Wendy Anne MacDonald
Couples and Robbers is a 1981 English language comedy/crime film written and directed by Clare Peploe, starring Frances Low, Rik Mayall and Peter Eyre. Two couples -- one with all the riches that dreams are made of, the other with only dreams and schemes -- are brought together by the plotting of the poorer couple. A pair of newlyweds wander through the city streets, bickering about their poverty, until they are distracted by the opulent home of a lawyer. Impulsively, the couple makes off with the lawyer's vehicle for one night of extravagant indulgence. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
1981-10-07
5.286
Luise, called Pünktchen, and Anton are closest of friends. Being the daughter of a wealthy surgeon, young Pünktchen lives in a great house. Her mother, who always travels through the world more for public relation reasons than for the social tasks she pretends to fulfill, is never available to her as a mother. Anton, son of a single and sick mother in financial trouble, does his best to help her out of it by working late. Pünktchen decides to help her only friend (as nobody else would anyway) and starts singing in public places. Trouble arises when Anton can't resist stealing a golden lighter and Pünktchen's secret life is discovered by her parents. Two troubled families finally can see the need for actions to be taken.
After the death of his mother, a young boy calls a radio station in an attempt to set his father up on a date. Talking about his father’s loneliness soon leads to a meeting with a young female journalist, who has flown to Seattle to write a story about the boy and his father.
Jess Bhamra, the daughter of a strict Indian couple in London, is not permitted to play organized soccer, even though she is 18. When Jess is playing for fun one day, her impressive skills are seen by Jules Paxton, who then convinces Jess to play for her semi-pro team. Jess uses elaborate excuses to hide her matches from her family while also dealing with her romantic feelings for her coach, Joe.
Lili, a pouty and voluptuous 14-year-old, is caravan camping with her family in Biarritz. She's self-aware and holds her own in a café conversation with a concert pianist she meets, but she has a wild streak and she's testing her powers over men, finding that she doesn't always control her moods or actions, and she's impatient with being a virgin. She sets off with her brother to a disco, latching onto an aging playboy who is himself hot and cold to her. She is ambivalent about losing her virginity that night, willing the next, and determined by the third.
As the romantic monsoon rains loom, the extended Verma family reunites from around the globe for a last-minute arranged marriage in New Delhi. This film traces five intersecting stories, each navigating different aspects of love as they cross boundaries of class, continent and morality.
Agnès Varda eloquently captures Paris in the sixties with this real-time portrait of a singer set adrift in the city as she awaits test results of a biopsy. A chronicle of the minutes of one woman’s life, Cléo from 5 to 7 is a spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, featuring a score by Michel Legrand and cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.
An emotionally scarred highway drifter shoots a sadistic trick who rapes her, and ultimately becomes America's first female serial killer.
Anaïs is twelve and bears the weight of the world on her shoulders. She watches her older sister, Elena, whom she both loves and hates. Elena is fifteen and devilishly beautiful. Neither more futile, nor more stupid than her younger sister, she cannot understand that she is merely an object of desire. And, as such, she can only be taken. Or had. Indeed, this is the subject: a girl's loss of virginity. And, that summer, it opens a door to tragedy.
Anne and Tom, a married nudist couple, work in a real estate office. When the agency's owner discovers that Tom is a nudist, he fires him. Unfortunately, Tom was just ready to close a big real-estate deal with Al Jenkins. Tom goes to his favorite nudist camp to take his mind off his problems and discovers that Al Jenkins is also a member of the nudist camp. Together they come up with a plan to get Tom's wife and their boss to get to the nudist camp so they can close the deal.
The leader of a small kingdom falls in love with a beautiful American girl, only to be shocked when he finds out that she's a nudist.
This and The Hot Month of August, both made in Greece, were acquired by DORIS WISHMAN for release in the United States. However, she somehow or other lost the dialogue sheets needed for dubbing the films into English. With the original dialogue a mystery, and not understanding Greek in the first place, the Grand Dame of Sexploitation simply re-invented the entire plot blissfully dubbing it away without any clue as to what was really being said, and then adding some steamy sex scenes with her own anonymous adulterers to liven things up.
Just by watching Lupe stuck at home in her robe and slippers, no one would will guess that in the 80's she was a rock star. Gone are the times of concerts, fame and success. Agoraphobia does not let her leave home. She depends entirely on Paquita, his mother, a superstitious Mexican, with a huge heart, which not only takes care of his daughter but also her teenage grandson. The problem is that Paquita is running out of time and she doesn't want to leave without getting her daughter back.
Sent from the future to look after a lonely girl, Eggy finds himself falling for her. But dating is forbidden and would risk both their fates.
Nora is a young housewife and mother, living in a quaint little village with her husband and their two sons. The Swiss countryside is untouched by the major social upheavals the movement of 1968 has brought about. Nora’s life is not affected either; she is a quiet person who is liked by everybody – until she starts to publicly fight for women’s suffrage, which the men are due to vote on in a ballot on February 7, 1971.
Both an activist and a documentarian, Valentina Pedicini also brings her background in anthropology to this impressively captured, claustrophobic nonfiction feature. Venturing beneath sea level, From the Depths profiles the lone woman at work in the last coal mine in Sardinia, Italy.
One clear summer day in a Baltimore suburb, a baby goes missing from her front porch. Two young girls serve seven years for the crime and are released into a town that hasn't fully forgiven or forgotten. Soon, another child is missing, and two detectives are called in to investigate the mystery in a community where everyone seems to have a secret.
Young, ace assistant DA, Shelby Cook, works with driven cop, Mike Holland, to catch Daedalus, a serial killer infamous for luring his victims to their deaths through labyrinth traps. Three innocent men have already taken the fall for Daedalus and when Daedalus strikes again, Shelby finds herself defending the latest man accused, a retired and respected judge--who also happens to be her own father.
After the death of her husband, Pat learns that he gambled away all of their savings and that she's now destitute. She may even have to leave their apartment. Much to the embarrassment of her daughter Tina, who wants to marry a rich snob, she helps the homeless Dollie, who lives in a cardboard box near her building, and they become friends
First Winter is a 1982 Canadian short film directed by John N. Smith. With the father away, an Irish immigrant family struggle to survive their first winter in the Canadian wild. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
Wandering through the forest, a woodcutter finds a golden fern whose seed turns into a beautiful woman - they fall in love. After getting drunk in a village feast, he gets to sign up to the army. The fairy gives him a shirt to wear and asks him to swear he will never abandon it. At the war front, he falls in love with the the colonel's daughter and will have to perform various feats to get her attention.
Dr. Julian Mater is suspended and gets his license revoked for performing experiments on dying patients in cellular regeneration. A couple of years later, he returns to the hospital that condemned his work to begin practicing his grizzly experiments once more.
The female protagonist finally makes it to get a job as an intern. But after a while working at this weird company, she finds out the criminal site of it and learns to be a criminal herself.
Reggae exploded in the 1970s and Cimarons, the UK's first reggae band, formed in 1967, were at its heart. Thousands of miles from Jamaica, they brought excitement, experimentation and sheer anticipation to a new generation of Black British youth, putting them in touch with their roots. Harder Than The Rock celebrates Cimaron's storied history and explores the band's overlooked impact and influence as they persevere against all odds and dream of playing to live audiences again, one last time...
Night has fallen. A thunderstorm approaches. In a lonely house a young woman mourns her deceased husband. In the cemetery across the street the shape of a man rises from a grave...
Maria steps into her mother's apartment, a bittersweet journey down memory lane. The rooms echo with the echoes of her childhood, as she spots the familiar furniture and treasured trinkets. Loneliness settles in, a quiet companion. She recalls the days when her mother's voice would call out her name, back by their favorite tree, in simpler times.
A short documentary about the intricate nativity scenes of Michele Pascuzzi.
After being hunted to near-extinction, the last male Eskimo curlew searches for a mate while making the annual migration from the arctic tundra to the nesting grounds in Argentina.
Leo is a small time crook on the road to redemption. The age old story of a broken man trying to change himself. Escape to Passion is a sleazy action-packed classic.
Johnny Durán, who is seventeen years old and son of a multimillionaire, arrives to Madrid for hollidays. In the capital he become friend of a group of boys and girls with whom he shares great moments; but soon he realice that they are a clan of thugs and decides to distance themselves. He also meets Paula, daugther of an italian family that is travelling, and they both feel atracted by each other. Since then, started happening a serie of unexpected events which the guy will have to solve with tenacity and responsibility.
A smug executive enjoys the perfect life - until he loses his job, and finds himself working at a burger joint. Now he's falling behind on his bills, and if something doesn't change soon, his family could lose everything by Christmas.
Di Renjie is an investigator looking into a seemingly dull murder case. But when his superiors start opposing his tactics, he starts to believe there must be a larger conspiracy at play.
Mirai Mizue continues his experimentation with music and movement in his latest "cell animation," Tatamp. Not to be confused with the animation technique of "cel animation," Mizue’s unique style of "cell animation" is hand-drawn and colored on paper then scanned onto the computer for editing. The name refers to the fact that the creatures that he draws resemble amoeba and other minute organic creatures one might find under the lens of a microscope.
Without a job and no money to spend, Blanche Mery (Gina Manès) has to accept a job offered by Gunter (Édouard Mathé), a strange millionaire wearing the black mask.
Four segments that breakdown the filmmaking process of Crimson Peak.
Rebekah Vardy goes on a personal journey through her difficult history with the Jehovah's Witnesses, meeting former members and uncovering secret documents.