
The episodic film MARBLES consists of several short stories about how women manipulate with men. About subtle blackmailings, about crying, about tears, about the ability to sacrifice oneself for a dream, about sex as a service, about the way we can use empathy. It all starts on the playground among children and death does not equal the end. As time goes by, a feminine mechanism of manipulation develops, shapes up, ripens until it reaches the stage of perfection. Individual short stories take place at a techno party as well as in a Catholic parsonage and they conclude in a content domestic routine of two old people which cannot be disrupted by anything – not even by death. The short stories about women of different age and lifestyle put together a story of one complete human life which was, thanks to the manipulation with others, lived according to the plan and at the same time and from the same reason wasted away.
The episodic film MARBLES consists of several short stories about how women manipulate with men. About subtle blackmailings, about crying, about tears, about the ability to sacrifice oneself for a dream, about sex as a service, about the way we can use empathy. It all starts on the playground among children and death does not equal the end. As time goes by, a feminine mechanism of manipulation develops, shapes up, ripens until it reaches the stage of perfection. Individual short stories take place at a techno party as well as in a Catholic parsonage and they conclude in a content domestic routine of two old people which cannot be disrupted by anything – not even by death. The short stories about women of different age and lifestyle put together a story of one complete human life which was, thanks to the manipulation with others, lived according to the plan and at the same time and from the same reason wasted away.
2008-05-01
2
6.3Seven mini-stories of adultery: a widow misbehaves at her husband's funeral, a wife turns to streetwalking for revenge, a prudish girl surprises, a neglected wife vies for her husband's attention, a fight over a dress, a death pact, and a detective revealed as a jealous husband's spy.
6.1A teenager living with her sister and parents in Manhattan during the 1990s discovers that her father is having an affair.
6.3Leo and Angela Russo live a simple life in Queens, surrounded by their overbearing Italian-American family. When their son finds success on his high school basketball team, Leo tears the family apart trying to make it happen.
6.3Bailey and Darla embark upon a misguided and mutually deceitful form of therapy, one in which they must drive across the country, re-enacting Darla's colorful history as a sex addict. As their true motivations for the road trip come to light, the unlikely pair force one another to confront their issues, discovering that there might actually be more to love than just sex.
6.2A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.
6.9In the emotionally charged, wild and humorous world of sixteen year old James Whitman, his struggle to overcome anxiety and depression involve seeking advice from Dr. Bird - a giant imaginary pigeon therapist.
7.5Four tales unfold in Wes Anderson's anthology of short films adapted from Roald Dahl's beloved stories, "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar", "The Swan", "The Rat Catcher", and "Poison."
6.7A newlywed couple cancels their honeymoon and returns to the snowy Midwest to make the funeral arrangements for their best man, who died unexpectedly after their ceremony.
6.9Five O. Henry stories, each separate. The primary one from the critics' acclaim was "The Cop and the Anthem". Soapy tells fellow bum Horace that he is going to get arrested so he can spend the winter in a nice jail cell. He fails. He can't even accost a woman; she turns out to be a streetwalker. The other stories are "The Clarion Call", "The Last Leaf", "The Ransom of Red Chief", and "The Gift of the Magi".
6.7An aspiring young filmmaker gets involved with an eccentric gangster for the financing of his first film.
6.2Everything changes for Eva when she receives an insurance settlement check accidentally made out for $5,000,000 instead of the expected $50,000. She and her best friend take the money and head out for the adventure of a lifetime.
5.8A Seattle couple travel to New York to interview colorful former dancer Tobi for research on a dissertation about dance. But soon, common niceties and social graces erode when the questions turn personal and the true nature of the interview is called into question.
6.3A 16-year-old girl takes her parents hostage after they miss her big jump-roping competition.
6.1A two-bit promoter tries to take a women's wrestling team to the top.
5.9An eclectic band of misfits becomes an unlikely family as they take a wild journey in the name of love while on the run from an overzealous FBI duo who want them dead or alive - preferably dead.
6.4An improv group deals with several crises, including the loss of their lease and one member hitting the big time.
6.8The film tells futurist, architect, and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller's incredible story through two teens hoping to get laid, become punk gods, and survive high school.
6.1While doing the inventory for a lingerie outlet in a high rise office building, five attractive women are terrorized by a series of bizarre killings. They suspect that the strange janitor, who witnessed another series of killings years back, is at the bottom of the whole thing. Little do they know the real horror that they face in the end.
6.5A music journalist accompanies her father, a charmingly stubborn Holocaust survivor, on a journey to his homeland. While she's eager to make sense of her family's past, her dad has an agenda of his own.
5.9It's Ted the Bellhop's first night on the job...and the hotel's very unusual guests are about to place him in some outrageous predicaments. It seems that this evening's room service is serving up one unbelievable happening after another.
7.0Every night, in danger of being beheaded, Scheherazade tells King Shahryar unfinished tales to continue them the following night, hence defying his promise of murdering his new wives after their wedding night. Scheherazade tells King Shahryar her stories but these are not those in the book. As in the book, these stories are tragic and comical, with rich and poor, powerless and powerful people, filled with surprising and extraordinary events.
0.0An anthology film created under one theme by 3 directors who are creating their own colors in contemporary Mongolian cinema.
8.0A nine story anthology featuring various dregs, druggies, the innocent and the doomed inhabiting a dingy motel room somewhere along Route 66.
5.8An anthology of three violent stories: three friends perform Spirit of the Glass and discover a tragic love triangle; a refrigerator seems to be 'alive'; and a teenager who courts a barrio lass without his knowledge that this lass is a monster, which eventually causes chaos to his family.
4.3The short stories about marriage that Vít Olmer wrote for Playboy magazine when Arnošt Lustig was its editor-in-chief are witty, often with absurd punchlines, and clearly show that the author is a keen observer of life around us. He selected five of them for his new Czech comedy, whose common denominator is actor Jiří Krampol, the main character in each of them.
0.0The world becomes unpredictable when the pandemic happens. But in the face of despair, people put aside reasons and stop worrying. For these couples from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Korea, even love blossoms. They embrace each other and cling to one another desperately and fearlessly. Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and Seoul. Three couples in three cities in three countries: The paths of a telemarketer for a loan company and a cart rink owner are destined to cross. A pub owner and a woman with their own background stories. A virgin forklift operator who has never kissed before and a kiss-for-sale manager.
5.5Three vignettes about the lives of young Chileans and their passions and frustrations over one of the century's most important rituals: football.
7.5Adapted from the TV and radio series of the same name, the producer of said show reads letters from three woman providing the framing story for this melodrama anthology film. The tales focus on parenting and family struggles.
5.9Horror/sci-fi anthology with a punk streak, co-directed by and starring — among other newcomers — Asia Argento.
7.7This anthology film, whose Chinese title begins with a romantic name for human excrement, premiered internationally at Rotterdam and won Best Screenplay from the Hong Kong Film Critics Society. A variety of Hong Kong people wrestle with nostalgia when facing an uncertain future. Their stories give way to a documentary featuring a young barista turned political candidate.
7.1Jurácek's feature debut is shot in two parts. In the first, a corporal accompanies a new recruit with a sore Achilles tendon for his physical, and all the girls or young women they see are played by the same actress (Ruzickova). In the longer second segment, shot with the help of the Czechoslovakia army, the soldiers pass the time during basic training and maneuvers by talking about girls.
7.2An unexpected love triangle, a seduction trap, and a random encounter are the three episodes, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.
6.9Three distinct tales unfold in the bustling city of Tokyo. Merde, a bizarre sewer-dweller, emerges from a manhole and begins terrorizing pedestrians. After his arrest, he stands trial and lashes out at a hostile courtroom. A man who has resigned himself to a life of solitude reconsiders after meeting a charming pizza delivery woman. And finally, a happy young couple find themselves undergoing a series of frightening metamorphoses.
6.2Three tales of love, ambition, and neurosis unfold in the city that never sleeps. In "Life Lessons" (Martin Scorsese), a tormented painter channels heartbreak into his art. In "Life Without Zoë" (Francis Ford Coppola), a precocious 12-year-old navigates privilege and loneliness in a Manhattan hotel. And in "Oedipus Wrecks" (Woody Allen), a man’s domineering mother literally becomes a looming presence over New York.
The common denominator of the five stories, preceded by a brief prologue by Artem Benki, is the setting of a giant open-pit mine in the Podkrušnohoří region in northwestern Bohemia and its surroundings, including the dominant feature of the landscape, the ruined Jezeří Castle.
0.0A horror anthology film starring the U.K.'s own Tromette, Kitty Kiss, more commonly known as Nurse Meow.
Three stories (Gabriela, Eda and Jana), two of which are dedicated to girls. They share a common motif of disillusionment when the protagonists encounter scorn and disinterest.