The great Agnes Varda's film career began with this graceful, penetrating study of a marriage on the rocks, set against the backdrop of a small Mediterranean fishing village. Both a stylized depiction of the complicated relationship between a married couple (played by Silvia Monfort and Philippe Noiret) and a documentary-like look at the daily struggles of the locals, Varda's discursive, gorgeously filmed debut was radical enough to later be considered one of the progenitors of the coming French new wave.

Deborah Kerr is designated to establish a convent in the Himalayas at a remote cliffside dwelling, a palace of dubious origin. She takes her assignment seriously and faces strange customs and unfamiliar peoples as well as a harsh climate. There are inner struggles as well, and Kerr is excellent at revealing these. Huge closeups reveal what her character is supposedly thinking as she peers at others, often in unspoken disapproval of their actions, particularly David Farrar, Jean Simmons (as an Indian girl), and Kathleen Byron--who gives the film's most urgent performance as the distraught nun with worldly pleasures on her mind. Kerr gives a faultless performance, the mainstay of the film, since most of the story is seen from her viewpoint.
The striking color photography and set decoration were rightfully awarded Oscars. A haunting, powerful study of the effects of loneliness and isolation on a group of nuns--and what happens when one of them goes beserk. The struggle between the two nuns at the bell tower is one of the most gripping climaxes ever. A richly detailed British film with a windswept atmosphere all its own.

Based on the life of Epifan Drowniak, famed naive painter Nikifor Krynicki, who was discovered in 1960 by another painter, Marian Wlosinski. The latter was working on the decor of the spa buildings in Krynice where Nikifor offered his paintings to the spa guests. From there, Nikifor settled into Marian's workspace. The academic painter started to look after him, fascinated as he was by the purity and grace of the primitive painter's artistic manifestations. In his effort to understand the phenomenon of the physically and mentally disabled man, Marian gave up his own work and even his family life. Devotedly, not demanding any response or sign of gratitude, he secured a social foundation for Nikifor, and in 1967 organized an exhibition at a prestigious Warsaw gallery.

A prisoner on death row and a woman who's drawn to his plight go through their own spring, summer, fall and winter of love in "Breath," a typically quirky chamber drama by helmer Kim Ki-duk. One of the South Korean maverick's sparest and most dispassionate works, though still marbled with weirdly comic and tender moments, this quietly affecting item will play best to Kim's existing fan club rather than enroll many new members, with niche business in markets receptive to his pics.

Richard returns home from military service to a small town in the Midlands. He has one thing on his mind: revenge. Payback for the local bullies who did some very bad things to his brother. At first his campaign employs guerrilla tactics, designed to frighten the men and put them ill at ease. But then he steps up his operation, and one by one these local tough guys are picked off by the terrifying angel of vengeance that Richard has become.

Searing indictment of war and the individuals discredited in its aftermath. Directed by the masterful Kinji Fukasaku, it is a harsh, bleak work that uses monochrome flashbacks with occasional explosions of color, war photographs, and grim narration to tell a terrible tale. Sachiko Hidari, a war widow, has spent twenty-six years searching for the truth about her husband's death. Was he executed? Was he a deserter? Was he a hero? As the government adheres to an official, flawed version of events, the stubborn woman seeks her own answers by speaking to the men who served with her husband. The stories told by these damaged soldiers comprise the bulk of the movie and accounts are complicated by each man's "truth".

In Late Spring, a widowed Professor, Somiya (Chishu Ryu), must face the inevitability of giving up his daughter, Noriko (Setsuko Hara) to marriage. Noriko, however, wants only to continue to live at home and care for her father and insists that marriage is not for her. Yet the social pressure to marry continues to build, coming not only from her father but also from Somiya's sister Masa (Haruko Sugimura) whom she calls "Auntie", and from a friend, the widower Onodera (Masao Mishima) who has recently remarried. Masa, unrelenting, presents Noriko with a prospect named Satake who reminds her of actor Gary Cooper, but she is still reluctant. To make it easier for Noriko to decide, Somiya tells her that he is planning to remarry and she will no longer need to take care of him. Noriko's agonizes over her decision and her once beaming face increasingly carries hints of resignation.

After the Fox is a fine and entertaining comedy with Peter Sellers at his best right after a couple of "Pink Panther" titles, as a master thief who finds the way through which the police will guard his millionaire robbery while he is accomplishing it. A good supporting cast with Akim Tamiroff, Martin Balsam and pretty Britt Ekland is there too. But what really surprises is Victor Mature's convincing and funny performance as an aging star who refuses to accept the passing of time.

The film takes place in the rural Devon countryside, where a family of four has just moved from London. Events are related from the perspective of 15 year-old Tom (Freddie Cunliffe), who is unhappy with life away from the city. His 18 year-old sister, Jessie (Lara Belmont), has apparently adjusted better than he has. His parents (Ray Winstone, Tilda Swinton) seem happy and comfortable in their new home, and his mother is on the verge of delivering her third child. Then, shortly after the baby is born, Tom's world is turned upside down when he spies a covert sexual encounter between Jessie and his father. Tom confronts Jessie about the incident, but she denies it, accusing him of having an overactive imagination. He is not convinced, however, and sets out to learn the facts. The truth he must face, and its ramifications upon every member of the family, form The War Zone's core drama.

A minor but wonderful entry in the second of Eric Rohmer's film cycles (this one called "Comedies and Proverbs"), Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle is a 1987 feature about the two eponymous heroines (Joelle Miquel, Jesssica Forde)--young friends of different backgrounds--and their separate, developing ways of looking at nature, society, money, and relationships. The title refers to the film's four chapters, in which Reinette, a provincial girl who wants to become a painter, is invited by Mirabelle, a student, to room with her in Paris. Each section finds the pair comparing their views on things, and ultimately on the topic of talk itself. Typical of Rohmer's remarkably naturalistic style with dialogue for and performances by young people, these characters truly give one the sense of eavesdropping on their sometimes rocky process of establishing individuality. Made simply, the no-frills film is one of those little movies that help clarify and purify the themes and preoccupations of a great artist's better-known works.

Yasujiro Ozu followed his first talkie, The Only Son, with this nuanced 1937 comedy about a henpecked medical school professor who makes up a story for his wife so he can sneak off with his freethinking niece for a holiday. The professor's subterfuge is discovered, which has complex emotional consequences; few critics have noted the rage and rebellion that crop up in Ozu's work, and he's masterful in showing how such feelings are worked out in the context of family. More conventional and commercial than its predecessor, this feature is also uncharacteristic of Ozu in its sharp satire of the rich (its trendy banter and lighthearted boozing suggest The Thin Man as a possible influence).

Duck Season is a wonderfully observed coming of age comedy by first time Mexican director Fernando Eimbcke which delves into the restless energy of adolescence.
Flama and Moko are fourteen year old childhood friends who have the whole house to themselves for the day. To survive another boring Sunday, they have everything they need: video games, porno magazines, coca cola and pizza. Unfortunately, the electric company, their neighbor Rita, Ulises the pizza boy, the Madrid-Manchester football game, a chocolate cake and a horrible Duck painting are ruining what was shaping up to be a great day. But the real problems are slowly revealed: divorcing parents, loneliness, the confusion of love and friendship between teenagers as well the adult's frustration of life.

Five prostitutes work at Dreamland, in Tokyo's Yoshiwara district. As the Diet considers a ban on prostitution, the women's daily dramas play out. Each has dreams and motivations. Hanae is married, her husband unemployed; they have a young child. Yumeko, a widow, uses her earnings to raise and support her son, who's now old enough to work and care for her. The aging Yorie has a man who wants to marry her. Yasumi saves money diligently to pay her debt and get out; she also has a suitor who wants to marry her, but she has other plans for him. Mickey seems the most devil-may-care, until her father comes from Kobe to bring her news of her family and ask her to come home. Kenji Mizoguchi's last film.

The Thief is a story of hero worship that recounts what happens when a young boy chooses the wrong role model. It's also an examination of the way a person's impressions of the world change from childhood to adulthood, and how the simple innocence of a 6 year-old's outlook is doomed to mutate in the face of life's harsh realities. The Thief relates the memories of Sanya, a forty-something Russian who looks back on his early years with an unbiased eye. His voiceover narration is sparse, giving us the bare details of time, place, and background, and reminding us of how uncertain our childhood recollections are. Director Pavel Chukhrai uses this perspective to present a child's point-of-view filtered through the vision of an adult.

A Hen in the Wind deals with a very serious social problem of the time -- the return of those away at war. Frequently supposed dead and often delayed by years after the war's end, returning soldiers came back to families that had had to make all manner of compromises and sacrifices related to their absence. Often the returnees found that their wives had re-married, or worse...
This is one such story. Unusual for Ozu in that it depicts actual physical family violence. A bit shocking if you are used to his other films, in which disapproval is often expressed with raised eyebrows and silence. A good film with fine performances.