A manifesto of sorts for the Czech New Wave, this five-part anthology shows off the breadth of expression and the versatility of the movement’s directors. Based on stories by the legendary writer Bohumil Hrabal, the shorts range from the surreally chilling to the caustically observant to the casually romantic, but all have a cutting, wily view of the world.
You May Also Like
During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
Two doctors in Victorian England use manual stimulation of female genitalia to cure their patients’ ills, leading to the invention of the vibrator.
A rebellious teenager, a hardcore gang member, and an idealistic cop risk everything to find their place in the crumbling fabric of modern America. While idealistic rookie cop David is able to keep his family safe until use-of-force incidents put him under pressure to make a fateful decision, hardcore gang member Lito steps into dangerous territory when he defies gang matriarch Tia in his hustle for wealth and power. At the same time, rebellious teenager Rio flirts with gang life until he has to deal with his own guilt over a tragic death.
A woman married to a wealthy socialite, is compromised by the accidental death of a man who had been romantically pursuing her, and is forced by her mother-in-law to assume a new identity to save the reputation of her husband and infant son. She wanders the world, trying to forget her heartbreak with the aid of alcohol and unsavory men, eventually returning to the city of her downfall, where she murders a blackmailer who threatens to expose her past. Amazingly, she is represented at her murder trial by her now adult son, who is a public defender. Hoping to continue to protect her son, she refuses to give her real name and is known to the court as the defendant, “Madame X.”
A hilarious underworld gangster known as Munna Bhai falls comically in love with a radio host by the name of Jahnvi, who runs an elders’ home, which is taken over by an unscrupulous builder, who gets the residents kicked out ironically with the help of Munna’s sidekick, Circuit, while Munna is busy romancing Jahnvi elsewhere.
Drama telling the true story of the murder of 20-year-old Sophie Lancaster in 2007, who was kicked to death in a park by a gang. Her boyfriend, Robert Maltby, was also severely beaten and put into a coma. The two of them were attacked because they were dressed as goths.
An attorney returns to his small home town in Alaska and quickly rocks the boat by getting an injunction against the nativity display tradition and attacking Christmas.
After two failed marriages, a disillusioned woman returns to her hometown to start life anew. Director Philip Dunne’s 1956 drama stars Jean Simmons, Guy Madison, Jean Pierre Aumont, Judith Evelyn, Evelyn Varden, Peggy Knudsen and Gregg Palmer.
On a television show billed as “the greatest fight show on Earth,” eager amateurs with lots to prove boldly step into the ring and expect to leave bloody but victorious. The ratings hungry producers seek out “legendary” but largely forgotten streetfighters and mine their desperation for recaptured glory and redemption into ratings gold.
Homeless children in the slums of Rio are driven out of their temporary shelters by ruthless gangsters in this somber drama. The kids survive by shining shoes, stealing, and cutting the strings of the kites to sell them later to others. Tired of life on the streets, one boy turns himself over to the police in hopes he will be sent to reform school in a last desperate attempt to survive. This feature from acclaimed Swedish director Arne Sucksdorff appeared at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival.
Young Shakespeare is forced to stage his latest comedy, “Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter,” before it’s even written. When a lovely noblewoman auditions for a role, they fall into forbidden love — and his play finds a new life (and title). As their relationship progresses, Shakespeare’s comedy soon transforms into tragedy.