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Film Reviews

Hecate

Set amid the European community in an unspecified North African country, a colony on the verge of nationalism just before the war. And colonized is what happens to a French diplomat, Julien Rochelle, when he meets the mysterious beauty Clothilde de Watteville. Schmid 's favorite axiom, that love is projection, never had such a thorough airing. Is Clothilde really the wife of a French official now holed up in Siberia? Or is she Hecate, goddess of black magic and devourer of the Arab boys she meets far from the European quarter? Only our projections know for sure; for the rest, she is a "woman looking out into the night." Drawn from a novel by Paul Morand, who based the main character on his wife Helene, Schmid's film achieves an atmosphere of magic in which psychological credibility is not so much absent as irrelevant-a film that distances itself from the drama it invokes, perhaps as the elusive Clothilde turns her back on the madness she provokes.

The Lift

A lift begins displaying some erratic behavior, like trapping some party goers and nearly suffocating them, and decapitating a security guard. Felix, the technician from the lift company, can't find anything wrong with the circuitry. When he and a nosy reporter begin asking questions of the lift company's electronics partner (Rising Sun Electronics) his boss puts him on a leave of absence. A subsequent visit to a professor leads them to believe that some evil experiments are being conducted.

Psycho

Criminal on the run, Marion Crane takes refuge at the motel operated by Norman Bates - a troubled man whose victims encounter a grisly fate at the hands of his "mother." Marion soon becomes the next victim and her disappearance prompts inquiries from her sister and a private investigator. They both soon discover the morbid bond linking Norman to his mysterious "mother" at the Bates Motel.

Double Tide

Artist and filmmaker Sharon Lockhart is known for creating beautiful, meditative films that incorporate subtle movement and a static, photographic gaze to examine her subjects. Her new film, Double Tide, documents the work of a female clam digger in the mudflats of coastal Maine and is filmed on the rare occasion in which low tide occurs twice within daylight hours—once at dawn and once at dusk.

Performance

A young gangster Chas Devlin (James Fox) seeks refuge from the mob in a basement belonging to a reclusive, fading rock star Turner (Mick Jagger). In 'underworld' terms, Chas is a 'performer', a gangster with a talent for violence and intimidation. After taking a trip, he begins to cross dress and experiment with his sexuality. The directorial debut of Nicolas Roeg explores both the liberating impulses and threat of anarchy which provided the twin motors of the 'Swinging Sixties'.

Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer

This documentary feature takes an in-depth look at the rapid rise and dramatic fall of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. Nicknamed "The Sheriff of Wall Street," when he was NY's Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer prosecuted crimes by America’s largest financial institutions and some of the most powerful executives in the country. After his election as Governor, with the largest margin in the state's history, many believed Spitzer was on his way to becoming the nation's first Jewish President. Then, shockingly, Spitzer’s meteoric rise turned into a precipitous fall when the New York Times revealed that Spitzer - the paragon of rectitude - had been caught seeing prostitutes.

The Big Sky

Kirk Douglas stars as the determined leader of a band of Tennessee fur trappers who set out to explore the uncharted Missouri river in 1830 and find them selves battling American Indians.

Fast Girls

A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.

You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet

From beyond the grave, celebrated playwright Antoine d'Anthac gathers together all his friends who have appeared over the years in his play "Eurydice." These actors watch a recording of the work performed by a young acting company, La Compagnie de la Colombe. Do love, life, death and love after death still have any place on a theater stage? It's up to them to decide. And the surprises have only just begun...

Final Offer

The filmmakers were given remarkable freedom to record the historic 1984 contract negotiations between the United Auto Workers and General Motors Corporation. Bob White, labour leader of the Canadian branch of the UAW, must also confront his American counterpart from Detroit and succeeds in arriving at a contract that is significantly Canadian. His members had already given him a mandate to fight for independence from the American union. This is an invaluable document for anyone interested in the complexities of United States-Canada relations. It's an extraordinary film about revolutionary events.

Changeling

Christine Collins is overjoyed when her kidnapped son is brought back home. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, the police captain has her committed to an asylum.

Travis

An experimental film matching shifting colors with audio taken from an NPR radio interview with a mother who lost her son in the Iraq War.

45365

45365 explores the congruities of daily life in an American town. From the patrol car to the courtroom, the playground to the nursing home, the parade to the prayer service, it explores relationships and interactions - with people and their environment. The stories of a father and son, a young relationship, cops and criminals, officials and their electorate coalesce into a mosaic of faces, places, and events. 45365 is a portrait of a city and its people.

A Song for Martin

Martin, conductor of a symphonic orchestra, meet Barbara, violine player and they start a relationship. Five years later Martin starts to develop loss of memory and becomes more and more confused. Finally he is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and Barbara tries to help as much as possible although Martin is often angry and violent towards her.

Gangsters

Franck Chaievski and Nina Delgado are two undercover detectives of a French special force trying to identify two corrupts members of the Paris Police Force. Franck is pretending to be a gangster and Nina a prostitute living with him, and involved in a robbery of a fortune in diamonds, having seven deaths and some injured persons.

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