69m; U.S.
Director: Roy del Ruth
Cast: James Cagney, Loretta Young and George E. Stone
Synopsis (IMDB): Amidst a backdrop of growing violence and intimidation, independent cab drivers struggling against a consolidated juggernaut rally around hot-tempered Matt Nolan. Nolan is determined to keep competition alive on the streets, even if it means losing the woman he loves.
87m; U.S.
Director: Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou
Cast: Charles Jang, Jeng-Hua Yu and Wang-Thye Lee
Synopsis: An illegal Chinese immigrant falls behind on payments on an enormous smuggling debt. Ming Ding has only until the end of the day to come up with the money.
151m; Japan
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cast: Toshirô Mifune, Masayuki Mori and Kyôko Kagawa
Synopsis: A 1960 film directed by the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. It was the first film to be produced under Kurosawa’s own independent production company. The film stars Toshirō Mifune as a young man who gets a prominent position in a corrupt postwar Japanese company in order to expose the men responsible for his father’s death. It is Kurosawa’s unofficial Hamlet, reportedly the director’s favourite Shakespeare play. It also doubles as a critique of corporate corruption. Koichi Nishi (Toshirō Mifune) wants revenge for his father’s death. Nishi is a complex man, playing the troubled Hamletesque character, who lets his father’s past destroy his own future. Nishi is the easiest character to draw parallels with Shakespeare’s play. Nishi seeks to avenge the unnatural death of his father. Maysayuki Mori’s performance as the evil Iwabuchi resembles Claudius. The only other clearly corresponding character between Kurosawa’s The Bad Sleep Well and Hamlet is Horatio with Nishi’s accomplice. Nevertheless, the underlying themes of circumstance, revenge, and justice, connect the film and play. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bad_Sleep_Well
85m; France
Director: René Clément
Cast: Marcel Barnault, Jean Clarieux and Jean Daurand
Synopsis: A story about French railroad workers who were part of organized resistance during the German WW2 occupation
89m; Mexico
Director: Sebastián Cordero
Synopsis: A romantic thriller about a construction worker in hiding for killing his foreman who hides in the mansion where his girlfriend works as a maid.
Contact: Esther Devos edevos@wildbunch.eu
116m; France
Director: Lucas Belvaux
Cast: Eric Caravaca, Lucas Belvaux and Claude Semal
Synopsis: Laid-off French steelworkers turn to crime. Explores frustrations of men who find themselves no longer useful members of society but takes a fatal turn into a robbery/thriller and deteriorates into pointless violence.
Contact: almost forgot to mention one film (an excellent fit!!): LA RAISON DU PLUS FAIBLE, by Lucas Belvaux. It is distributed in the US, but there’s no print for now, but there should be one for the fall. You can contact Wendy Lidell on my behalf if you don’t know her at International Film Circuit: 212.777.5690 or wlidell@infc.us. If she doesn’t have a print by then, I might be able to get one from France. – I almost forgot to mention one film (an excellent fit!!): LA RAISON DU PLUS FAIBLE, by Lucas Belvaux. It is distributed in the US, but there’s no print for now, but there should be one for the fall. You can contact Wendy Lidell on my behalf if you don’t know her at International Film Circuit: 212.777.5690 or wlidell@infc.us. If she doesn’t have a print by then, I might be able to get one from France.
125m; France
Director: Lucas Belvaux
Cast: Yvan Attal, Anne Consigny and André Marcon
Synopsis: Stanislaff Graff, a rich industrialist and jetsetting playboy with a wife and a lover, is snatched by kidnappers who demand a fifty million euro ransom. The main question for his board is whether his life is worth more than twenty million. Based on a true story. Told entirely from the industrialist’s point of view, there’s really nothing here about work or workers, and even the question about what a life is worth is not explored much or well. While it’s barely hinted that the kidnappers may be disgruntled workers, this too is left unexplored.
168m; Italy
Director: Luchino Visconti
Cast: Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori and Annie Girardot
Synopsis (IMDB): The widow Rosaria moves to Milano from Lucania with her 4 sons, one of whom is Rocco. The fifth son, Vincenzo, already lives in Milano. In the beginning, the family has a lot of problems, but everyone manages to find something to do. Simone is boxing, Rocco works in a dry cleaners, and Ciro studies. Simone meets Nadia, a prostitute, and they have a stormy affair. Then Rocco, after finishing his military service, begins a relationship with her. A bitter feud ensues between the two brothers, which will lead as far as murder.
90m; Mexico
Director: Amat Escalante
Cast: Cirilo Recio Dávila, Claudia Orozco and Martha Preciado
Synopsis (IMDB): Diego’s job is counting people as they enter a large government building. After work, he and his wife Blanca lie on the couch, watch soap operas, or make love on the kitchen table. Their relationship is based on having sex, watching TV, and fighting, until one day their routine is interrupted. Karina, Diego’s daughter from a previous marriage, arrives in search of her father’s love, but Blanca refuses to accept her. Diego finds himself caught between an extremely jealous wife and a daughter in desperate need of guidance. An astonishing climax will lead Diego to a total loss of control.
86m; Mexico
Director: Amat Escalante
Cast: Jesus Moises Rodriguez, Rubén Sosa and Nina Zavarin
Synopsis: Pulp crime and cinematic formalism collide in this hauntingly visceral portrait of two Mexican day laborers moved to desperate deeds in a hellish contemporary Los Angeles. Host University of Guadalajara Foundation.
Contact: Kino International Corp. 333 W. 39th St., Ste. 503 New York, NY 10018 Tel. (212) 629-6880 Tel. (800) 562-3330 Fax. (212) 714-0871 contact@kino.com
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