20h15: Poland 1981, 100min. polish with english subs:
"Mis," by Stanislaw Bareja, is one of the best and highest rated Polish
comedies. With its plot tightly set in Polish reality, the film presents
a skewed view on Polish society of the 1980s. The film's main plot is
intertwined with grotesque and absurd situations from everyday life
(exaggerated to fit the film's comedic purpose). The film focuses on
Ryszard Ochodzki (Stanislaw Tym), a chairman of a sports-club, whose
passport has been mysteriously damaged, which makes him unable to leave
the country. He wants to get to London, where he is supposed to withdraw
a large sum of money from his bank account. Unfortunately, he shares
his bank account with his ex-wife, who also wants the cash. The bulk of
the film follows Ochodzki's efforts to outsmart his wife, get a new
passport and get to London as soon as possible. I have no words to
describe the film's brilliance. While some of the jokes might be unfunny
to non-Polish audiences, the film still makes for a fantastically comic
viewing and a brilliant insight into the 1980s' Poland.
Doors open at 19h30. Before and after the main features ANIMATED SHORTS from USA. 20h: USA 2003, 100 min, english (a kind of), no subtitles:
Producer, writer, director and star Tommy Wiseau has created a film that was produced, writting, directed and stared himself, which is shown in many movie theatres regularly and is considered as cult.
IMDB user comment
I have now seen Mr. Tommy Wiseau's cinematic tour-de-force, `The Room'
three times. With each viewing, `The Room' becomes more complexly
entangled in and inseparable from my own life. I no longer know where
The Room ends and I begin.
It is, without question, the worst film ever made. Including movies made
on beta max video cameras in special education high school classes. But
this comment is in no way meant to be discouraging. Because while The
Room is the worst movie ever made it is also the greatest way to spend a
blisteringly fast 100 minutes in the dark. Simply put, `The Room' will
change your life.
It's not just the dreadful acting or the sub-normal screenplay or the
bewildering direction or the musical score so soaked in melodrama that
you will throw up on yourself or the lunatic-making cinematography; no,
there is something so magically wrong with this movie that it can only
be the product of divine intervention. If you took the greatest
filmmakers in history and gave them all the task of purposefully
creating a film as spectacularly horrible as this not one of them, with
all their knowledge and skill, could make anything that could even be
considered as a contender. Not one line or scene would rival any moment
in The Room.
The centerpiece of this filmic holocaust is Mr. Tommy Wiseau himself.
Without him, it would still be the worst movie ever made, but with him
it is the greatest worst movie ever made. Tommy has been described as a
Cajun, a Croatian cyborg, possibly from Belgium, clearly a product of
Denmark, or maybe even not from this world or dimension. All of these
things are true at any one moment. He is a tantalizing mystery stuffed
inside an enigma wrapped in bacon and smothered in cheese. You will fall
in love with this man even as you are repelled by him from the first
moment he steps onto screen with his long Louis the Fourteenth style
black locks and thick triangular shoulders packed into an oddly fitting
suit, and his metallic steroid destroyed skin. Tommy looks out of place,
out of time and out of this world. There has never been anything else
like him. Nor will there ever be.
Just when you think the movie might lapse into an ordinary, pedestrian
sort of badness, Johnny's best friend Mark, a man who's job seems to be
to wear James Brolin's beard from Amityville Horror, shows up and
electrifies the screen with a performance so wooden that it belongs in
the lumber section of Home Depot. Incidentally, Mark is played by Greg
Sestero, who, in addition to being described as a department store
mannequin, was also the line producer on `The Room' and one of Tommy
Wiseau's five (5!!!!!) assistants on the movie. Lisa forces Mark, amid
his paltry, unconvincing protests, to have an affair with her on their
uncomfortable circular stairs. For no apparent reason Lisa decides that
she is made of pure evil and wants to torture her angelic and insanely
devoted fiancé, Johnny.
See this film at all costs. See it twice. Or three times. Or as one kid
that I met from Woodland Hills has, 12 times! See it until you can
recite every precious line of dialogue this movie has to offer. Let The
Room become your new religion and Tommy Wiseau your prophet preaching
the gospel according to Johnny.
My dream is to someday buy a theater and run The Room 24 hours a day, 7
days a week until the print disintegrates. I hope it becomes your dream
as well. IMDB user comment
ca. 22h, USA 1973, 90 min., english no subtitles
Kino Anders presents proudly one of the best horror movies ever made!!!
Unsettling... surreal... otherworldly... those are just a few words one
can use to describe this picture. Engrossing... unforgettable... a few
more. This movie is worth a thousand words only because no one word
will suffice.
Messiah of Evil is the story of a woman who goes looking for her father
after he mysteriously stops correspondence with her. When she arrives
at his seaside home, she finds that the whole town has gone quite
batty. She is joined by a far out new-age couple who were curiously
attracted to the strange town. Together, the trio find out that the
town has become one big, evil, flesh and blood craving, moon worshiping
zombie cult.
DEAD PEOPLE (or MESSIAH OF EVIL) is one of those rare horror films that
comes along only a few instances in one's lifetime.
I was totally knocked-out by this forgotten film. Everything about it
is mesmerizing. The thing I was impressed the most about DEAD PEOPLE is
the mood. I've rarely seen a horror this darkly moody, not since
SUSPIRIA. Horror fans looking for gore or fast paced action or even the
standard way horror films are usually made (high body count, an
unstoppable killer, etc) will be disappointed by DEAD PEOPLE. It's none
of those things.
DEAD PEOPLE is directed like a nightmare and everything about it is
disorienting. There's almost no familiar point of reference in the
movie. Everything about it is deliberately done as to make the viewers
feel like they cannot relate to what's going on, which is probably why
this film looks like a failure to many. But for me, the effect is
fantastic. This "disorientating" technique is very common now, with
celebrated filmmakers, such as David Lynch, who have made entire
careers utilizing this style of film-making.
Messiah of Evil (the most common title) is not the kind of zombie movie that
most people expect. The zombies are small-town residents slowly turned into
the living dead by a supernatural force while remaining functional the whole
time. They are able to speak, move, and act as a living person would; their
main objective is not to eat the living (although they do), but to wait for
the coming of their dark messiah. If this concept turns you off, then you
may want to skip this movie.
With that out of the way, the film is a surreal, expressionistic, and highly
imaginative piece of avant-garde terror. The above-average cast turns in
superb performances, with Michael Greer and Marianna Hill sympathetic as the
offbeat leads. The images are amazing: Joy Bang slowly surrounded by zombies
in the cinema, the marquee reading KISS TOMORROW GOODBYE, Greer roaming the
deserted streets, the bleeding citizens of Point Dune staring out at the
ocean...I could go on and on. The low budget shows, and the faded, grainy
color composition only enhances the phantasmagorical tone. Elisha Cook's
recounting of the town's history is incredibly creepy, as is Hill's
narration (in both hysteria and cool detachment). Raun McKinnon's sad,
plaintive performance of the theme song, "Hold on to Love," is another
haunting aspect. An intelligent, chilling modern horror movie that doesn't
need buckets of on-screen gore to make it's point.
Doors opens at 19h45. before and after the main features, ANIMATED SHORTS from Canada.
20h30, Canada 1985, 1h, english, no subtitles
YOSH AND STAN SHMENGE, polka players extraordinary, are retiring. The
two legends are hanging up their lederhosen. And like most popular
music stars, they are having a final concert for their devoted fans,
most of them now over 50. ''The Last Polka,'' a zany ''documentary'' (=mockumentary)
sendup of that concert and a review of the career of the Shmenges.
Old black-and-white home movies and newsreels show Yosh and Stan growing
up during World War II in Leutonia, situated on the dark side of the
Balkans and totally devoid of trees. Young Yosh and Stan break into show
business with a vaudeville act playing music on geltkes, which are
glass jars. Their first big influence was Lionel Hampton. Trying to get
established, they try a number of gimmicks, at one point touring as
''Stan & Jolie,'' with Yosh done up in blackface and crouched on one
knee. Eventually, though, with Yosh playing clarinet and Stan
accordion, they settle on toe-tapping polkas, offering delighted
audiences such popular favorites as ''Cabbage Rolls and Coffee.''
''Hey,'' shouts big Yosh cheerfully, ''let's polka - two, three, four.''
The Spinal Tap of Polka starring John Candy and Eugene Levy and directed
by John Blanchard is very funny! Watch the trailer, if you don't
believe me!
ca. 21h45, Canada 1974, 79 min., english, no subtitles
Monkeys in the Attic A Film of Exploding Dreams centres on two
couples living in a sumptuously kinky Toronto household. The clowning
and crazy Wanda (Jackie Burroughs) and Eric (Victor Garber) are wild in
fantasy and sexuality, while Elaine (Jess Walton) and Frederick (Louis
Del Grande) appear to be on the verge of separation; tired of
Frederick’s bullying, Elaine retreats into a world of alcohol and pills,
resenting Frederick and the freakiness of the other couple. When a
pizza delivery boy (Jim Henshaw) arrives, he is lured into Elaine’s
bathtub and then dumped into the backyard pool. His boss phones at the
end, bringing the fantasy back to reality.
Morley Markson’s third feature is as carefully conceived and structured
as his others, a precisely modulated and often funny exploration of the
clash of egos caught up (in a similar way to Markson’s Breathing Together) in the battle between “a dead culture and a live culture.” Though some critics found Monkeys in the Attic
a bad amalgam of Fellini, Buñuel and Bergman, it stands as the clearest
expression of Markson’s sensibility. It won an award as best foreign
film at the Rencontre internationale du jeune cinema in Toulon in 1974,
but had only a limited commercial release.
by:
Peter Morris
This is an unusual film. That will be my first of many understatements
about Monkeys in The Attic.
I know that this is a Canadian film about two dysfunctional couples who
live, love, and trip (not in the travel sense) together. Their interaction
with each other is only interrupted when the pizza delivery man pays a call.
That is where my understanding of the plot stops. I have a few theories
about the meaning of this movie; I think all are equally
valid.
Theory number 1: This is an obvious attempt to shed light on aimless
bourgeoisie awash in the morass of modern decadent Western capitalistic
society.
Theory number 2: This is a treatise on the subtle differences between
appearance and reality, soberness and drunkenness, sanity and insanity, male
and female, body and soul.
Theory number 3: This is a visual essay on the physical and emotional
impotence of the male in the modern world, in light of the feminist
movement.
Theory number 4: This is one long public service message about the need to
"Just say no."
Theory number 5: This is a paradigm of what happens when a bunch of
Canadians get together to get naked, drop a lot of acid, smoke a lot of
doobies, and get "turned on."
The actors in this little drama do what they can with what they are
given---which is not much. Victor Garber--who later went on to play the
kind-hearted Thomas Andrews in the blockbuster Titanic--and Jackie Burroughs
are the most interesting to watch. They must explore the greater range of
emotions. Jess Walton--of The Young and the Restless fame--and Louis Del
Grande, on the other hand, just seem to be in a bad mood. Comic relief is
provided by Jim Henshaw, who plays the hapless pizza delivery boy. by Sheri Files on imdb
Despite the playful title, this an adult film with some disturbing scenes
of drug abuse, and sexual and domestic violence. It is not for the
close-minded or the easily offended. To fully appreciate this film (if that
is possible), you have to remember the times in which it was made: it is 70s
mentality and morality. Many today will find it politically incorrect, but
will watch anyway...like glancing back at a bad car crash.
opening 20h:
20h30, Italy 1975, 125min., italian with english subs
Absurdist political thriller from legendary director Elio Petri (Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto) with a dream cast.
Plot:
1970's Italy. While an unnamed epidemic is killing the nation's
citizens, Italian politicians enter a secret underground religious
retreat, under the guidance of maverick priest Don Gaetano. Amongst
vicious infighting, one by one, the politicians begin dying.
The film is notorious because Gian Maria Volonte's character, called
simply 'M', was clearly a lacerating portrait of Christian Democrat
politician Aldo Moro. Two years after the film was made Moro was
kidnapped and assisinated, probably by the Red Brigade. To date this
film has not received a DVD release. It's a great shame because the
film utterly transcends its period. It features a fearless piece of
acting from Volonté who gives a performanc unlike anything else I have
seen of his. Marcello Mastroianni is similarly brilliant, completely
different from his roles in Italian comedies.
The supporting cast members, who work in marvellous co-ordination with
one another other, are all excellent. Set Design and cinematography are
also amazing. The best underground bunker since Dr Strangelove.
Todo Modo is loosely based on the novel of the same name by Leonardo
Sciascia. The English translation of the title is One Way Or Another.
Trivia: Director Elio Petri commisioned a jazz score from Charles
Mingus. However, it was not used. Ennio Morricone (never one to leave
the telephone unanswered) was on hand to create a highly unsual
expressionistic soundscape as a substitute.
ca. 22h50, Italy 1967, 99 min., english subs
A rather unusual agenda from Tinto Brass who obviously found later his
niche in "t&a" movies. Col cuore in Gola is a psychedelic, pop art
giallo that can just come from the great era of the late 60´s/70´s.
Starting from the nice credits and music you immediately like this film
and this is just the beginning!
Trintignant founds in a nightclub a
corpse beside the lovely Aulin who just says "I wasn’t it". Convinced
that she is innocent he wants to help her and want to find out the
murderer, Aulins brother should solve this case and both are searching
for him. Though not quite without problems... a dwarf in raincoat is
following them in companion with some gangsters who kidnap Aulin. Jean
is now searching for Aulin, Aulins brother and (of course) the murderer.
The Story itself is not that convincing (rather unimportant) but what
here is really of interest is the unconvential style of brass :
splitscreen (even tripple split screens!) some scenes in black and dark
yellow filter and more.., and in the "middle" of course the presence of
two very convincing leads: cool Trintignant and hot Ewa Aulin.
(imdb user comment)
