Höhenfeuer

This is a quiet film about a dysfunctional family living isolated in the Swiss mountains. It´s about a deaf teenage boy and his sister Belli and their complicated relationship. Not related to the deafness itself, the boy is also a little crazy and often gets frustrated and aggressive, and without any shyness undress naked to the annoyance of his mother who prays at night for him to become ”normal”.  

Awards:

-”Golden Leopard” and ”Prize of the Ecumenical Jury” at the Locarno International Film Festival in 1985.

 

Rock Haven

Is faith stronger than sexual attraction? Brady, an 18-year-old devout Christian, is given that test when he and his mother move to a scenic Northern California coastal town where he falls in love with his new neighbor Clifford. There to spread the good word, Brady instead becomes hopelessly attracted to this handsome athlete who is the complete opposite of him: vivacious and free-spirited. There’s an instant sexual spark and the two young men must navigate the divide between Brady’s beliefs and their budding romance.

The Flavor Of Corn (Sapore Del Grano)

Lorenzo, a handsome first-year school teacher arrives in an isolated Italian village with a quiet demeanor and a passion to teach his innocent charges. Though his virile appetites draw him into affairs with disaffected women, Lorenzo falls under the spell of a pupil, dark-haired, starry-eyed, 12-year-old Duilio. As Lorenzo’s relationship with his heartless girlfriend deteriorates, he finds himself walking the fields with his loving student, enjoying tracor rides and quiet moments by the pond. When their idyllic friendship is questioned by Duilio’s suspicious stepmother, Lorenzo is brought to a crisis of conscience.

Director: Gianni Da Campo

Cast:

-Lorenzo Lena (Lorenzo)

-Marco Mestriner (Duilio)

Year: 1986

Country of origin: Italy

 

 

The Return

In memory of Vladimir Garin.

 Declared ”luminously beautiful” by The New York Times, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s THE RETURN is a stunning mixture of visionary allegory, urgent suspense and road movie momentum. Zvyagintsev’s equal skill with lush visuals, lucid storytelling and breathtaking realism easily netted THE RETURN the prestigious Golden Lion and the Best First Feature Film Award at the Venice International Film Festival.

Within the emotional vacuum of a fatherless childhood, young brothers Andrei (Vladimir Garin) and Ivan (Ivan Dobronravov) have grown closer than most siblings. But when they least expect it, the father the boys have never known returns. Under the cool midnight sun of a coastal Russian summer, Andrei and Ivan eagerly hop into a car for a week long fishing trip with a complete stranger they desperately need to believe is their father. But as they travel deeper into the Russian wilderness, their journey devolves from vacation to boot camp to father-sons love triangle and ultimately to a test of wills that pushes to the brink of violence. As it dawns on the boys that the man who could be their father might be trying to abandon, exploit or kill them, THE RETURN´s Jungian landscape gives way to fervid Freudian rage, shocking loss and bittersweet redemption.

Hailed as one of the most auspicious film debuts since BADLANDS or THE 400 BLOWS, THE RETURN is both a gorgeous contemporary thriller and an astute updating of vanguard Soviet filmmaking. Disturbing, tender and transcendant, THE RETURN’s skillful marriage of psychological complexity to mythic imagery effortlessly evokes the watershed films of Andrei Tarkovsky and Roman Polanski.

Also read this contribution from ”Cat Talk”, who left an interesting comment here 8/12/2008.

Original title: ”Vozvrashcheniye”

The boy who plays ”Andrey” drowned shortly after the film was made in the same lake that appears in the film.

Boys Love

In this sexy romance inspired by the style of Japanese Manga, a precocious, young model seduces a straight-laced magazine editor, throwing the latter´s life into turmoil, while at the same time, unleashing another young man´s jealous rage.

 

The Great Water

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the end of World War II, Young Lem, like so many war orphans, wanders aimlessly through the Macedonian countryside only to be caught by communist soldiers. They take him to the children’s orphanage, in fact, a labor camp where kids go to be ideologically ”reprogrammed”. Lem endures terrible abuse at the hands of the camp leaders, but one day, a mysterious older boy appears at the orphanage. Lem chases after him, and the two become partners in religiously tinged crime.

Mysterious Skin

Director Gregg Araki´s ”Mysterious Skin”, adapted from Scott Heim´s acclaimed novel, is an intensely powerful chronicle of childhood innocence lost. The film features starmaking turns from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Brady Corbet alongside outstanding performances from co-stars Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Academy Award nominee Elizabeth Shue.

At the age of eight, Kansas youngsters Neil and Brian played on the same little league baseball team. Now, ten years later, the two boys couldn´t be more different. Neil is a charismatic but emotionally aloof male hustler while Brian is a nervous introvert obsessed with the idea that he has been abducted by a UFO. When the boy´s parallell lives inevitably intersect, the pair unearth dark, repressed secrets on a harrowing and unforgettable journey of self discovery.