Summary: When the recently deceased begin to rise from the dead to feast upon the flesh of the living, a small group of embattled survivors attempt to stave off destruction by taking refuge in an abandoned western Pennsylvania farmhouse. They face the ghoulish threat of the living dead from without, but also increasing tension from…
Tag: Summary
Mon Oncle (My Uncle, 1958 Movie) – Summary & Analysis
Summary: The young Gérard Arpel (Bécourt) lives with his mother and father in their ultramodern villa on the edge of Paris. Gerard finds it hard to adapt to the monotony and regimented routine of this life. The father (Zola) works for a large plastic pipe factory, while his mother (Servantie) cleans the house all day…
The Misfits (1961 Movie) – Summary & Analysis
Summary: Roslyn, a former burlesque dancer, has travelled to Reno, Nevada, to obtain a ‘quickie’ divorce. Shetakes up with Gay, an elderly cowboy, who persuades Perce, a struggling rodeo rider, to join him in rounding up some of the last feral mustangs of the region. Assisted by Guido, a freebooting pilot, they manage to capture…
Mildred Pierce (1945 Movie) – Summary & Analysis
Summary: In contrast to the novel on which it is based, the film is structured as a fragmented flashback which gradually unravels the story of a murder. The deliberate omission of a standard reverse shot that would have clarified the situation, tricks the viewer into thinking there is no ambiguity regarding the identity of the…
Man Without A Past – Summary & Analysis
Summary: Man without a Past follows the noirish travails of its protagonist M, who, in the film’s first sequence, arrives in the city on the train with a modest suitcase in tow, only to be mugged and beaten in a city park. Having sustained a gruesome head injury, M suffers from amnesia that has him…
Manila, In the Claws of Light – Summary, Reaction / Reflection
Summary: Based on a 1967 novel by Edgardo M. Reyes, Manila tells the simple tale of a country lad named Julio who ventures to the big city in search of his girlfriend, Ligaya.1 The latter goes missing shortly after being recruited to work as a housemaid. Between back-breaking jobs at a construction site and a…
Street Angel (1937 Film): Summary & Analysis
Summary: Orphan sisters Xiao Yun and Xiao Hong from war-plagued northeast China live under the exploitation of their adoptive parents in Shanghai 1935. Xiao Hong, forced to work as a teahouse singer, falls in love with her neighbour Xiao Chen, whose room window faces hers. Her elder sister, the silent and gloomy Xiao Yun, has…
Machuca (Movie): Summary & Analysis
Summary: Set in the turbulent months leading up General Augusto Pinochet’s violent coup on 11 September 1973, the film’s historical events are witnessed by child protagonists, Gonzalo, Pedro and Silvana. Specifically, the film follows Gonzalo as his loyalty is caught between his middle-class, and mostly right-wing family, and his two new friends, Pedro and Silvana,…
The Monkey’s Paw – Story Summary
W. W. Jacobs’ short story opens with Mr. White and his son Herbert playing a game of chess. Mrs. White is knitting by the fire. Mr. White loses the game and becomes agitated and exasperated. Soon, there is a knock at the door and the Sergeant-Major enters. They share a few drinks and the Sergeant-Major…
Miss Brill: Summary
The Jardins Publiques (Public Gardens) in a French town on an early autumn Sunday afternoon is the setting for ‘ ‘Miss Brill.” The air is still, but there is a “faint chill, like a chill from a glass of iced water before you sip,” so Miss Brill is happy to have worn her fur stole….