Two Short Films by François Truffaut (Les Mistons / Antoine et Colette)
by Francois Truffaut
from Fox Lorber
François Truffaut's 1957 short "Les Mistons" (roughly translated to "The Brats") is an early testament to Truffaut's affinity with kids and his first exploration of impossible love. Five boys palling around one summer fall for a teen beauty, but as the narrator (one of the five) describes, "Too young to love Bernadette, we decided to hate her--and torment her." These adolescent boys are neither cute nor innocent, but Truffaut sympathizes with the frustration born of budding hormones and sexual mystery. In 1962, he revisited similar territory in the sketch "Antoine and Collette." The second film to feature alter ego Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), it was originally made for the omnibus film Love at Twenty but has outlived its companion shorts. As romantic and gently ironic as The 400 Blows is harsh and haunting, this modest 20-minute lark finds a teenage Antoine pursuing the lovely, lithe 20-year-old Colette (Marie-France Pisier) like a lovesick puppy dog. The comic sweetness of this episode sets the tone for all future Doinel films, and Léaud, who matured into the poster boy for the French new wave, displays the lanky charm and self-effacing egotism that propelled him through some of the greatest films of the next two decades. --Sean Axmaker
Night Train (Pociag)
by Jerzy Kawalerowicz
from Polart
A classic award-winning film from Jerzy Kawalerowicz (Mother Joan of the Angels): a powerful psychological thriller in which a young woman suffering an inner crisis buys a ticket from a stranger for a crowded holiday train and finds herself in a "Men Only" sleeper with an unhappy doctor. The police board the train in search of a killer. Winner at the Venice Film Festival. In Polish with English subtitles.System Requirements:Running Time 102 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 644527466095 Manufacturer No: DV90446
The Saragossa Manuscript
by Wojciech Has
from Image Entertainment
Enter a dazzling, mysterious world of the supernatural courtesy of "The Saragossa Manuscript," a magical text discovered during the Napoleonic Wars by a pair of opposing soldiers. Capt. Alphonse van Worden lives out the book's intricate, devilish storylines as he embarks on a journey across scenic Spain, now populated with ghosts, alluring demons, debauched royalty, and mystical priests. Spanning centuries and nations, the manuscript's reach encompasses a wide array of stories both humorous and horrifying, gleeful and grotesque, before the final chilling revelations bring this one of a kind book to a close. Critically applauded and embraced over the years by such admirers as Jerry Garcia, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese, this swirling tapestry has been restored to its original, full length director's cut with all of its labyrinthine riddles intact.
Ashes and Diamonds (Popiol i Diament)
by Andrzej Wajda
from Polart
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