UC Berkeley Library

Feature Film

A Page of Madness (Kurutta ippeiji) (1927)

Directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa. Cast: Ayako Iijima, Masuo Inoue, Yoshie Nakagawa, Hiroshi Nemoto. An eldery man works at odd jobs in the lunatic asylum in hopes of freeing his wife who is confined after having attempted to drown her baby son in a fit of madness many years ago. NOTE: This DVD is silent and without intertitles. 59 min. Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
See also:

A Passage to India (1984)

Director, David Lean. Cast: Peggy Ashcroft, Judy Davis, James Fox, Alec Guinness, Nigel Havers, Victor Banerjee. While on a trip in 1928 to visit her son, Mrs. Moore, accompanied by her son's fiancee, becomes appalled at the treatment of the Indians by the ruling British government. Later, they befriend a native Indian who, over-stepping the accepted norms of his culture, invites the two ladies on an excursion. In a strange turn of events, he is accused of attempting to rape the young woman. Based on the novel by E. M. Forster and the play by Santha Rama Rau.

A Patch of Blue (1965)

Directed by Guy Green. Cast: Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, Elizabeth Hartman, Wallace Ford. Accidentally blinded as a child, 18-year-old Selina D'Arcey falls in love with a gentle and charming man, Gordon Ralfe, whom she meets in a rare visit to a park. Her racist mother declares that because Gordon is black, their relationship cannot continue, forcing Selina to choose between her family and her heart. Based on "Be ready with bells and drums" by Elizabeth Kata. 105 min. Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

A Price Above Rubies (UK / USA, 1998)

Written and directed by Boaz Yakin. Featuring Renee Zellweger, Julianna Margules, Christopher Eccleston. Sonia is a young woman who always did just what was expected: she married the right man, moved to the right neighborhood and had a beautiful baby. And yet, when she discovers an exciting world beyond her tightly knit community, it sparks a growing desire for independence that threatens the security of the life she knows. 119 min. Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

A propos de Nice (1930)

Directed by Jean Vigo; photographed by Boris Kaufman. "The film depicts life in Nice, France by documenting the people in the city, their daily routines, a carnival and social inequalities. Vigo described the film in an address to the Groupement des Spectateurs d'Avant-Garde: "In this film, by showing certain basic aspects of a city, a way of life is put on trial...

A Question of Silence (De Stilte rond Christine M.)(Netherlands, 1983)

Director, Marleen Gorris. Cast: Edda Barends, Nelly Frijda, Cox Habbema, Henriette Tol. A female psychiatrist is appointed by a judge to evaluate three women who, strangers to each other, have each confessed to the murder of the same man. Their rage toward and hatred of their male-dominated society is gradually understood by the psychiatrist, who begins to question her own nature. 97 min. Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
Reviews and articles:

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Directed by Richard Linklater. Cast: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Rory Cochrane, Winona Ryder, Sean Allen, Mitch Baker, Cliff Haby, Steven Chester Prince, Natasha Valdez. Set in a future world where America has lost the war on drugs, L.A. undercover agents change their faces along with their identities. One officer's liberal ingestion of the drug "Substance D" causes him to develop a split personality, a notorious drug dealer. Along with his superior officers, the police set up an elaborate scheme to catch his drug dealer alter-ego and tear down his operation.

A Screaming Man (Un homme qui crie) (France | Belgium | Chad, 2010)

Directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun. Cast: Youssouf Djaoro, Dioucounda Koma, Hadje Fatime N'Goua. Adam, a former swimming champion in his sixties, is a pool attendant at a hotel in Chad. When the hotel gets taken over by new Chinese owners, he is forced to give up his job to his son Abdel, leaving Adam humiliated and resentful. Meanwhile the country is in the throes of a civil war. Rebel forces are attacking the government and the authorities demand the people contribute to the " war effort" with money or volunteers old enough to fight.

A Serious Man (2009)

Directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen. Cast: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick, Adam Arkin, Amy Landecker, Alan Mandell, Fyvush Finkel, Allen Lewis Rickman, Yelena Shmulenson, Simon Helberg, Katherine Borowitz, Stephen Park. One ordinary man's quest to become a serious man. Physics professor Larry Gopnik can't believe his life: His wife is leaving him for his best friend, his unemployed brother won't move off the couch, someone is threatening his career, his kids are a mystery and his neighbor is tormenting him by sunbathing nude.

A Short Film About Killing (Krałtki film o zabijaniu) (Poland, 1987)

Director, Krysztof Kieslowski. "A youth randomly, and brutally, murders a taxi-driver. Piotr has just passed his law exams and been admitted to the bar. He is to defend Jacek, the young murderer. There is no evidence for the defence and no apparent motive. Jacek is put on trial, found guilty and executed by hanging. Piotr, after his first case, is leftwith the bitter doubt - does the legal system, in the name of the people, have the right to kill with cold blood?" [IMDB] 81 min.

Pages