Synopsis: Jacobo Köller is the owner of a small outdated factory in Uruguay’s grey and quiet port of Montevideo. A year after his mother’s death, his brother Herman visits from Brazil to attend the ceremony of the setting of the stone in the cemetery. Jacobo asks Marta, his loyal chief employee, to pretend they are…
Category: Media Studies
Whale Rider: Summary & Analysis
Summary: The opening sequence presents a powerful juxtaposition between contemporary culture and Maori heritage, with a modern hospital birth-scene intercut with mysterious shots of a whale and a female narrator recounting the Maori tale of Paikea: a mythical descendant of the Ngati Konohi tribe who discovered Whangara on the back of a humpback whale after…
West Side Story (1961): Summary & Analysis
Summary: On New York’s West Side, two gangs, the white Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks, fight over turf. At a dance, the tensions are palpable, but Tony, a former Jet, and Maria, the little sister of Bernardo, the Sharks’ leader, fall in love at first sight. While they meet secretly, the Jets and the…
WR: Mysteries of the Organism – Summary – Analysis
Summary: The film is a collage of different materials, mainly documentary footage from the US, and fictional events taking place in Belgrade, Serbia. The ‘American’ section also contains various materials: interviews that attempt to shed light on the life and the theories on the relation between sex and politics espoused by psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, reflections…
The Ascent (Movie): Summary & Analysis
Summary: The film is set in Nazi-occupied Belarus and follows the story of two partisans (Soviet resistance fighters): Nikolai Rybak (Gostiukhin) and Boris Sotnikov (Plotnikov). A German counterinsurgency detachment surrounds the starving partisans and refugees in a frozen forest. The partisans’ commander sends Rybak to get food for the insurgents from neighbouring farms. Sotnikov volunteers…
Viridiana (Movie): Summary & Analysis
Summary: Viridiana tells the story of a novice nun who, in the film’s opening scenes, is asked by her Mother Superior to visit her widowed Uncle Jaime. She has not seen him for many years but he has asked to meet her before she takes her vows. Spending the night at the farm where he…
The Red Violin (1998 Movie): Summary & Analysis
Summary: The Red Violin was written by François Girard and Don McKellar. Girard also directed this international co-production between Canada, the UK and Italy, which was released in theatres in 1998. The film won an Oscar for Best Original Musical Score, and the Canadian equivalent in the following Genie Awards: Best Picture, Best Director and…
Videodrome (1983): Synopsis & Analysis
Synopsis: Videodrome tells the story of Max Renn (Woods), the sleazy programmer of a soft-core television channel who discovers a mysterious signal broadcasting a snuff TV show called ‘Videodrome’. Increasingly obsessed with tracing the source of the rogue signal, Max crosses paths with media philosophy guru, Professor Brian O’Blivion (Creley) and his daughter Bianca (Smits)….
Voyage to the Beginning of the World: Summary & Analysis
Summary: Viagem is a road movie of sorts. Three actors and an aging director, on a day off from making an unnamed film, are being driven across Northern Portugal. Oliveira himself plays their chauffeur. The ostensible reason for their journey is for Afonso, a Frenchman of Portuguese descent, to visit his father’s native village, Lugar…
Variety (1925 Movie): Summary & Analysis
Summary: After many years in prison, with friends and family petitioning for his pardon, Prisoner 28 (Jannings) tells of his crime to a judge. In flashback, we learn that he is Boss Huller and that, years before, he had a carnival trapeze act along with his wife, Berta-Marie (de Putti). Invited to collaborate with Artinelli,…