1998
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As part of the Cinequest tribute to John Schlesinger, this taut, harrowing, Nazi-hunt thriller is vastly entertaining. The film twists and turns in the most unexpected ways. Dustin Hoffman and you are challenged to keep up with and keep track of who knows what and who's on whose side. Hoffman is Babe Levy, a Columbia University student and marathon runner. He's very well educated but doesn't have a clue that his own brother, Doc (Roy Scheider), is a government agent seeking Nazi war criminals-or is he collaborating with them?
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Based on the late Nelson Algren's gritty novel of Chicago's underside, this picture was one of the earliest serious depictions of drug addiction from Hollywood. Frank Sinatra, as a small-time poker dealer and heroin addict who is trapped by his own drives, gives one of his very best performances. The jazz score by Elmer Bernstein stands out as the most memorable of that era and is very effective in underlining the film's action.
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It's no matter that John Sturges' The Magnificent Seven is an American version of Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai. It still is an excellent film and deserves the accolades it has received through the years. A small Mexican village is pillaged regularly by the bandit Calvera (Eli Wallach) and his cutthroats. Without the courage to stand up to the desperadoes, the town hires seven of the toughest hombres this side of the Rio Grande. Soon the townsfolk find themselves being trained by the seven to learn to defend their town upon the bandits' return.
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John Schlesinger's Madame Sousatzka can probably be placed in Cinequest's Produced and Abandoned series this year, as it is certainly one of those rare masterpieces to which the studios did not give proper attention. It may seem at first to be another teacher/student film leading to that big test or, in this case, a concert and the growth of a child. But Schlesinger's masterful storytelling ability proves otherwise. In one of the best role of her career, Shirley MacLaine portrays the multi-leveled Madame with complete and total awareness of character.
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She's twenty-one-year-old, East Slovakian Lea, muteness her defense against a world in which she witnessed her mother's violation and death at her father's hands. Daily she honors her mother's dying request that she write, placing poems in a makeshift mausoleum. Through a barter by her foster parents, Lea is sold off to Bavarian Herbert Strehlow, whose 20 years in the Foreign Legion have failed to heal the pain of his wife's sudden death. He restores antiques, living the life of a recluse.
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Noted as one of Japan's career is a testimony to true spirit of the maverick cinema of today. Filmed in beautiful black and white, Ishii latest film, Labyrinth of Dreams, is an extremely stylish mystery about young Tomiko and her search for a killer. Tomiko works as a conductor with the bus company, a mundane job with the usual blandness. It is her sense of adventure that leads Tomiko into her role as the new conductor for handsome driver Niitaka (played by Japanese heartthrob Tadanobu Asano).
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Hollywood films have played a large part in forming and changing the public's attitude on many social issues, often prompting political action. They have often failed as films when dealing with these controversial issues in a cliched or propagandistic way. Where they have usually succeeded is in portraying individual lives caught up in the conflicts and pressures resulting from violent changes in society. To Kill A Mocking Bird deals with racial prejudice in a small Alabama town in the thirties, long before the great upheavals of the civil rights movement of the sixties.
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Hiding away in the back of the classroom or right in the front row, maybe the ones you knew taped their glasses or had pocket protectors. But we all knew them as O-'nerds.O' Former O-'nerdO' Shereen Jerrett takes a look at the all-too-familiar clique providing a humorous glimpse at many adult O-'kid nerdsO' who have carved out individual success.
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It's one thing to be a fan. You watch the show, know characters, and maybe hum the tune when Captain Kirk battles lizard man. But what makes a "Trekkie"? And more particularly, how have fans of Star Trek turned this show into a phenomenon? Roger Nygard's revealing look at Trek devotees may just have the answers to this widespread marvel, as we are escorted by Denise Crosby (Lt. Tasha Yar of Star Trek: The Next Generation) through a unique world of sparkling and unusual personalities. Encounters include a man whose name was legally changed to James T.
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Hey! Why is they all talking so funny? What is that, Japanese? Hungarian? What the #@*! is going on?'' Well, I guess the answer to all would be, ''YES!'' If you see only one film at Cinequest this year (and shame on you if you do!), make it Griffin Lamachy's Joe Flies. It's sure to warp your mind. Take for instance the fact that Eddie has this idea for a film that he's trying to get across to his friends but doesn't quite seem to know what he's talking about. Imagine also that Eddie's apathetic co horts sit in this cafe all day and speak 12 different languages, including Pig Latin.