West Side Story

The Nuns of Saint Archangel

The Nun and the Devil, or Le Monache di Sant'Arcangelo in the original Italian, is an erotic 1973 French/ Italian nunsploitation film directed by Domenico Paolella. It is also known as: Sisters of Satan (UK) and The Nuns of Saint Archangel (US). The action, based on a true story, is set in the 16th century at the convent of Sant Arcangelo, near Naples, then under Spanish rule.

Synopsis: Sister Julia (Anne Heywood) is an ambitious nun who wants to replace the current mother superior. She is not the only nun vying for the position of mother superior and with the help of Don Carlos she is able to eliminate all of her rivals. Her niece Isabella has recently joined the convent and as part of Julia’s deal with Don Carlos she is supposed to give her virgin niece to him for his helping her obtain the mother superior. When word gets out that that the nuns have been naughty at Saint Archangel. The church sends an investigator who uncovers all the dirty secrets that the nuns of Saint Archangel have so desperately tried to hide.

Before Domenico Paolella directed Story of a Cloistered Nun, he would make his debut into the Nunsplotation genre with The Nuns of Saint Archangel, a film that is arguably one of the genres greatest entries. The Nuns of Saint Archangel, is also known under the title of The Nun and The Devil. The film is filled with beautifully composed and lit compositions that look like masterfully crafted works of art. Domenico Paolella also makes full use of iconic images most notably during the scenes where the nuns of trail are being tortured. Another moment is which his direction excels is when Isabella a nun and her lover Fernando try to connect physically with each other as they talk between two fences that are about five feet or more apart.

The acting is not only good it at times is excellent with the standout performance being that of Anne Heywood as the devious mother superior Julia. Heywood is totally convincing in the role as she meticulously climbs her way to the top. Her final moments are mesmerizing as she gives one of cinema’s greatest death thralls as she contorts on the floor after drinking poison. In one of her earliest roles Ornella Muti stars as the young novice Isabella. Through out the film she looks unglamorous and at times androgynous like when she dresses up like a boy. This is far from the more seductive type roles she is known for; still she does an admirable job.

The Golden Pin

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto Inside Out Film and Video Festival on May 20, 2009. It won Best Canadian Short at the festival. The film also screened in November 2009 at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival, where it took second place in the 2009 National Film Board Best Canadian Short Award. In March 2010, the film was nominated by the Canadian Society of Cinematographers in the Student Cinematography category. In December 2010, the film was selected as one of 12 finalists in TLA Releasing's 2010 Short Film Contest. Members of the public voted online for their favorites. On January 4, 2011, TLA announced The Golden Pin won second runner up.

Comments from a Viewer: Don't be so lazy - relying on the film to do your thinking for you. The mother points out that personal happiness is always at someone else's expense, a lesson she has learned the hard way. If Long marries Vanessa he will suffer, if not, his father and Vanessa will suffer. The mother encourages him to make a choice that will result in his own happiness. By ending the film with Long's decision unresolved the director poses the question - "What would you do?"

Comments from Another Viewer: A I don't think many people in West understand what it's like to live from a world where tradition and family are held in higher esteem than living the way you want. I can relate to this movie in that I too come from a traditional marriage in which passing down culture and family is more important than individual happiness. Westerners do not understand the value of family and that strong bond in which you sacrifice. To me it makes sense but never to a Westerner.

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover is a 1989 romantic crime drama written and directed by Peter Greenaway, starring Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, and Alan Howard in the titular roles. The film's graphic scatological, violent, and nude scenes, as well as its lavish cinematography and formalism were noted at the time of its release.

English gangster Albert Spica (Michael Gambon) has taken over the high-class Le Hollandais Restaurant, run by French chef Richard Borst (Richard Bohringer). Spica makes nightly appearances at the restaurant with his retinue of thugs. His oafish behavior causes frequent confrontations with the staff and his own customers, whose patronage he loses, but whose money he seems not to miss.

Forced to accompany Spica is his reluctant, well-bred wife, Georgina (Helen Mirren), who soon catches the eye of a quiet regular at the restaurant, bookshop owner Michael (Alan Howard). Under her husband's nose, Georgina carries on an affair with Michael with the help of the restaurant staff. Ultimately Spica learns of the affair, forcing Georgina to hide out at Michael's bookshop. Borst sends food to Georgina through his young employee, a boy soprano who sings while working. Spica tortures the boy before finding the bookstore's location written in a book the boy is carrying. Spica's men storm Michael's bookshop while Georgina is visiting the boy in hospital, and torture him to death by force-feeding him pages from his books. Georgina discovers his body when she returns.

Overcome with rage and grief, she begs Borst to cook Michael's body, and he eventually complies. Together with all the people that Spica wronged throughout the film, Georgina confronts her husband at the restaurant and forces him to eat a mouthful of Michael's cooked body. Spica complies, gagging, before Georgina shoots him in the head.

The War Boys

Three young and bored childhood friends spend their spare time during college's spring break around the border that separates the U.S. from Mexico; living on the U.S. side of the border, they help the police patrol chase back clandestine Mexican immigrants.

Angry at his father because he won't agree to him leaving school to join the family business, the protagonist[vague] sets up a plan to steal one of his dad's trucks that should be loaded with black market TVs from Mexico and make some money by selling the goods. The father vows to avenge the theft. The three-party theft is a success and the locked truck is temporarily abandoned in a desolated area while the boys look for a purchaser.

The operation goes perfectly fine until a group of traffickers threatens the love interest of one of the lads, a Mexican woman who had occasionally helped immigrants to get fake documents, and interrogates her on the whereabouts of the cargo. The boys are still unsuspecting, but this episode makes it clear to them that the truck must contain something more trouble-worthy than just TVs, possibly drugs. Determined to get some profit anyway, they choose to get back to the wasteland, take what they can and then have the truck recovered by the traffickers via an anonymous call. It all falls out of control when they unlock the truck's storage, only to find out that it secluded something way more precious than any kind of merchandise, and a mix of rage and fear leads the situation to slip completely out of their hands as the three friends confront the protagonist's father and the police.

Belle de Jour ( Beauty of the Day)

Belle de Jour is a 1967 French drama film directed by Luis Buñuel and starring Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, and Michel Piccoli. Based on the 1928 novel Belle de jour by Joseph Kessel, the film is about a young woman who decides to spend her midweek afternoons as a prostitute while her husband is at work. The title refers to belle-de-jour, the French name of the daylily (Hemerocallis), meaning "beauty of [the] day", a flower that blooms only during the day. The same name is also used for the Dwarf Morning Glory. American director Martin Scorsese promoted a 2002 release of the film on DVD. In 2006 the Portuguese director, Manoel de Oliveira released Belle Toujours, imagining a future encounter between two of the central characters from the original film. In 2010, the film was ranked #56 in Empire magazine's list, The 100 Best Films of World Cinema. Belle de Jour won the Golden Lion and the Pasinetti Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival in 1967. Many of Deneuve's costumes were designed by Yves St. Laurent.

Séverine Serizy (Catherine Deneuve), a young and beautiful housewife, is unable to share physical intimacy with her husband, Dr. Pierre Serizy (Jean Sorel), despite their love for each other. Her sexual life is restricted to elaborate fantasies involving domination, sadomasochism, and bondage. Although frustrated by his wife's frigidity toward him, he respects her wishes.

While visiting a ski resort, they meet two friends, Henri Husson (Michel Piccoli) and Renée (Macha Méril). Séverine does not like Husson's manner and the way he looks at her. Back in Paris, Séverine meets up with Renée and learns that a mutual friend, Henrietta, now works at a brothel. At her home, Séverine receives roses from Husson and is unsettled by the gesture. At the tennis courts, she meets Husson and they discuss Henrietta and houses of pleasure. Husson mentions a high-class brothel to Séverine at 11 Cite Jean de Saumer. He also confesses his desire for her, but Séverine rejects his advances.

Haunted by childhood memories involving her father, Séverine goes to the high-class brothel, which is run by Madame Anaïs (Geneviève Page). That afternoon Séverine services her first client. Reluctant at first, she responds to the "firm hand" of Madame Anaïs, who names her 'Belle de Jour', and has sex with the stranger. After staying away for a week, Séverine returns to the brothel and begins working from two to five o'clock each day, returning to her unsuspecting husband in the evenings. One day Husson comes to visit her at home, but Séverine refuses to see him. Still she fantasizes about having sex with him in her husband's presence. Ironically, Séverine's physical relationship with her husband is improving and she begins sleeping with him.

Séverine becomes involved with a young gangster, Marcel (Pierre Clémenti), who offers her the kind of thrills and excitement of her fantasies. When Marcel becomes increasingly jealous and demanding, Séverine decides to leave the brothel, with Madame Anaïs' agreement. Séverine is also concerned about Husson who knows about her secret life at the brothel. One of Marcel's gangster associates follows Séverine to her home, and soon Marcel visits her and threatens to reveal her secret life to her husband. Séverine pleads with him to leave her home, and after some time he does.

Marcel waits downstairs for Pierre to return home and shoots him three times before escaping. He is eventually tracked down and shot dead by the police. Séverine's husband survives, but is left in a coma. The police are unable to find a motive for the attempted murder. Sometime later Séverine is at home taking care of Pierre who is now completely paralyzed and in a wheelchair. Husson visits him and tells Pierre the truth about his wife's secret life; she does not try to stop him. Afterwards, Séverine dreams that her husband is healthy again and they are happy.