and then searches for a woman who disappears in Istanbul. Lovely travelogue sequences glide by to Turkish music, as, from the rubble of exotic romance, variations on narrative tropes assemble and reassemble themselves. Istanbul … More L’Immortelle (1963)
Cronos (1993) Guillermo del Toro’s first gothic masterpiece studies the relationship between a grandfather and his granddaughter through a surreal allegory about immortality and the limits of life on earth. Federico Luppi gives a stunning performance as the elderly antiques dealer who discovers a treasure that rejuvenates his blood and turns him younger. But there … More Cronos (1993)
King of Hearts (1966) Alan Bates stars as a Scottish WWI ornithalography specialist mistaken for a munitions expert who is sent into a small provincial French village of Marville to disarm a booby trap rigged by retreating Germans. only to accidentally release inmates from the local mental asylum who assume identities of the absent … More King of Hearts (1966)
Kagemusha (1980) A common thief, discovered to bear a striking resemblance to his feudal lord, is employed as a decoy to keep civil war from breaking out. Akira Kurosawa drew from the Sengoku period, based upon a history of Takeda Shingen, known for his military skills. Mortally wounded by a sniper, the lord requests … More Kagemusha (1980)
La Promesse (1996) Belgian brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne draw from their documentary experience to fashion this savage critique of trafficking and exploitation of illegals in Liege, Belgium. The father [Olivier Gourmet] involves his son Igor [Jéréme Renier] to cover up the accidental death of a worker who falls from a scaffold. Igor makes the … More La Promesse (1996)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) Carmen Maura gives a defining performance in Pedro Almodóvar’s Spanish screwball comedy. Inspired by Jean Cocteau’s La Voix Humaine, the film reveals a ‘new woman’ of the Post-Franco generation, someone who, like Pepa, caught in a whirlwind of passionate breakup, takes control of her life, and, … More Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
Agantuk [The Stranger] (1991) Based on his children’s story, “The Guest,” Satyajit Ray directs Utpal Dutt, “known for his decades of work in Bengali theater,” as Manomohan Mitra, who claims to be a long lost uncle, requesting hospitality from a middle class couple in Kolkata. Although skeptical, they let him into their home. This … More Agantuk [The Stranger] (1991)
