Before Night Falls 2000  R, 125 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Julian Schnabel
Cast: Javier Bardem, Olivier Martinez, Andrea Di Stefano, Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, Michael Wincott, Najwa Nimri, Hector Babenco, Jerzy Skolimowski, Vito Maria Schnabel
Noted anti-Castro Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas (Javier Bardem) is the subject of this film about a poor boy who grows up and joins Castro's revolutionary forces. After the revolution, Arenas moves to Havana, publishes his first novel, and participates in the gay underground. His actions are considered dangerous by Castro's political regime, and Arenas is sentenced to concentration camps and later is exiled. Finally free and living in NY, Arenas contracts the AIDs virus and ultimately kills himself. What makes this film extraordinary is not the plot; instead, it is the painstaking blend of the movie's sights and sounds that tugs at viewers' emotions. Bardem was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award.
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Circle of Deceit 1981 R, 108 min.
Genre: Drama
aka: False Witness
Director: Volker Schlondorff
Cast: Bruno Ganz, Hanna Schygulla, Jean Carmet, Jerzy Skolimowski, Gila von Weitershausen, Peter Martin Urtel, John Munro, Fouad Naim, Josette Khalil, Khaled El Sayed, Sarah Salem, Tafic Najem
The Lebanon War, as seen through the eyes of German journalist Georg Laschen (Bruno Ganz), is the subject of this film. Laschen stays long after other journalists pull out because of danger as he tries to understand the violence between Christians and Palestinians and report it to the world.
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Eastern Promises 2007 R, 100 min.
Genre: Drama / Mystery / Thriller
Director: David Cronenberg
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Sinead Cusack, Jerzy Skolimowski, Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse, Aleksander Mikic, Shannon-Fleur Roux, Raza Jaffrey, Josef Altin, Mina E. Mina, Lalita Ahmed
While serving as a midwife in London's Russian emigre section, Anna's (Naomi Watts) patient dies while giving birth. Anna determines to find the baby's family rather than put the baby in the foster-care system. Anna uses the girl's diary, and the clues, albeit in Russian, lead her to Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) who, unknown to Anna, heads a brutal crime family. Semyon wants to get his hands on the diary because of the secrets it holds, and he also wants the baby. But, the diary is not the only thing holding secrets. Semyon's son Dirill (Vincent Cassel) and underling Nickolai (Viggo Mortensen) have their own secrets–some of which are revealed in the diary–and will stop at nothing to get their hands on that diary. Mortensen received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
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Innocent Sorcerers 1960  N/R, 85 min.
Genre: Foreign / Drama / Romance
Director: Andrzej Wajda
Cast: Tadeusz Lomnicki, Krystyna Stypulkowska, Zbigniew Cybulski, Wanda Koczeska, Kalina Jedrusik, Teresa Szmigielowna, Roman Polanski, Andrzej Nowakowski, Jerzy Skolimowski
Although he is not interested in them, women are very attracted to Dr. Andrzej Bazyli (Tadeusz Lomnicki), and he is getting tired of all the attention. Then, Pelagia (Krystyna Stypulkowska) appears on the scene, and his life picks up as they begin a battle of wits that finally dissolves Bazyli's indifference–at least for awhile.
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Moonlighting 1982  PG, 97 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Jerzy Skolimowski
Cast: Jeremy Irons, Eugene Lipinski, Jiri Stanislav, Eugeniusz Haczkiewicz, Dorothy Zienciowska, Edward Arthur, Denis Holmes, Renu Setna, David Calder, Judy Gridley, Claire Toeman, Michael Sarne
Set in England, this is an in-depth study of four Polish, non-English-speaking men working to restore a townhouse. Irony abounds when their foreman, Nowak (Jeremy Irons), tries to keep news of the military take-over of Poland from the men.
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The Shout 1978  R, 87 min.
Genre: Horror / Thriller
Director: Jerzy Skolimowski
Cast: Alan Bates, Susannah York, John Hurt, Robert Stephens, Tim Curry, Susan Wooldridge, Jim Broadbent, John Rees, Colin Higgins, Julian Hough
Crossley (Alan Bates) is a mental patient who has developed the talent of killing by simply shouting, which causes no end to problems for those around him.
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Success is the Best Revenge 1984 N/R, 90 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Jerzy Skolimowski
Cast: Michael York, Joanna Szczerbic, Michael Lyndon, Jerry Skol, Michel Piccoli, Anouk Aimee, John Hurt, Ric Young, Claude Le Sache, Malcolm Sinclair, Hilary Drake, Jane Asher, Michael Sarne
Living in exile in London, playwright Alex Rodak (Michael York) is producing a political play and is absorbed in his own world of making the play a success. In the process, he ignores the needs of his family. His oldest son Adam (Michael Lyndon), while attending high school in London, is desperately searching for his own identity and secretly plans to return to Poland. The conflicts between personal and political interests accelerate to the point of separation between father and son.
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 Torrents of Spring 1989 PG-13, 102 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Jerzy Skolimowski
Cast: Timothy Hutton, Nastassja Kinski, Valeria Golino, William Forsythe, Urbano Barberini, Francesca De Sapio, Jacques Herlin, Antonio Cantafora, Christian Dottorini, Alexia Korda, Marinella Anaclerio, Pietro Bontempo
While visiting Germany, a Russian aristocrat, Sanin (Timothy Hutton), falls in love with the daughter (Valeria Golino) of an Italian baker. Romance blossoms–until femme fatale Maria (Nastassja Kinski) enters the scene with designs on Sanin.
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White Nights 1985 PG-13, 135 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Taylor Hackford
Cast: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, Geraldine Page, Jerzy Skolimowski, Helen Mirren, Isabella Rossellini, John Glover, Stefan Gryff, William Hootkins, Shane Rimmer
Inside the Soviet Union, Nikolai (Mikhail Baryshnikov) and Raymond (Gregory Hines) plot an escape to the West. This movie is filled with intrigue, and you also get the added bonus of some great dance choreography. Lionel Ritchie wrote the Academy Award-winning song, "Say You, Say Me."
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| 1. Before Night Falls (2000)
2. Circle of Deceit (1981)
aka: False Witness
3. Eastern Promises (2007)
4. Innocent Sorcerers (1960)
5. The Lightship (1985)
6. Moonlighting (1982)
7. The Shout (1978)
8. Success is the Best Revenge (1984)
9. Torrents of Spring (1989)
10. White Nights (1985)
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