Café Astoria (1989)
Genre : Drama
Runtime : 1H 40M
Director : Jože Pogačnik
Synopsis
The city of Maribor before the Second World War, and Maribor after its liberation mark the period in which the film Cafe Astoria is set. The story relates with a gentle melancholy and a slight irony the lives of a middle-class family: the cafe owner, his wife and their son. Through their individual destinies we become acquainted with the social and historical background of a by-gone era; the social and national differences of pre-war Maribor, divisions among the wealthy and poor, and nationally minded Slovenes and fanatic Germanophils. The first year after the war introduced the absurd characteristic cruel measures of the so-called revolutionary social transformations in which calamity and coincidence intervene, resulting in events of comic nature, of course, as seen from a safe distance of fifty years.
In a small Jewish community in a pre-Revolutionary Russian village, a poor milkman, determined to find good husbands for his five daughters, consults the traditional matchmaker – and also has words with God.
Miranda is a sensual tavern owner with a taste for men of all types. Over a year's time, Miranda copes with the death of her husband by enjoying the talents of a different lover for each of the four seasons. All the men are delightful, but which one is the best lover, and who will make a suitable husband?
Summer heats up in rural Louisiana beside Eve’s Bayou, 1962, as the Batiste family tries to survive the secrets they’ve kept and the betrayals they’ve endured.
Dick Turpin is terrorising the countryside around Upper Dencher. Captain Fancey and Sergeant Jock Strapp plan to put an end to his escapades, and enlist the help of the Reverend Flasher. Little do they know that the priest leads a double life. Then Madame Desiree and her "Birds of Paradise" arrive in the village...
A gang of pirates rape the two sole survivors of a ship wreck. The violated girls are rescued by the strange inhabitants of a supposedly haunted island, where they are granted supernatural powers to strike revenge against the pirates.
A New Orleans performer loves a pirate who robs only from the shipowner who ruined his father.
The story of a young,wild woman who doesn't want to compromise and settle down. Stella is a restless, rebellious Greek woman who plays with men and enjoys her life as much as she can. But when she meets a young football player, things get mixed up. She loves him but she loves her freedom too. So it's about time she made an important choice.
King Louis XIII of France is thrilled to have born to him a son - an heir to the throne. But when the queen delivers a twin, Cardinal Richelieu sees the second son as a potential for revolution, and has him sent off to Spain to be raised in secret to ensure a peaceful future for France. Alas, keeping the secret means sending Constance, lover of D'Artagnan, off to a convent. D'Artagnan hears of this and rallies the Musketeers in a bid to rescue her. Unfortunately, Richelieu out-smarts the Musketeers and banishes them forever.
Zika and Milan are fighting over who gets to spend more time with grandson Misha, who is five years old. Although Misha lives with his parents in Milan grandfather, Zika all ways of trying to learn Misa tavern life and his craft. A Milan his grandson sent to violin lessons and English. Come up with a number of interesting situations.
Aspiring filmmaker Rocky Horror (Robert Baldassari) devises a dangerous plan to create a surefire terror hit when he lures several film school classmates to a haunted tavern, hoping to capture footage of them being attacked by a legendary monster. But when the creature finally appears, Rocky and his fellow students realize that the blood and corpses are real, not special effects, and that the action may not stop when the director yells "cut."
Fifteen years ago 1830s muskrat trapper Dannie Mcnoun, loves Mary and sends his best friend, Jimmy, to win her over for Dannie. Jimmy married her instead. Now neighbors, Dannie works both farms as Jimmy tries to drown his problems with a bottle.
A beautiful tavern-keeper finds herself getting caught up in a war between Italy and Turkey.
In the Colorado Rockies, Sheriff Scott, heads a posse that is after four escaped convicts, and thought it is his sworn duty to return the men dead or alive, he is, as always, reluctant to kill his fellow man. He is accompanied by Jaynes, a tavern owner, who takes much delight in his telescopic rifle, and by "Smitty," a gas station held up the escapees and more than ready to show she can be as tough as any man, although she seems to have some other motive for getting to the leader of the convicts, Kaygo.
The city of Maribor before the Second World War, and Maribor after its liberation mark the period in which the film Cafe Astoria is set. The story relates with a gentle melancholy and a slight irony the lives of a middle-class family: the cafe owner, his wife and their son. Through their individual destinies we become acquainted with the social and historical background of a by-gone era; the social and national differences of pre-war Maribor, divisions among the wealthy and poor, and nationally minded Slovenes and fanatic Germanophils. The first year after the war introduced the absurd characteristic cruel measures of the so-called revolutionary social transformations in which calamity and coincidence intervene, resulting in events of comic nature, of course, as seen from a safe distance of fifty years.
A marine adventure on the persecution of dreams becomes a pretext to play with art forms.
A teenager reflects on his life after being accused of cheating on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?".
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Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?
Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy.
Two researchers in a green alternative energy project forced on the run when they are framed for murder and treason.
