ITO – A Diary of an Urban Priest
2010 · 117 min · ★ 6.0 · Documentary
A biographical documentary following the life of a young Japanese priest and bar-owner.
Directed by Pirjo Honkasalo · Written by Pirjo Honkasalo
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250 Grammes – A Radioactive Testament · 1983250 Grammes – A Radioactive Testament
★ 10.01983
MovieDrama
Max Sjöman, Architect: "This is the story of my daughter. Her life was short. Short is not purposeless. I brick her picture into the cornerstone of an atomic power station. It is my testament to the future generations. They'll see from that photograph what a healthy child once looked like."
Ikäluokka · 1976Ikäluokka
★ 9.01976
MovieDocumentary
Onni is a shoemaker, aged 70. Toivo is a blacksmith, aged 75. The film tells the story of their generation, from childhood through various stages to the present day. They have lived through the entire Finnish history of this century.
Christmas in the Distance · 1994Christmas in the Distance
★ 7.51994
MovieDocumentary
The director documents the events leading to a reunion with her estranged father.
Mysterion · 1991Mysterion
★ 7.51991
MovieDocumentary
A documentary about a convent of Russian Orthodox nuns in Estonia who have dedicated their lives to serving God.
Ingmar Bergman on Life and Work · 1998Ingmar Bergman on Life and Work
★ 7.51998
MovieDocumentary
TV Documentary about Ingmar Bergman from 1998.
Nine Ways to Approach Helsinki · 1982Nine Ways to Approach Helsinki
★ 7.41982
MovieDocumentary
Nine Ways to Approach Helsinki, shot by Pirjo Honkasalo and Eero Salmenhaara, is a documentary on the capital of Finland.
Helsinki, Forever · 2008Helsinki, Forever
★ 7.12008
MovieDocumentary
Helsinki, Forever is a montage film about the city of Helsinki by the award-winning Finnish film director and academic Peter von Bagh. The film draws a portrait of Helsinki and also acts as an essay on Finnish culture in a wider sense. It shows Helsinki as captured by leading Finnish feature film and documentary makers over a period of one hundred years.
Atman · 1997Atman
★ 7.01997
MovieDocumentary
The final film in The Trilogy of the Sacred and the Satanic, Atman is a spectacular epic across India, all documented on stunning 35mm. When his mother dies, a devout Hindu man named Jamana Lal begins a 3,000-mile journey in her honor. The destination is the holy city of Haridwar, but to get there, Lal, a 35-year-old whose legs have been paralyzed since childhood, must travel up the Ganges River. He is joined by his brother and his wife as well as by director Pirjo Honkasalo and her small, intrepid crew. Midway through, a miracle occurs, as Lal crosses paths with a kindhearted woman named Shanta. Atman blossoms into a love story for the ages.
Two Forces · 1979Two Forces
★ 6.81979
MovieDramaWar
Docudrama about the Soviet occupation of a Finnish village in the fall before the Winter War.
The Earth Is a Sinful Song · 1973The Earth Is a Sinful Song
★ 6.71973
MovieDrama
An earthy, naturalistically erotic and blood-soaked tale of young Martta's ill-fated affair with Oula, a womanizing reindeer herdsman in the Finnish Lapland of the late 1940s. When the 19-year-old girl turns up pregnant, her alcoholic father is outraged and a series of tragic events follows
Donner - Private · 2021Donner - Private
★ 6.52021
MovieDocumentary
Jörn Donner’s entire production can be considered as a self-portrait, a life-spanning performance. Whilst others have painted one image or another of Donner, John Webster’s interpretation differs in that it pulls most of its material from Donner’s last-intended interview in December 2019, and an immense never-before-seen collection of photographs from albums simply labelled “Donner – Privat”. As a result, the film morphs into an epilogue of sorts, of Donner’s life story.
Tanjuska and the 7 Devils · 1993Tanjuska and the 7 Devils
★ 6.51993
MovieDocumentary
A documentary about Tanjuska who is a 12-year-old White-Russian schoolgirl, with a face like an icon. Two years ago she stopped eating, then talking and finally she stopped growing. The village priest in Estonia has explained to the family that seven devils have made a home inside Tanjuska. These devils are giving her orders and only a daily ceremony can force the devils to leave the girl.
Da Capo · 1985Da Capo
★ 6.01985
MovieDrama
Interwoven with scenes that are meant to grab attention by their stunning composition, this biographical look at Finland's violinist Arto Arsi is not so much a narration of his childhood and early years, as an attempt to artistically show what was happening inside his psyche during that time. Literally sold to a master teacher, Sergei Rippas (Tarmo Manni) by his mother when he was still a child, the violin prodigy was forcefully and strictly raised to practice, practice, and perfect his technique. Once an adult, Arsi finds a way to escape the rigors of a U.S. tour and drowns his overworked self in drink, or seeks out one-night stands, or otherwise lets off steam. The tightly-wound spring that has been coiled since he was forced into his grueling training and work sessions -- shown through symbolic images -- eventually snaps in a healthy way, freeing Arsi at last to continue on, simply for the love of music.
Concrete Night · 2013Concrete Night
★ 5.92013
MovieDramaMystery
A 14-year-old boy in a stifling Helsinki slum takes some unwise life lessons from his soon-to-be-incarcerated older brother.
Laulu tulipunaisesta kukasta · 1971Laulu tulipunaisesta kukasta
★ 5.61971
MovieDramaRomance
Olavi Koskela, a ladies' man, joins the loggers. As a log driver, Olavi travels from place to place, seducing one girl after another and then abandoning them. Only Kyllikki, the daughter of a wealthy family, is able to resist his advances and incites him to challenge another log driver to a race down the rapids. Through Kyllikki, Olavi is forced to face the consequences of his actions and reflect on the meaninglessness of his life.
Uuno Turhapuro · 1973Uuno Turhapuro
★ 5.51973
MovieComedy
Uuno Turhapuro is a lazy man who abhors manual labor, but has the ability to talk himself out of any sticky situation, usually with his long-suffering wife. In this, his first feature film appearance, Uuno embarrasses his wife in public, tricks his best friend, accidentally goes on a diet, and becomes a famous violinist.
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Black Box Diaries · 2024Black Box Diaries
★ 7.62024
MovieDocumentary
Journalist Shiori Ito embarks on a courageous investigation of her own sexual assault in an improbable attempt to prosecute her high-profile offender. Her quest becomes a landmark case in Japan, exposing the country's outdated judicial and societal systems.
Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations · 1938Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations
★ 6.91938
MovieDocumentary
Starting with a long and lyrical overture, evoking the origins of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, Riefenstahl covers twenty-one athletic events in the first half of this two-part love letter to the human body and spirit, culminating with the marathon, where Jesse Owens became the first track and field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.
Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty · 1938Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty
★ 6.71938
MovieDocumentary
Part two of Leni Riefenstahl's monumental examination of the 1938 Olympic Games, the cameras leave the main stadium and venture into the many halls and fields deployed for such sports as fencing, polo, cycling, and the modern pentathlon, which was won by American Glenn Morris.
Dig! · 2004Dig!
★ 6.82004
MovieDocumentaryMusic
A documentary on the once promising American rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. The friendship between respective founders, Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor, escalated into bitter rivalry as the Dandy Warhols garnered major international success while the Brian Jonestown Massacre imploded in a haze of drugs.
