Ōgon Bat (1966) The planet Icarus has been directed by evil Ruler of the Universe Nazō on a collision course with Earth. To complete Dr. Pearl’s Super Destruction Beam Cannon, an expedition searches what they discover to be the city of Atlantis, where his granddaughter Emily sprinkles water on the sarcophagus of Ogon Bat and awakens him. Based on puppet theater of Suzuki Ichiro and Takeo…

Cartouche (1962) Philippe de Broca sets Jean-Paul Belmondo loose to steal loot and romance Claudia Cardinale in this throwback to classic swashbuckler films. Whether he is Dominique or Cartouche, in the military or a leader of thieves, Belmondo revels in this role with Gallic irony. Supported by a lively cast – especially Jean Rochefort as Mole and Marcel Dalio as the evil Malichot — this romp…

Strawberry Mansion (2021) Beware! In the future, the govenment will tax your dreams. Albert Birney and lead actor Kentucker Audley concocted this extraordinarily unpredictable exploration of the human psyche, as well as the nefarious implications of corporate advertising, among other things, in an homage to le fantastique in cinema. Fifteen years in the making, this independent film was released…

  Devi (1960) The patriarch of a Calcutta family [Chhabi Biswas]  dreams that his daughter-in-law [Sharmila Tagore]  is the reincarnation of the Goddess Kali. Partly based on a story suggestion by Tagore, Satyajit Ray critiques the dangers of religious orthodoxy. The film was harshly criticized in its initial release, but today its portrait of idolization will strike most viewers as terrifyingly…

Rouge (1988) A melodramatic mix of ghost story with Hong Kong history allows Stanley Kwan to subvert issues of gender. The dead courtesan Fleur [Anita Mui] shows up at a newspaper office to place an ad for her lover [Leslie Cheung] with whom she committed suicide fifty years ago. The reporter [Alex Man] and his girlfriend [Emiiy Chu] agree to assist Fleur, and in the process rediscover their own…

Van Gogh (1990) Singer-songwirter Jacques Dutronc won a César for Best Actor in this revisionist biopic written and directed by Maurice Pialat. The film focuses on Von Gogh’s relationship with his physician, Paul Gachet [Gérard Séty], and Margurite [Alexandra London], the physician’s daughter. However, it descends into backroom cancan dances at the Folies Bergère, with a cameo appearance from…

The Master (2012) Paul Thomas Anderson wrote and directed this study of master/acolyte power dynamics, with memorable performances by Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lancaster Dodd and Joaquin Phoenix as Freddie Quell. Meglonomania and post-traumatic stress disorder discover brotherhood in one another, though a dependency of scoundrels running a cult, ending with this devastating insight —“If you…

In the Company of Wolves (1984)

In the Company of Wolves (1984) Angela Carter collaborated with Neil Jordan in this adaptation of her sado-masochistic rewrite of Charles Perrault’s fairy tales. Menstrual blood flows like Red Riding Hood’s cloak in these stories within stories where Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson) dreams that she lives in a fairytale forest during the late 18th century. The stellar cast includes wily Angela Lansbury…