The Dress (1996)
Genre : Comedy, Drama
Runtime : 1H 43M
Director : Alex van Warmerdam
Writer : Alex van Warmerdam
Synopsis
The story of a summer dress and those who have to do with it, especially the train conductor (played by van Warmerdam, the director). The dress functions as catalyst for the whimsical events, which turns out to be either tragic or hilarious.
A psychoanalyst and his family go through profound emotional trauma when their son dies in a scuba diving accident.
A depressed wealthy businessman and a spunky and care-free young woman embark on an unexpected journey that changes their lives.
Rick and Reni came to California in search of a new lease on life. Unfortunately, all they found was each other... In a last ditch effort to save their struggling relationship, the duo twist their couples' counseling therapy into a plot that would see them turning back into their Texas low-life roots as petty criminals. As has been the case throughout the history of Rick and Reni's calamity plagued relationship, their haphazard scheme to hold up a dive bar goes horribly wrong. When a diverse cast of bar patrons gets caught up in their failed plot, Rick and Reni begin to not only wonder if they'll survive the day, but if they can survive one another.
Joseph Vilsmaier Two-part TV movie focuses on the tragic events surrounding the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German passenger ship, at the end of World War II. On 30 January 1945, Captain Hellmuth Kehding was in charge of the ship, evacuating wounded soldiers and civilians trapped by the Red Army. Soon after leaving the harbor of Danzig, it was hit by three torpedoes from the Soviet submarine and sank in less than an hour.
Two teams are in a heated race for the money and the honor that comes with breaking the land speed world record.
The story takes place in Haifa, Israel, in 1979, during three days before the Shabbat. A young woman trying to raise three children, work from home, and observe the strict Moroccan traditions of her family finds herself at constant odds with her husband and her brothers, who want her to stay married and leave behind the notions of being loved and free.
When the daughter of the miserly cooper Grandet is up for marriage, both families Des Grassins and Cruchot want to marry their sons to her and her substantial dowry. But the girl shows more interest in the impoverished cousin, whom she entrusts her entire fortune to.
A dramatized episode from Robert McCloskey's book "Homer Price." Shows Homer's resourcefulness in managing the dilemma created by a doughnut machine with a mind of its own.
In 1928 in the northern part of the Netherlands, a man has an affair with the wife of one of his friends (who is in jail at the time). Because she abandons her children to move in with him, the police are sent to arrest her. This leads to a dramatic confrontation.
A small town doctor gets a visit from a former study-friend. He doesn't know this former surgeon has become a junkie that wants to steal his morphine.
Viola's seminal piece, The Reflecting Pool, was made three decades ago on analogue video tape and yet could easily pass for a contemporary digital piece; in it, Viola emerges as central protagonist from a thick forest into a clearing filled by an artificial pool. As the noise of an aeroplane slowly passes and fades overhead, Viola approaches the edge of the pool, whereby he removes his shoes, squats down yelling and then prepares to make a powerful jump.
The result of a challenge from Melvyn Bragg to write a film that Ken Russell himself would be eager to see banned, was A Kitten For Hitler – a 10-minute short in which a plucky young Jewish boy traverses the globe on a quest to warm the Führer's heart with the gift of a cuddly feline.
A portrait of a deserted fisherman's village in Northern Norway called Børfjord - a place with an incredible personality in the middle of a magnificent Arctic nature. The 12 minute short film was filmed in 70mm Super Panavision, using a specially developed "nature animation" technique. The result is a magic flight in one single shot, along the remains of an internal village road. At the same time a whole year passes by at 50 000 times normal speed! Most of the year, the village of Børfjord lies empty with virgin snow between cold houses. People show up only during a short and hectic summer season. But the cycles of nature go on as they have always done, totally independent of what people might do.
In 1952, Haanstra made Panta Rhei , another view of Holland through the eyes of a painter and filmmaker. Its poetic images of water, skies and clouds reflect Haanstra's own moods.
Inhabitants depicts animals in panic: the film is mostly filled with shots of mass migrations and stampedes (some, surprisingly, filmed from a helicopter). The title equalizes the species of the earth. Artavazd Peleshian merely alludes to the presence of human beings—a few silhouettes that seem to be the cause of these vast, anxious movements of animal fear. In many ways, this film is an ode to the animal world that moves toward formal abstraction, with clouds of silver birds pulverizing light. Peleshian said, “It’s hard to give a verbal synopsis of these films. Such films exist only on the screen, you have to see them.”
Poetic essay about the beginning of life from labor pains and birth and about its symbolic meaning.
Title cards introduce images we watch without narration; they are displays of shape and color. François de Roubaix's electronic music accompanies these images, photographed under a polarizing microscope. The crystals appear to move like tiny organisms: small four-part fans share the frame with flowing lines of pink. Multiple patterns appear side by side.
Frits Egters can't quite get a hold of himself. An intelligent and sensitive young man, repulsion and desillusion turned him cynical. According to Frits there should be more to life - he just doesn't know where to find it.
An unknown observer is seen traveling through a bleak corridor. At the end of the corridor they see a naked woman, whom they are unable to reach as their trip seems to become increasingly twisted and looped.
A girl tells the story of her life and hopes for the future.
A love story of a couple who both reconsider the meaning of their former lives, only to come up with decision that they should marry.
A film documenting the landscapes of northern Iceland, as well as a recent work about the Hudson River.
A montage of some home movies taken by Archie Stewart (1902-1998), an early enthusiast in taken 16 mm sound films of his family. We see his daughters, Mary and Anne, playing in the aftermath of a January, 1936, snowstorm. Next, indoors, the girls bring in a birthday cake and sing to Archie. He has Anne read to him from a children's book, and a year later, has her read aloud to show her progress. Anne and Mary dress up Pat the family dog in a dress and scarf and hold a tea party, chattering away. Archie's high-pitched voice provides narration on and off camera.
Julius goes rabbit hunting while Alice goes bear hunting. Alice and her cat learn at their own expense that one shouldn't bother animals, whether those be rabbits or bears.
The scene opens on a theatrical stage. The magician enters from the wings, and making a bow to the audience, removes his coat and hat and they disappear mysteriously in the air. He then takes a white handkerchief from his pocket, holds it over his knees, and his long trousers disappear, and behold! he is clad in knickerbockers. He next makes a pass with a magic wand and a table suddenly appears before the audience, on which is a large pile of tissue paper. The magician takes up the paper and shakes it a few times and three live geese fly out upon the floor. This is a highly pleasing and mystifying subject.
This picture shows an old gentleman seated at his shaving table. The razor is evidently giving him a great deal of trouble...
BOSTON FIRE finds grandeur in smoke rising eloquently from a city blaze. Billowing puffs of darkness blend with fountains of water streaming in from offscreen to orchestrate a play of primal elements. The beautiful texture of the smoke coupled with the isolation from the source of the fire erases the destructive impact of the event. The camera, lost in the immense dark clouds, produces images for meditation removed from the causes or consequences of the scene. The tiny firemen, seen as distant silhouettes, gaze in awe, helpless before nature’s power.