One of several collaborative dance films by the Brothers Quay & (dancer, choreographer) William Tuckett. Little enough info around on line, but there's briefly by way of Wikipedia entry. Adapted rather loosely from the works of the E.T.A. Hoffman. Familiar Quays' tropes, much in evidence: automata, trompe l'oeil effects, etc. No credit on the sound design (which is fairly elaborate), tho' that is possibly Larry Sider.
At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.
Precocious teenager Juliet moves to New Zealand with her family and soon befriends the quiet, brooding Pauline through their shared love of fantasy and literature. This friendship gradually develops into an intense and obsessive bond.
In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.
Gus Van Sant tells the story of a young African American man named Jamal who confronts his talents while living on the streets of the Bronx. He accidentally runs into an old writer named Forrester who discovers his passion for writing. With help from his new mentor Jamal receives a scholarship to a private school.
The story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings and their fears. Their stories intertwine, and finally come together in a surprising, transcendent moment of shared recognition.
A biopic of writer Truman Capote and his assignment for The New Yorker to write the non-fiction book "In Cold Blood".
Harold Crick is a lonely IRS agent whose mundane existence is transformed when he hears a mysterious voice narrating his life.
Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian neighborhood.
Hans Castorp, fresh from university and about to become a civil engineer, comes to the Sanatorium Berghof in the Swiss Alps to visit his cousin Joachim, an army officer, who is recovering there from tuberculosis. Intending to remain at the Berghof for three weeks, Hans is gradually contaminated by the morbid atmosphere pervading the place. Wishing very much to be considered a patient like the others, he achieves his ends and stays in the sanatorium for ...seven years. During this time, he has enough time to take part in the furious philosophical debates pitting against each other Settembrini, a secular humanist, and Naphta, a totalitarian Jesuit. And to fall in love with the beautiful but enigmatic Clawdia Chauchat. When he is finally discharged in 1914 - along with all the other patients - it is only to plunge into the horrors of World War I.
Cultural mistrust and false accusations doom a friendship in British colonial India between an Indian doctor, an Englishwoman engaged to marry a city magistrate, and an English educator.
An account of the life and work of Irish writer James Joyce (1882-1941) narrated by US actress Anjelica Huston.
An Indian has no faith in the existence of God. His friend recounts numerous tales depicting the miracles of Sai Baba. Unconvinced, he visits Shirdi himself and begins his journey towards discovery and faith. The movie is focused on the story of Sai Baba - his birth, teachings, miracles and his physical death. For the first time, a film has been shot in Shirdi, the holy temple of Sai Baba.
Several men have been murdered lately, mostly rich lovers on their way to meet their mistresses with gifts of fine jewelry. To fight this scourge, King Louis XIV decides to create a special court named "La chambre ardente", designed to find and punish the perpetrators of such heinous crimes. An unexpected person, Mademoiselle de Scudéry, the famous poetess, will find herself entangled in the web of a criminal intrigue linked with the jewel murders, along with a a goldsmith, his daughter and her fiancé...
Miranda and Josef's relationship is shaken when Anastasia enters the couple's life. The chronology of a partnership unfolds: from getting to know each other to the fading of passion.
A newly-wed man discovers that his wife is in love with another man and decides to unite them. Ignoring the ridicule he might have to face for this, he takes his wife to Italy in search of her love.
Summer 1890. In order to make some money to feed his family, Anton Chekhov, modest physician, wrote short stories for newspapers to sign Antosha Tchékhonté. Important characters, writer and editor, just make him aware of his talent. His situation is improving and Anton Chekhov gets the Pushkin prices and admiration of Tolstoy. But when one of his brothers died of tuberculosis, Anton saw it as a personal failure and wants to escape his fame and his love.
A woman and her daughter are each forced to contend with an increasing pressure to marry, particularly from three men who knew her late husband.
Raama, who is a devotee of Lord Venkateswara, denounces worldly pleasures including his soon-to-be-bride and maradalu Bhavani and ends up at Tirumala. He decides to change the face of Tirumala by turning it into ‘Kaliyuga Vaikuntham’ both for pilgrims and the deity with the help of Krishnamma. His endeavours to do so, the hurdles and his encounters with the Lord himself is the story.
From the series "The Modern World: Ten Great Writers", this playful documentary introduces James Joyce's most famous work "Ulysses". It includes fantastic adaptations to film from passages of the novel. It also includes excerpts from a book written by Joyce's friend, the artist Frank Budgen, entitled "James Joyce and the making of Ulysses". Amongst those interviewed is author Anthony Burgess.