A disturbing Danish film, reanacting witchcraft trials from the 15th and 16th on till the early 20th Century. Mixing scenes of reanactment, animation and illustrated slideshows to depict events of alleged real-life events and possessions, we are shown images of extreme cruelty which smack of the experimental edges of medical research. This must have been tantamount to the work of the devil when it first came out. Sick-minds they had back in 1922! The DVD has a choice of soundtracks, the best of
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KWAIDAN (1964)
CertificationPG Our Rating
Kobayashi's remarkable 'ghost' stories are a beautiful amalgam of traditional Japanese art and subtle direction. The four stories are adaptations of 18th century ghost stories by Lafcadio Hearn and are eerily compelling. Their dramatic impact is all due to subtle visual nuances. Excellent.
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THE COLOUR OF POMEGRANATES / LEGEND OF THE SURAM FORTRESS (1969)
CertificationU Our Rating
The mythical "Colour of Pomegranates", the life of 18th century Armenian poet Sayat Nova, (included in Time Out's 100 greatest all time movie list), double-billed with the "Legend of the Suram Fortress", a Georgian myth about a young boy who saves the constantly crumbling Suram Fortress by allowing himself to be covered with earth and eggs and walled up alive. Eloquent images and obscure symbols constructed in striking tableaux vivants, emblematic gestures or formalised movement. Beautiful, surr
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WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS (1960)
CertificationPG Our Rating
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs might be Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse's finest hour, a delicate, devastating study of a woman, Keiko, played heartbreakingly by Hideko Takamine, who works as a bar hostess in Tokyo's very modern post-war Ginza district. Sly, resourceful, but trapped, Keiko comes to embody the conflicts and struggles of a woman trying to establish her independence in a male-dominated society. A profoundly moving masterpiece.
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