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Category Archives: Drama

Looks and Smiles (1981)

20 Apr

104m; U.K.

Director: Ken Loach

Cast: Graham Green, Carolyn Nicholson and Tony Pitts

Synopsis: Thatcherism and the Irish troubles provide the backdrop for this study of Mick, a well-meaning youth in Sheffield, who has, unlike Dickens’ Pip, no expectations. Mick lives with his parents, works on his motorbike, looks for work, and every two weeks gets his check from the dole. There are no jobs. His best mate Alan joins the army to fix tanks and is sent to Belfast to quell Catholics. At a disco, Mick meets Karen, who works at a shoe shop and lives with her recently-separated mom. Karen misses her dad. She offers Mick emotional stability and a route to adulthood; Alan pitches the army. Does Mick have a future?

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Drama, Politics, Unemployment-Wages, War, Working Class

 

Los Olvidados (1950)

20 Apr

86m; Mexico

Director: Luis Buñuel

Cast: Alfonso Mejía, Roberto Cobo and Estela Inda

Synopsis: A group of juvenile delinquents live a violent and crime-filled life in the festering slums of Mexico City.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Children, Crime-Action, Drama, Legal System, Working Class

 

Love Crime (2010)

20 Apr

106m

Director: Alain Corneau

Cast: Ludivine Sagnier, Kristin Scott Thomas and Patrick Mille

Synopsis (IMDB): Ruthless executive Christine brings on Isabelle as her assistant, and she takes delight in toying with the young woman’s innocence. But when the protégé’s ideas become tempting enough for Christine to pass on as her own, she underestimates Isabelle’s ambition and cunning — and the ground is set for all out war.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Drama, White Collar, Women

 

Love on the Dole (1941)

20 Apr

Director: John BaxterLoveOnTheDole
Writers: Walter Greenwood (novel), Ronald Gow (play), and 3 more credits 

Stars: Deborah Kerr, Clifford Evans and George Carney

During the depression in England, a young woman from Lancashire is forced to become a rich bookmaker’s mistress just to help the rest of her family who are unemployed.

Available on YouTube

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Class, Drama, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo), Unemployment-Wages, Working Class

 

Loves of a Blonde (1965)

20 Apr

88m; Czechoslavkia

Director: Milos Forman

Cast: Hana Brejchová, Vladimír Pucholt and Vladimír Mensík

Synopsis: Young Czech woman escapes from regimented life in a state dormitory and factory labor to run off to the big city seeking romance.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Drama, Women, Working Class

 

Lucia (1969)

20 Apr

160m; Cuba

Director: Humberto Solas

Cast: Raquel Revuelta, Eslinda Núñez and Adela Legrá

Synopsis: Traces episodes in the lives of three Cuban working women, each named Lucía, from three different historical periods: the Cuban war of independence (with Spain), the 1930’s, and the 1960’s.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Drama, Labor History, Politics, War, Women, Working Class

 

Lunch Break (2005)

20 Apr

28m; U.S.

Director: John W. McKelvey

Cast: Tiffany Anne Carrin, John W. McKelvey and Elise Falanga

Synopsis: A working mother is faced with the unexpected arrival of an invasive documentary film crew and the prospect of losing her job as a cashier at a major supermarket, when a group of managers from out of town drop by for an “informal inspection.”

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Drama, Women, Working Class

 

Lunch Break (2008)

20 Apr

80m; U..

Director: Sharon Lockhart

Synopsis: In her new series on the state of American labor, artist and filmmaker Sharon Lockhart turns her meditative gaze to workers at the Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine. Lunch Break (2008, 80 min., HD) revisits cinema’s second-greatest invention after the close-up: the tracking shot. In one long, sensuous, uninterrupted take, the film moves through a factory corridor where workers linger while on their lunch break. The camera “tracks down,” literally, the minute, humble signs of humanity, captured at such a quotidian level that the viewer cannot help but be moved to the core. In the confines of an industrial setting, imperfect bodies unfold as sculptures in time as Lockhart’s evocative soundscape, designed with filmmaker James Benning and composer Becky Allen, extends from the drone of machinery to Led Zeppelin. Lunch Break is followed by the companion film Exit (2008, 41 min., HD), in which Lockhart reverses the gaze, with a fixed camera and a nod to Lumière.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Drama, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Working Class

 

Man’s Job (Miehen työ) [2007]

20 Apr

97m; Finland

Director: Aleksi Salmenperä

Cast: Tommi Korpela, Maria Heiskanen and Jani Volanen

Synopsis (IMDB): Juha is 38 years old and has three small children and a depressed wife. He sees himself as strong and believes a man should provide for his family. But one day Juha is fired from his job. Ashamed, he weaves a web of lies to hide the fact from his family. With the help of his friend Olli, Juha begins prostituting himself to support his wife and children. With this he makes in two hours what it took him two days to earn before. The shame and deception mushroom, but the pay from the new profession seems to offset the downside.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Drama, Service Workers, Unemployment-Wages

 

Mac (1992)

20 Apr

117m; U.S.

Director: John Tuturro

Cast: John Turturro, Michael Badalucco and Carl Capotorto

Synopsis (IMDB): Niccolo (Mac) Vitelli is the eldest of three brothers and leads their family after their beloved father dies. Their father was a builder and his sons continue in this family trade. At first, they work for Polowski, who does shoddy work and cheats on his jobs. When the brothers can no longer take being employed by such an angry vitriolic boss who takes no pride in his work, they set up their own company. Together, Vitelli Brothers Construction builds houses with pride and care. However, Mac turns out to be an overbearing workaholic, with obsessive concern about the quality of their work and incredible attention to detail. His intensity and driven ambition precludes a happy family life and eventually drives away his two happy-go-lucky brothers from his nascent construction empire

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Construction Trades, Drama, Working Class

 
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