Alphaville
Jean-Luc Godard
France – 1965Cast: Eddie Constantine (Lemmy Caution), Anna Karina (Natacha von Braun), Akim Tamiroff (Henri Dickson), Howard Vernon (Prof. Leonard Nosferatu aka von Braun)
Screenplay: Jean-Luc Godard, Paul Éluard
Cinematography: Raoul Coutard
Production: Athos Films, Chaumiane Filmstudio
Language: French
Duration: 100 min
Color: Black and White

Synopsis: In a near future, the American secret agent Lemmy Caution travels to Alphaville posing as a journalist named Ivan Johnson from the Figaro-Pravda newspaper. His mission is to find the missing agent Henri Dickson and to convince Professor von Braun to come with him to Nueva York. Von Braun is actually Leonard Nosferatu, inventor of the powerful computer Alpha 60 that has engineered the inhuman dystopian society of Alphaville. Here love, conscience, poetry, and emotion have been banished, and words are systematically eliminated from the dictionary. To deal with the omnipresent Alpha 60, Lemmy recruits the help of Natacha von Braun, the evil scientist’s daughter. They fall in love, but he needs to complete his mission before leaving Alphaville.

Ran
Akira Kurosawa
Japan – 1985Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai (Lord Hidetora Ichimonji), Akira Terao (Taro Takatora Ichimonji), Jinpachi Nezu (Jiro Masatora Ichimonji), Daisuke Ryû (Saburo Naotora Ichimonji), Mieko Harada (Lady Kaede), Yoshiko Miyazaki (Lady Sue)
Screenplay: Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Masato Ide
Cinematography: Asakazu Nakai Takao Saitô Shôji Ueda
Production: Greenwich Film Productions, Herald Ace Nippon, Herald Films
Language: Japanese
Duration: 160 min
Color: Color

Synopsis: Lord Hidetora Ichimonji is weary of battle. The time has come for him to step back and hand over his fiefdom to his three sons. The two older ones, Taro and Jiro, eager to take command, flatter Lord Hidetora and vow to welcome him as honored guest for the rest of his years, but the youngest son, Saburo, warns his father of the folly of expecting a quiet old age and peace in a kingdom acquired with great violence. Enraged, the warlord banishes Saburo, but quickly realizes that his other two sons are selfish, ruthless men, and have no intention of keeping their promises. A war breaks out between brothers and only the banished Saburo remains honorable and fights to redeem his mad, foolish father.

The Man Who Fell to Earth
Nicolas Roeg
UK – 1976Cast: David Bowie (Thomas Jerome Newton), Rip Torn (Nathan Bryce), Candy Clark (Mary-Lou), Buck Henry (Oliver Farnsworth), Bernie Casey (Peters)
Screenplay: Paul Mayersberg
Cinematography: Anthony B. Richmond
Production: British Lion Film Corporation Cinema 5
Language: English
Duration: 140 min
Color: Color

Synopsis: A humanoid alien is in search of water for his dying planet. When his spacecraft crashes on Earth, he adopts the name Thomas Jerome Newton and sets about finding a means of returning to his own planet. He quickly establishes a company specializing in state-of-the-art technology and his stocks begin to rize quickly. While his home is a vast arid world where water is scarce, Newton is getting to be quite wealthy on Earth and meets a girl, Mary-Lou, who falls in love with him. With the help of patent lawyer, Oliver Farnsworth, things are looking as if Newton might be able to afford to build himself a new spacecraft and to return home, but he does not realize to what extent the greed and ruthlessness of business here on Earth will frustrate his plans.

The Tales of Hoffmann
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
UK – 1951

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..Cast: Moira Shearer (Stella / Olympia), Ludmilla Tchérina (Giulietta), Ann Ayars (Antonia), Pamela Brown (Nicklaus), Léonide Massine (Spalanzani / Schlemil / Franz), Robert Helpmann (Lindorf / Coppelius / Dapertutto / Dr Miracle), Robert Rounseville (Hoffmann)
Screenplay: Dennis Arundell (English libretto), Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Cinematography: Christopher Challis
Production: The Archers Vega Film Productions
Language: English
Duration: 138 min
Color: Color

Synopsis: The great storyteller Hoffmann is losing himself to drink. His rival in love, Councillor Lindorf, claims that Hoffmann knows nothing of the heart, and goads him into revealing his three great loves—each of which is destroyed by a villain who bears an uncanny resemblance to Lindorf… First Hoffmann tells of his infatuation for the mechanical doll, Olympia, destroyed by the inventor Coppélius. Next comes the courtesan Giulietta, who declines his adoration in favor of jewels from the magician Dappertutto. And finally, gentle Antonia is forced to sing to her death by the wicked Doctor Miracle. His stories finished, Hoffmann rouses from his drunken stupor only to find that this time Lindorf has made off with Stella, Hoffmann’s latest love—but the Muses compel him to transform his heartache into art.

The Third Man
Carol Reed
UK – 1949Cast: Joseph Cotten (Holly Martins), Alida Valli (Anna Schmidt), Orson Welles (Harry Lime), Trevor Howard (Maj. Calloway)
Screenplay: Graham Greene
Cinematography: Robert Krasker
Production: London Film Productions
Language: English, German, Russian
Duration: 105 min
Color: Black and White

Synopsis: An out of work pulp fiction novelist, Holly Martins, arrives in a post war Vienna to start a new job at the invitation of Harry Lime, an old friend from school. The city is divided into sectors by the victorious allies, but a shortage of supplies and a flourishing black market have turned it into a lawless pit of crime and sin. Upon arrival, Holly learns that Harry has just been killed in a peculiar traffic accident, just outside his home. At the funeral, Holly meets Harry’s beautiful girlfriend Anna Schmidt. Maj. Calloway, in charge of the investigation, offers Holly a ticket back to the States, but while waiting to return home he talks to his late friend’s associates and soon notices that their accounts are inconsistent: were there two men at the site of the accident or were there three? Determined to discover what really happened, Holly learns that Harry Lime was responsible for a series of thefts from a military hospital, after which the stolen drugs were diluted and sold on the black market, causing a number of deaths and infant abnormalities. Dismayed, he continues to investigate and to track down the mysterious third man.

Total Recall
Paul Verhoeven
USA – 1990Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Douglas Quaid / Hauser), Rachel Ticotin (Melina), Sharon Stone (Lori), Ronny Cox (Vilos Cohaagen), Michael Ironside (Richter), Marshall Bell (George / Kuato)
Screenplay: Jon Povill, Ronald Shusett, Dan O’Bannon, Gary Goldman
Cinematography: Jost Vacano
Production: Carolco Pictures Carolco International N.V.
Language: English
Duration: 113 min
Color: Color

Synopsis: Year 2084. For the busy Earthbound worker on a budget, Rekall inc. furnishes memories of exotic locations and adventure travel that feels like the real thing: recall all of the fun experiences without leaving home, for a fraction of the price! Douglas Quaid has been having nightmares about the planet Mars and has become so obsessed that he just has to visit, even if only via Rekall’s procedure. But when he is implanted with the false memories it all goes terribly wrong because, in fact, he has really been on Mars as Hauser, a double agent for the Marsian colony’s cruel administrator, Cohaggen. Undercover among the proletarian rebel-mutants, Houser/Quaid had met and fallen in love with Melina, a woman who revealed to him the dangers of corporate dictatorship went before his memories were erased by Cohaggen and replaced with those of a commonplace citizen. To defeat Cohaagen and save the people of the Red planet, Quaid now has to unlock the details of his former life with the help of the psychic mutant revolutionary leader Kuato. But reality is constantly in question. Is any of this genuine experience or is it Rekall?

Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola
USA – 1979 Cast: Marlon Brando (Col. Kurtz), Martin Sheen (Capt. Willard), Robert Duval (Lt. Kilgore), Frederic Forrest (‘Chef’), Sam Bottoms (Lance), Laurence Fishburne (‘Clean’), Albert Hall (Chief Phillips), Harrison Ford (Col. Lucas), Dennis Hopper (Photojournalist)
Screenplay: John Milius, Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Herr
Cinematography: Vittorio Storaro
Production: Zoetrope Studios
Language: English, French, Vietnamese
Duration: 153 min
Color: Color

Synopsis: At the height of the Vietnam war a burnt out special forces operative, Captain Willard, is ordered to carry out a mission that, officially, does not exist. His objective is to travel up the Mekong river by boat and, ‘with extreme prejudice’, to terminate the command of a renegade Green Beret Colonel named Kurtz who has gone insane. Deep in the heart of the jungle, Kutz has established his own world, reigning as a god among the indigenous people. As Willard enters into the jungle, he is slowly overtaken by the its mesmerizing powers which grow ever stronger as the chaos and insanity around him thicken. He soon learns that Kurtz was once one of the most talented officers in the U.S. Army, a shining example of military discipline and culture. What happened to him? Along the way, the little boat crew encounters a series of deranged scenes of violence and depravity, and as he confronts the futility of war Willard begins to understand what pushed Kurtz over the edge.

Eclipse
L’Eclisse
Michelangelo Antonioni
Italy – 1962Cast: Alain Delon (Piero), Monica Vitti (Vittoria), Francisco Rabal (Riccardo), Lilla Brignone (Vittoria’s Mother)
Screenplay: Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra, Elio Bartolini, Ottiero Ottieri
Cinematography: Gianni Di Venanzo
Production: Cineriz Interopa Film Paris Film
Language: Italian, English
Duration: 125 min
Color: Black and White

Synopsis: After a long night of quarrelling, Vittoria breaks off her engagement with the writer Ricardo. She no longer loves him, but cannot say why; he does not want her to go, but cannot think of any convincing reason why she should stay. At the Roman Stock Market, Vittoria’s mother is addicted to trading and spends the better part of her days monitoring her stocks. When Vittoria visits her at the trade center, she meets Piero, a motivated and handsome young stock broker. They are physically attracted to each other, and Piero ends up pursuing her doggedly. When the market suffers a crash, he seeks compensation in her embrace. During their burgeoning physical relationship, they tell each other one thing, but their monosyllabic everyday interactions suggest differently.

Don’t Look Now, We’re Being Shot At!
La Grande vadrouille
(The Great Promenade)
Gérard Oury
France – 1966Cast: Bourvil (Augustin Bouvet), Louis de Funès (Stanislas Lefort), Claudio Brook (Peter Cunningham),Andréa Parisy (Soeur Marie-Odile), Colette Brosset (Germaine), Terry-Thomas (Sir Reginald)
Screenplay: Gérard Oury, Danièle Thompson, Marcel Jullian, Georges Tabet, André Tabet
Cinematography: André Domage Claude Renoir
Production: Les Films Corona The Rank Organisation
Language: French, English, German
Duration: 122 min
Color: Color

Synopsis: A Royal Airforce Bomber is shot down over Paris by the Germans. The pilot, Sir Reginald, narrowly escapes by parachute. He now has to try to make his way back to England accompanied by a quarrelling duo of silly civilians: a sad-sack housepainter and splenetic orchestral conductor. With their help, the British airman sets out to cross the demarcation line between Nazi-occupied Northern France and the South, from where he will be able to get back home. But first, the three of them must avoid the German troops, and the consequences of their own blunders.

Purple Noon
Plein soleil
René Clément
France / Italy – 1960Cast: Alain Delon (Tom Ripley), Maurice Ronet (Philippe Greenleaf), Marie Laforêt (Marge Duval), Erno Crisa (Riccordi), Frank Latimore (O’Brien), Billy Kearns (Freddy Miles)
Screenplay: René Clément, Paul Gégauff
Cinematography: Henri Decaë
Production: Robert et Raymond Hakim Paris Film Paritalia Titanus
Language: French, Italian, English
Duration: 115 min
Color: Color

Synopsis: Tom Ripley is a young man struggling to make a living by whatever means necessary. He is approached by shipping magnate Herbert Greenleaf to travel to Italy and persuade his idle son, Philippe, to return to the United States and join the family business. Ripley agrees, exaggerating his friendship with Philippe, a half-remembered acquaintance, in order to gain the elder Greenleaf’s trust. In Rome, Philippe finds Tom amusing, but has no intentions of going anywhere. Marge, Philippe’s fiancée, feels sorry for Tom but resents his lingering presence, and their rich young friends generally consider Ripley to be a worthless moocher. After a while, Mr. Greenleaf considers the mission a failure and frees Tom from all obligations, just as Philippe is beginning to get bored with his disposable friend. Desperate to retain the carefree lifestyle he has briefly tasted, Tom kills Philippe, and assumes his identity. However, he will need all of his conman abilities to keep Philippe’s friends and the police off the trail.