robert-bucknor's - FAVOURITES List
-
Goto, Isle of Love (1969)Goto, L'île d'amour / Goto, Island of Love
In 1887, an earthquake decimates the island of Goto. Cut off from the rest of the world, the governor of Goto rules his subjects with an iron fist. Glossia (Ligia Branice), his beautiful wife, plots to escape the island with a handsome young officer, Gono (Jean-Pierre Andréani). But Grozo, a petty criminal, has other ideas. While feeding the governor's dogs, polishing the governess's boots and trapping flies which blight the island, Grozo dreams of possessing Glossia for himself... - Director:
- Walerian Borowczyk
- Cast:
- Pierre Brasseur, Ligia Branice, Jean-Pierre Andréani
- Formats:
-
-
Behind Convent Walls (1978)Within a Cloister / Interno di un convento
Walerian Borowczyk keeps faith with his highly erotic and colourful visual style inithis highly charged convent romp. The myth of a convent as a serene and reverent haveniis completely blowniout of the water as Borowczyk takes the viewer through aniamazing repertoire of sexual behaviour. A Mother Superior desperately tries to prevent her charges from experiencing the sins of the flesh with little success and eventually the church has to exact cruel punishment for the nun's outrageous behaviour. As with many of Borowczyk's films the climax is dark and explosively dramatic leaving the viewer with images that linger and the need to questionithe nature of morality and eroticism. - Director:
- Walerian Borowczyk
- Cast:
- Ligia Branice, Howard Ross, Marina Pierro
- Formats:
-
-
Scrubbers (1983)Black-Out im Höllen-Paradies
What happens when a young girl is sentenced to Borstal and locked away from the everyday world? Blazingly well acted by a cast including Pam St Clement, Kathy Burke, Robbie Coltrane, Miriam Margoyles and many others some of whom had actually done time, 'Scrubbers' exposes a brutal society in which the strong survive and the weak are no match for the cruelties of the system. Through the hatred of lesbian Carol and promiscuous teenage mother Annetta, we follow the endless rounds of violence, bitching and brawling that have made Britain's borstals notorious breeding grounds for crime. - Director:
- Mai Zetterling
- Cast:
- Amanda York, Chrissie Cotterill, Elizabeth Edmonds
- Formats:
-
-
The Thing from Another World (1951)The Thing
Arctic researchers discover a huge, frozen spaceling inside a crash-landed UFO, then fight for their lives after the murderous being (a pre-Gunsmoke James Arness) emerges from icy captivity. Will other creatures soon follow? The famed final words of this film are both warning and answer: "Keep watching the skies!" - Director:
- Christian Nyby
- Cast:
- Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, James Arness
- Formats:
-
-
Sally Potter's dazzling adaptation of Virginia Woolf's classic novel is the tale of the apparently immortal Orlando (Tilda Swinton), who begins an epic quest for love and freedom in the court of Elizabeth I (Quentin Crisp) as a man and completes the search 400 years later as a woman. This journey takes Orlando from the frozen river Thames and central Asia, where he changes sex, through to romantic love and loss in the Victorian age, motherhood and war in the Twentieth Century, until finally arriving in the present moment. - Director:
- Sally Potter
- Cast:
- Tilda Swinton, Billy Zane, Quentin Crisp
- Formats:
-
-
The Spanish Prisoner (1997)La trampa
Joe Ross (Campbell Scott) is a man on the brink of something big. He has designed a process that will make his company millions and him a very wealthy man. Unnerved by a lack of commitment from his boss, a chance meeting with a weathly jetsetter, Dell (Steve Martin), causes him to further suspect the true intentions of his colleagues. But with such a money-spinning opportunity at stake, is there anyone he can trust? David Mamet's The Spanish Prisoner is a film that will make you giddy with its disorientating unpredictability. Keep your eyes open and trust no-one... - Director:
- David Mamet
- Cast:
- Steve Martin, Ben Gazzara, Campbell Scott
- Formats:
-
-
Provoked (2006)Provoked: A True Story
Unable to bear the brutality and repeated rapes by her alcoholic husband, a battered Punjabi housewife and mother of two in London, sets him on fire and kills him. Charged with first-degree murder, she is sentenced to life imprisonment, where she befriends her cellmate, a wealthy white woman, from whom she learns English. Her cellmate is so moved by her story that she asks her stepbrother, a highly respected queen's counsel, to file her appeal. Her case comes to the notice of a motley group of south Asian social workers running a under funded organization called "Southhall Black Sisters". They bring her plight to the attention of the media by organizing rallies to gather public support for her freedom. She is ultimately freed by the judical system. - Director:
- Jag Mundhra
- Cast:
- Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Miranda Richardson, Naveen Andrews
- Formats:
-
-
Robert Wagner gambled with his clean-cut image to play the ruthless, conniving killer in this unrelenting thriller co-starring Jeffrey Hunter, Virginia Leith, Joanne Woodward and Mary Astor. Based on the novel by suspense master Ira Levin "Deathtrap", A Kiss Before Dying is riveting, sure-fire entertainment you can't miss! Wagner is Bud Corliss, a darkly handsome college boy so obsessed with wealth that he'll do anything to get it. When his rich girlfriend Dorothy (Woodward) gets pregnant and is threatened with disinheritance, Bud stages her suicide, sending her plummeting from the roof of a high-rise. It's the perfect crime...until Dorothy's sister Ellen (Leith) begins to unravel Bud's deadly scheme. - Director:
- Gerd Oswald
- Cast:
- Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Virginia Leith
- Formats:
-
-
The world knows Paul Newman as an Academy Award-winning actor with a fifty-plus year career as one of the most prolific and revered actors in American Cinema. He was also well known for his philanthropy; Newman's Own has given more than four hundred and thirty million dollars to charities around the world. Yet few know the gasoline-fueled passion that became so important in this complex, multifaceted man's makeup. Newman’s deep-seated passion for racing was so intense, it nearly sidelined his acting career. His racing career spanned thirty-five years; Newman won four national championships as a driver and eight championships as an owner. Not bad for a guy who didn't even start racing until he was forty-seven years old. - Director:
- Adam Carolla
- Cast:
- Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, Dick Barbour
- Formats:
-
-
Boomerang (1992)Бумеранг
New York marketing exec Marcus Graham is a wolf in chic clothing, a ladies' man dedicated to life, liberty and the happiness of pursuit. But what goes around comes around in Eddie Murphy's clever romantic comedy 'Boomerang'. Murphy, in a performance loaded with his trademark charm and wit, is suave go-getter Graham. If you've got the curves, he's got the angles...until he meets a smart, stylish career woman who treats men the same way he treats women. Mow Graham copes with the experience and what he learns from it spark this entertaining romp. - Director:
- Reginald Hudlin
- Cast:
- Eddie Murphy, Robin Givens, Halle Berry
- Formats:
-
-
Acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan directs an international cast in this sci-fi actioner that travels around the globe and into the world of dreams. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the best there is at extraction: stealing valuable secrets inside the subconscious during the mind's vulnerable dream state. His skill has made him a coveted player in industrial espionage but has also made him a fugitive and cost him dearly. Now he may get a second chance if he can do the impossible: inception, planting an idea rather than stealing one. If they succeed, Cobb and his team could pull off the perfect crime. But no planning or expertise can prepare them for a dangerous enemy who seems to predict their every move. An enemy only Cobb could have seen coming. - Director:
- Christopher Nolan
- Cast:
- Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page
- Formats:
-
-
Picking Up the Pieces (2000)First on Max
Tex (Woody Allen), a kosher butcher from New York under the witness protection program in Arizona, has a problem. He has just killed his wife, Candy (Sharon Stone), in a jealous rage, after discovering she's having an affair with the local sheriff (Keifer Sutherland). He's cut her body into pieces and has taken them to the Mexican border, but he's lost one of her hands! A blind old village woman stumbles upon the hand, hits her head, and miraculously regains her eyesight. Soon thousands are flocking to the local church to see the hand of the 'Madonna' and miracles are granted to all who ask. But the village priest (David Schwimmer), who is in love with the town hooker (Maria Grazia Cucinotta) senses that the hand's origin is not quite 'virginal'. Tex, the Sherrif and the Priest all want something done with the hand, and the unpredictable outcome proves to be both magical and hilarious. - Director:
- Alfonso Arau
- Cast:
- Woody Allen, David Schwimmer, Angélica Aragón
- Formats:
-
-
The Bridge: Series 1 (2011)Bron/Broen
During a blackout, the body of a woman is found in the middle of the Øresund Bridge, between Sweden and Denmark. Half of it belongs to a Swedish politician, the other half to a Danish prostitute. Trapped in the no-man's land between two countries, a bi-national investigatory team is put together to solve the murders. Martin, laid-back family man from Denmark, and Saga, socially awkward singleton from Sweden, soon realise they are chasing a dangerous killer with a series agenda. - Director:
- Charlotte Sieling
- Cast:
- Sofia Helin, Lennart R. Svensson, Kim Bodnia
- Formats:
-
-
The Bridge: Series 3 (2015)Bron/Broen
A famous Danish gender activist and owner of Copenhagen's first gender-neutral children's nursery is found dead on a building site in Malmo, her body arranged in a macabre tableaux amongst a 'family' of mannequins. This marks the beginning of a line of spectacular murders that eventually become personal for Saga. Forced to work with a new Danish partner, who has difficulty accepting her for who she is, and having to deal with her past once more when her mother unexpectedly arrives, Saga is put to the ultimate test both in her work and in her personal life. - Director:
- Rumle Hammerich
- Cast:
- Sofia Helin, Thure Lindhardt, Dag Malmberg
- Formats:
-
-
The Bridge: Series 2 (2013)Bron/Broen
An old tanker veers off course, heading straight for the Oresund Bridge, the scene of the now-infamous crime that first united detectives Saga Noren (Sofia Helin) and Martin Rohde (Kim Bodnia). The Malmo Coast Guard urgently contacts the tanker but there is no reply, the call just echoes eerily across the bridge of the ship. When the Coast Guard finally board the ship they discover there is no crew present but find three Swedish and two Danish youths chained below deck. Saga Noren H of Malmo County Police is immediately put in charge of the case but, as Danish victims are involved, she contacts her previous case-collaborator, Martin Rohde, and they embark on investigating the mysterious and complex case. - Director:
- Morten Arnfred
- Cast:
- Sofia Helin, Kim Bodnia, Dag Malmberg
- Formats:
-