Grandeur Locale
Overview of films
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America, America
Elia Kazan shot part of his epic film on location in Greece, which is most unusual for a film-maker who became great in Hollywood. (He wanted to film in his birthplace Anatolia, but armed conflicts between Turks and Greeks forced him to shoot in Greece.) He also used a cast of unknown actors, many not […]
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Füürland 2
Ten years ago the duet of directors Klopfenstein / Legnazzi made E Nachtlang Füürland, a film about the ‘autonomous’ (anarcho-punk) movement of the early eighties, seen through the eyes of a typical representative of the ’68 generation. That film focused on the radio reporter Max Rüdlinger and the same is true of this sequel, although […]
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La macchina ammazzacattivi
One of director Roberto Rossellini’s few comedies. A fable about a camera that has the power to kill with a click of the shutter, this could almost be a parody of the political aims of Neo-realism: the camera captures truth, but truth can be a dangerous thing. Rossellini left before the film was completed; the […]
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En het leven gaat door
In 1990 two earthquakes destroyed large areas of Northern Iran. Forty thousand people died and fifty thousand were wounded. It was in this same region that Kiarostami shot his feature film Where is the House of my Friend? in 1987. As a result, he decided to return to the area later with his son to […]
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Proshchanie
In this film version of one of Valentin Rasputin’s stories, the local grandeur is pathetic +!+ in the non-pejorative meaning of the word. The film looks at the evacuation of the inhabitants of a Siberian village on the island of Machora. The island is to disappear under the water of a dam lake because a […]
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Accattone
Pasolini’s debut Accattone, ‘sponging’, is set in Rome soon after World War Two. Italy is still in a state of chaos, both economical and psychological, and large groups in the population live in desperate poverty. In these conditions plunderers form groups; one of them counts among its members ‘Accattone’, aggressive, reckless and sly. He has […]
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The Lost Paradise
Light plays the leading role in this film. Using over- and under-exposure, powerful spotlights and the ubiquitous sun, Safarian paints a rural community facing change. Safarian uses these techniques to evoke mystical shadows from the past. The film is set in the village of Partisak in Eastern Armenia, which literally means ‘little orchard’. Farmers who […]
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Taipei Story
Taipei Story portrays the hectic and labyrinthine capital of Taiwan from the inside. Against the background of contemporary city life, the decay of traditional family life is also shown, with an indirect allusion to major social and political tensions. The fine photography of the moderm city, subtly revealing something of tradition, has received widespread praise.The […]
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Lalie polné
Soon after World War One, veterans of the conflict trek through the countryside as beggars, tramps and musicians. Two of them, the clarinetist Hejges and theologian Krujbel are looking for a new home, but keep trekking round anyway. Hejges falls in love with the young widow Paula, who misses someone to talk to because her […]
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Branding
The battle between sea and land, which is the subject of Breakers, is reflected in the relationship between a seaman and a woman on land. A young fisherman from Katwijk loses his job and has to find work on land. He wants to get married to his lover and seeks work in the tulip fields, […]
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The Chanter
Chanter was shot entirely on location in a suburb of Glasgow, the cast comprising local inhabitants. The director knows the area like the back of his hand, because he grew up there. He has portrayed this experience as a frightening and schizophrenic experience. Every boy had to ensure he was in a gang, because otherwise […]