Reel Pieces Remote: Pre-“Oscar” Foreign Films

Jan 24: Spotlight on Women: Asia (Israel, dir Ruthy Pribar) and Willow (Macedonia, dir Milcho Manchevski)

• Asia: a moving drama about the tense, loving relationship between Asia (Alena Yiv) - a young Russian immigrant - and her physically-challenged, hard-edged daughter (Shira Haas).
• Willow: like Manchevski’s Before the Rain, an engaging triptych set in Macedonia. The three stories are anchored in the futile yearning of women (and their husbands) for a baby.

Jan 31: Persecuted Heroes: Arracht (Ireland, dir Tom Sullivan) and Broken Keys (Lebanon, dir Jimmy Keyrouz)

• Arracht: a powerful and poetic drama set in the West of Ireland during the Great Famine of the mid-19th century. An exiled fisherman tries to protect a wounded young girl and teach her how to survive.
• Broken Keys: When ISIS forbids music in a war-torn town, a piano becomes a tool of escape as well as resistance for a young man. Based on Keyrouz's Nocturne in Black, winner of the 2017 Student Academy Award.

Feb 7: Struggling Under Communism: Dear Comrades (Russia, dir Andrei Konchalovsky) and Charlatan (Czech Republic, dir Agnieszka Holland)

• Dear Comrades: Lyuda (Julia Vysotskaya) is an unrepentant Stalinist, a hard-liner whose devotion to the Party is questioned when her teenage daughter takes part in a strike that the authorities try to destroy and cover up.
• Charlatan: loosely inspired by the true story of a popular herbalist, this drama traces his rise as a healer, and his political persecution in the late 1950s, after he refuses to nationalize his thriving practice.

Feb 14: A Separation (Iran, Oscar winner 2012). Asghar Farhadi's drama about two families in contemporary Tehran hinges on misunderstandings. It interweaves secular as well as devout characters, male and female, wealthy and poor. $4 rental Amazon Prime and YouTube.

Feb 21: Where Do We Go Now? (Lebanon, Oscar nominee 2011). Nadine Labaki's ensemble piece offers a fresh female perspective on sectarian violence in the Middle East. Her humanist fable won the Toronto Film Festival "People's Choice" Audience Award. $4 rental Amazon Prime and YouTube.

Dec 6: Cabaret (U.S., Bob Fosse, 1972): In the decadent Kit Kat Klub hosted by a cheeky MC (Joel Grey), the flamboyant Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) entertains audiences and lovers. In the background of this celebrated musical, the Nazi Party assumes power. $4 rental Amazon Prime or YouTube.

Dec 13: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (U.S., Philip Kaufman 1988): adapted from Milan Kundera's novel, this sensuously philosophical tale follows Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis). While happy in an open relationship with artist Sabina (Lena Olin), he can't resist Tereza (Juliette Binoche), a provincial waitress who blossoms into a photographer and captures the 1968 Soviet Invasion of Prague. $3 rental Amazon Prime or YouTube.

Dec 20: The Piano (New Zealand, Australia, France, Jane Campion, 1993): Holly Hunter won the Oscar for Best Actress, playing a mute woman sent to New Zealand for an arranged marriage to a landowner (Sam Neill). But when a local worker (Harvey Keitel) helps Ada retrieve her prized piano, she allows him sexual favors that lead to a passionate and dangerous affair. $3 rental Amazon Prime.

Jan 3: Quills (U.S., Philip Kaufman, script Doug Wright, 2000): While the focus of this sumptuous period drama is the Marquis de Sade (Geoffrey Rush), the perspective belongs to a spunky laundress (Kate Winslet). She smuggles his lurid manuscripts out of the Charenton Insane Asylum, defying its idealistic young director (Joaquin Phoenix). $4 rental Amazon Prime or YouTube

Jan 10: Ida (Poland, Pawel Pawlikowski, script with Rebecca Lenkiewicz, 2013): In this Academy Award winner for Best Foreign-Language Film, a young woman in 1962 Poland (Agata Trzebuchowska) is about to take her vows. But she learns that she has an aunt (Agata Kulesza)—a judge who tells her she is the daughter of Jews killed during WW2. $3 rental Amazon Prime or YouTube

Oct 25: McCabe and Mrs. Miller (U.S., Robert Altman, 1971): Warren Beatty stars as a gambler who builds a saloon and brothel in an Old West mining town. Julie Christie plays the savvy Madame who becomes his business partner. Leonard Cohen’s songs provide the lyrical score. $3 Amazon Prime rental.

Nov 1: Aguirre, The Wrath of God (West Germany/Mexico/Peru, Werner Herzog, 1972): This visually breathtaking period drama recreates a doomed expedition of 1560 into the Peruvian jungle by a conquistador (Klaus Kinski) searching for the lost city of El Dorado. Free with Amazon Prime or $3 rental on YouTube.

Nov 8: Gallipoli (Australia, Peter Weir, 1981): Mel Gibson and Mark Lee play Australian sprinters, sent to fight during World War One in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey. Weir’s poetic canvas includes a tender portrait of “mateship.” Free with Criterion Channel and with Amazon Prime.

Nov 15: El Norte (U.S./U.K., Gregory Nava, 1983): Two siblings escape from war-torn Guatemala, struggling to reach the Promised Land of California. Once they make it through Mexico into the U.S., they find that life remains a challenge for immigrants. $4 rental—or free with HBO—on Amazon.

Nov 22: The Double Life of Veronique (France/Poland, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1991): The lives of two young women—a singer in Poland, and a teacher in France—intersect. Both are played by Irene Jacob, winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Best Actress prize. The haunting score is by Zbigniew Preisner. Free with Criterion Channel, or $4 Amazon Prime rental.

For this fifth series of Reel Pieces Remote, Professor Insdorf will focus on what she calls her "favorite films ... masterpieces of 1960s-70s international cinema that trace a protagonist's subjective point of view." Members will receive her pre-recorded 10-minute introduction prior to the live Sunday evening class, which takes place at 8 pm.

Sep 6: Hiroshima, Mon Amour (France, Alain Resnais,1959): From a script by Marguerite Duras, this ground-breaking French New Wave drama explores the romance encounter of a French actress and a Japanese architect. After a night of passion, he triggers her memories of first—and forbidden—love during the German occupation. Free on Criterion Channel, or $3 rental Amazon Prime and YouTube.

Sep 13: The Pawnbroker (U.S., Sidney Lumet, 1964): Rod Steiger gives a searing performance as a Holocaust survivor in East Harlem. The editing of Ralph Rosenblum cross-cuts past and present, expressing Sol’s inability to repress concentration camp memories. The film boasts the first film score composed by Quincy Jones. Free with Amazon Prime, or $4 rental YouTube.

Oct 4: The Conformist (Italy, Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970): Through vibrant flashbacks, we enter the mind of Marcello (Jean-Louis Trintignant), who joins the fascist secret police in late 1930s Italy. But instead of fulfilling an assassination plot, he falls in love with the target’s wife (Dominique Sanda). The lush cinematography (Vittorio Storaro) and music (Georges Delerue) make this one of the most sensual dramas of the era. $5 rental Kino Lorber.

Oct 11: The Conversation (U.S., Francis Ford Coppola, 1974): Made the same year as The Godfather: Part II, this intimate drama is a brilliant exploration of surveillance. Gene Hackman is superb playing an ace wire-tapper who becomes obsessed with the young couple he has been hired to secretly tape. How will this very private man address his guilt? Free with Amazon Prime, or $4 rental YouTube.

Oct 18: A Woman Under the Influence (U.S., John Cassavetes, 1975): Gena Rowlands’ Oscar-nominated performance as Mabel remains one of the most powerful in American film history. When her decent but clueless husband (Peter Falk) is pressured by his own mother to commit her to an institution, their three children cling to her, and Mabel clings to sanity. $3 rental Vudu, or HBO on Amazon (free trial membership available).