Film Reviews

Innocent, sexy Allyson leaves her boyfriend Peter to go to acting classes in Los Angeles. In Los Angeles she rents a room in an apartment building from the grumpy Mr. Merry next to the resident working girl, Bridget. During the day Allyson struggles with her acting lessons at arrogant Eric Constantine's acting school whilst at night she plays with herself as she watches beautiful, confident Bridget through the keyhole servicing her clients. In class she meets professional photographer Jerry who offers to shoot her a portfolio.

A film fantasy of dancing music and dancing color. Listen to the Mocking Bird played by an oldtime fiddler, brilliant patterns ripple, flow, flicker and blend. A Norman McLaren painting on film, translates sound into sight.

The director Lauri Nurkse tells that Veijarit is a film about "arjensietokyvyttömyys" (= inability to tolerate everyday life) and about the Peter Pan complex. The main actor Mikko Leppilampi says it's about "kolkyttoistavuotiaat" (= thirtyeenagers = people of thirty behaving like teenagers). An immediate reference point is the commedia all'italiana of the 1950s and the 1960s, the black comedy often exposing the infantile stage of development of the Italian male. Saku and Ässä are anti-heroes, but we never fail to sense the humanity behind their shallow and crazy ways. Veijarit is a satire and a parody of a superficial way of life, but there is a vitality in the protagonists that we feel can lead them to a more meaningful stage of existence after the prolonged youth full of sound and fury. There is a motif of transcendence in the imagery of flying: will the balloons carry me or will they burst.

Samsara is a word that describes the ever turning wheel of life. It is a concept both intimate and vast - the perfect subject for filmmakers Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson, whose previous collaborations include Chronos and Baraka, and who, in the last 20 years, have travelled to over 58 countries together in the pursuit of unique imagery. Samsara takes the form of a nonverbal, guided meditation that will transform viewers in countries around the world as they are swept along a journey of the soul. Through powerful images pristinely photographed in 70mm and a dynamic music score, the film illuminates the links between humanity and the rest of the nature, showing how our life cycle mirrors the rhythm of the planet.

Chinese detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) solves a murder linked to the occult. This movie had an alternative title: Meeting at Midnight.

A couple en route from Las Vegas are forced to deal with a body out in the desert making their honeymoon one hellish ride.

When Bill Babbitt realizes his brother Manny has committed a crime he agonizes over his decision to call the police.