Red Letter, Normal Person

The Blue Angel

April 1930 •German

Prim professor Immanuel Rath finds some of his students ogling racy photos of cabaret performer Lola Lola and visits a local club, The Blue Angel, in an attempt to catch them there. Seeing Lola perform, the teacher is filled with lust, eventually resigning his position at the school to marry the young woman. However, his marriage to a coquette -- whose job is to entice men -- proves to be more difficult than Rath imagined.

Paseo

November 2007 •Spanish

Monólogos de un hombre incierto

April 2010 •Spanish

Confession

January 1968 •Japanese

A filmmaker recalls his youth in the town of Onomichi. In the present, he shoots a film in Onomichi alongside his cast, crew and family.

Love Story

December 1970 •English

Harvard Law student Oliver Barrett IV and music student Jennifer Cavilleri share a chemistry they cannot deny - and a love they cannot ignore. Despite their opposite backgrounds, the young couple put their hearts on the line for each other. When they marry, Oliver's wealthy father threatens to disown him. Jenny tries to reconcile the Barrett men, but to no avail.

What Was It Supposed to Be Like?

June 2017 •English

Rather pointless, rather stilted, fetid; not what we want us going after.

The Pugilist

June 2017 •English

After his eldest son is murdered in a gangland hit, an absentee father desperately tries to protect what's left of the shattered family he abandoned.

Crash!

February 1971 •English

Short film produced by the BBC about JG Ballard's Crash. “The film was a product of the most experimental, darkest phase of Ballard’s career. It was an era of psychological blowback from the sudden, shocking death of his wife in 1964, an era that had produced the cut-up ‘condensed novels’ of Atrocity plus a series of strange collages and ‘advertisers’ announcements. After Freud’s exploration within the psyche it is now the outer world of reality which must be quantified and eroticised. Later there were further literary experiments, concrete poems and ‘impressionistic’ film reviews, and an aborted multimedia theatrical play based around car crashes. After that came an actual gallery exhibition of crashed cars, replete with strippers and the drunken destruction of the ‘exhibits’ by an enraged audience.” (from: http://aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.blogspot.de/2013/01/short-film-adaptation-of-jg-ballards.html)

Supermarket Sweep

January 1991 •English

Protozoa

January 1993 •English

Darren Aronofsky’s AFI short opens with angry slacker Dave sitting in a dreary, empty junkyard. Dave stares into space, sips beer, and beats the hell out of a cracked guitar. We quickly realize the emptiness of the dump parallels the emptiness of Dave’s life which consists of smoking weed, staring at television screens and watching school children. Dave’s friend Pete is shortly introduced, along with their friend, Ari, who despite calling her pals losers, doesn’t seem to accomplishing much herself. These three are going nowhere fast. They’re the amoebas of life… protozoa….

60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero

December 2011 •English

An anthology of one-minute films created by 51 international filmmakers on the theme of the death of cinema. Intended as an ode to 35mm, the film was screened one time only on a purpose-built 20x12 meter public cinema screen in the Port of Tallinn, Estonia, on 22 December 2011. A special projector was constructed for the event which allowed the actual filmstrip to be burnt at the same time as the film was shown.

Boys and Girls

June 2000 •English

Ryan and Jennifer are opposites who definitely do not attract. At least that's what they always believed. When they met as twelve-year-olds, they disliked one another. When they met again as teenagers, they loathed each other. But when they meet in college, the uptight Ryan and the free-spirited Jennifer find that their differences bind them together and a rare friendship develops.

South

November 1959 •English

A made-for-television play about an exiled Polish Army lieutenant faced with his darkest secret.

The Last Night

November 2019 •Portuguese

A young couple's last hours together before a trip that will separate them.

Metamorphoses

September 2007 •Macedonian

This is a time when we learn afresh that nothing lasts forever and that the variability is an integral part of everyday life. What is a river today does not mean that tomorrow will not become a sea. Life itself is one large metamorphosis, and the human being is its variable shape...

In Your Wildest Dreams

January 1991 •English

High school senior Mark's wildest dreams come true when he makes a simulated stock purchase that accidentally turns him into a millionaire overnight. But when he discovers that the money belongs to his girlfriend's dad, who needs the funds to save his electronics company, will Mark admit to the snafu? Or will he keep the money and pursue his dreams of wealth, even if it destroys those he cares about?

Tarde de domingo

June 1960 •Spanish

The boredom of a young middle-class woman at home a Sunday afternoon. Not to be confused with Carlos Saura's short of the same name produced in 1957.

Dreams I Never Had

April 2018 •English

A teenage girl is held captive in the home of a wealthy family. She is befriended by the family's young gardener, himself an illegal from Mexico. Their friendship carries both of them through their hopeless, sequestered lives and ultimately inspires them to break free.

La hija del mar

December 1953 •Spanish

My Name Ain't Johnny

January 2008 •Portuguese

The true story of João Guilherme Estrella ("Johnny"), a young middle-class bon vivant who became a big-time cocaine dealer in Rio de Janeiro in the early 1990s.