Return to Reason: Four Films by Man Ray (2024)

Anita Liberty

Anita's boyfriend Mitchell dumped her after 3.5 years for Heather. All she can think about is humiliating him, mostly in poems that are bitter, banal, and hilarious.

Last of the Great Unknown

The story of Grand Canyon's hidden slot canyons, the canyoneers who systematically explored their drainages, and the secrets hidden deep within their walls.

The Dance of the Paroxysms

This film tells the story of Gonthramm, a young knight who sought in vain for the Holy Grail and, on the way back to join his bride, Galeswithe, is met by Queen Banschi in the nightmarish realm of the Sylphs. Brum do Canto based the story on Charles-Marie Leconte de Lisle's Les Elfes.

Gunfight at Comanche Creek

Comanche Creek, Colorado, 1875: Prisoner Jack Mason is broken out of jail by a gang of strangers. They use him in a robbery, then when the dead-or-alive reward is high enough, they shoot him and collect. The National Detective Agency, now knowing the gang's methods, arranges to have agent Bob Gifford jailed in Comanche Creek for train robbery. The gang takes the bait (not before Gifford catches the eye of lovely saloon-keeper Abbie). But how will the bait get off the hook?

Submerge

A Gen Y love story presented as a fetish sex drama, submerge explores the need of Gen Y for constant stimulation and instant gratification underpinned by a sense of entitlement. It pushes young adults to believe they can have it all, despite a plethora of competing demands from social media, family, and peers.

Amazones

Four women are sick of being poor. They decide to rob a bank. They are surprised how easily they get away with it and start to commit more robberies. When the net finally closes around them they decide to make one last big hit.

Oops!

Jagan, Akash and Nisha belong to a dance club. Their ambition is to become big in the dancing profession. Jagan and Nisha are lovers. Jagan is a middle-class man who dreams of becoming a millionaire over night. In the process he meets an actress named Sonia who offers him a ridiculously large amount of money for a 3 hours strip tease show to be done among a group of ten high society women who are bored with their husbands. Jagan asks his best buddy Akash to accompany him in the job. That show becomes a big hit and Jagan gets another call from Sonia for another strip show. Akash, however, is not comfortable with that profession. Jagan does the solo strip tease. There he meets a sexy older women named Savitha who has a secret identity that will end up compromising Jagan's world. - Written by gavin

The Floating Shadow

Zhou Lu is a female inmate convicted of murder. At first glance, her file looks like an open and shut case of a woman so fed up with her marriage that she resorts to killing her husband. Officer Hao Ruping, however, feels that here is more than meets the eye with Zhou Lu, so she takes on the investigation. What she uncovers is Zhou Lu's dark past, unfolding a thrilling tale of lies, delusions and family secrets.

Hot Springs Geisha

A look at the lives of a troupe of geishas working in a small seaside resort town. For the most part, their lives consist of greeting boatloads of oversexed businessmen and providing bawdy entertainment through the evening followed by private companionship at night, interspersed with occasional catfights with the rival geisha house. Their routine is suddenly thrown off by the appearance of an abandoned baby in the geishas' dormitory, followed by its disappearance only a short time later. Who could be responsible for such a thing?

Beatrice Fairfax

Beatrice Fairfax, the original advice-to-the-lovelorn reporter and her friend and not-so-secret admirer Jimmy Barton investigate calls for help and escape exotic perils and dangers. Episodes include exciting and fun stories of baby-napping, blackmail, jewel thievery, disguise, counterfeiting, and the long-unseen episode featuring entrancing cult starlet Olive Thomas and the real New York Yankees and Giants playing a game in the Polo Grounds.

Psychosis

Alone and locked in a nightclub a man struggles to find a way out before his own sanity turns on him.

Fugitives

Tony is a young crook preparing for a bank robbery with her boyfriend Juanjo and their low-life partners Maxi and Moco. Right before they commit the crime, Juanjo informs Tony that his prostitute sister wants him to take her young daughter Laura to visit the girl's father, a flamenco singer in the Spanish southern coastal town of Tarifa. Juanjo persuades the initially reluctant Tony that Laura will provide the couple with a perfect cover after they relieve their partners of the robbery's earnings. Unfortunately, though the robbery comes off without a hitch, the duplicitous Juanjo absconds with the cash, making Tony and Laura fugitives both from the law and from the psychotically angry Maxi and Moco.

Black Dog

Plot unavailable

The Italian Boys

Two boys dream of escaping their island town to go on an adventure on the mainland, a son and his lover fight to escape the clutches of an overbearing father, and a priest is shocked when some local students plan to put on a homoerotic rendition of the miracle of Lazarus. Immerse yourself in Italian culture, humor and lush landscapes in these beautiful short films from Italy.​ The 5 short films are: Uproar [Pipinara] (2017); Tidal Time [L'ora di porto] (2018); The Mannequin [Il manichino] (2015); Lazarus Come Out [Lazzaro vieni fuori] (2015); Glue [Colla] (2016).

Souls for Sale

A young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star.

Apart from You

An aging geisha, whose angry teenage son is ashamed of her profession, works alongside a young geisha, resentful of her family for forcing her into a life of ignominy.

Mr. Wu

When Mandarin Wu's unmarried daughter becomes pregnant by a young Englishman, he seeks vengeance.

The Moon Over the Alley

A surreal musical exploring the problems of the multicultural residents in a Notting Hill boarding house.

A Cottage on Dartmoor

A jealous barber's assistant becomes enraged by the attentions the manicurist he's obsessed with and a repeat customer pay to one another.

The Winning of Barbara Worth

While building an irrigation system for a Southwestern desert community, an engineer vies with a local cowboy for the affections of a rancher's daughter.

Salomé

Based on Oscar Wilde's play, the films tells the story of how Salomé agrees to dance for King Herod in return for the head of John the Baptist.

Captain Salvation

A young divinity student helps and protects a down and out prostitute, at the cost of his own standing in the community.

Scaramouche

A law student becomes an outlaw French revolutionary when he decides to avenge the unjust killing of his friend. To get close to the aristocrat who has killed his friend, the student adopts the identity of Scaramouche the clown.

Tumbleweeds

William S. Hart stars in this 1925 silent film as a cowboy intent on claiming land during the 1889 land rush in the Oklahoma Territory. Though hardened from years of taming the new frontier, he falls in love with a beautiful woman. Before he settles down, however, he must contend with men who wish to bring him harm. In the prologue of the 1939 Astor Pictures revival of this film, Hart gives a moving eight-minute introduction-- the first and only time he appeared in a film accompanied by his striking voice.

The Poor Little Rich Girl

Gwen's family is rich, but her parents ignore her and most of the servants push her around, so she is lonely and unhappy. Her father is concerned only with making money, and her mother cares only about her social position. But one day a servant's irresponsibility creates a crisis that causes everyone to rethink what is important to them.

The Temptress

A seductive woman forsakes her husband and lover to pursue a young engineer.

The Dying Swan

After being betrayed by her playboy lover, a heartbroken mute young woman joins a ballet company; during a performance of “The Dying Swan,” she enraptures a painter obsessed with portraying death genuinely.

New Old

"Chronicles of the Present Times" - An experimental trilogy. New Old flows together footage from more than a decade of his wandering between scenes, sets, and drugs, an accelerated world tour through various iterations of the counterculture.

Identikit

Lise, a mentally disturbed spinster, experiences a series of bizarre encounters while in Rome as she searches for someone who will murder her.

Mockery

There is hunger in Siberia during the Russian Civil War. One day while dim-witted peasant Sergei is searching corpses for food, he meets a young woman looking for the town of Novokursk. She asks Sergei to help her get there, and to tell anyone they might meet that he is her husband.

A Page of Madness

A man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.

The Kiss

They get ready to kiss, begin to kiss, and kiss in a way that brings down the house every time.

Sati

Suffocating memories dominate the mind of a young woman living alone on a houseboat. Ruled by her own fantasies, she lingers to the sound of old cassette tapes and smoldering cigarettes, while visions drive her deeper into the trauma and guilt that threaten to burn her.

Oisys

An unemployed dry alcoholic and former smoker longs to escape his shadows in a small abandoned village. Triggered by a mysterious meeting with his neighbour, he must face temptation, hallucinations and nightmares as he searches for his own fulfillment (in form of a cake).

The Latin Boys: Volume 2

Feast your eyes on a second volume of short stories set in South America that explore growing pains, first loves, political upheaval, gay parenting and coming out. The 6 short films are: Seat Belt [Cinturón de seguridad] (2018); Before It's Too Late [Antes Que Seja Tarde] (2019); Ajar [Entreabierto] (2018); Guacho (2018); The Grey Zones [Las zonas grises] (2019); Orizaba's Peak [Pico de Orizaba] (2017).

All Souls' Eve

The wife of sculptor Roger Heath is killed by a maniac because of Roger's madly jealous admirer Olivia Larkin. To care for his home and son Peter, Roger hires Irish immigrant Nora O'Hallahan as a nursemaid whom he realizes is possessed by the soul of his departed wife.

Serenity

Originally edited in two versions. Version I, 70 minutes; version II, 90 minutes. (The only known existing version is not Markopoulos’s edit and contains additional titles, music and voice-over added later than 1961. 65 minutes.) Filmed in Mytilene and Annavysos, Greece, 1958. Existing copy on video, J. and M. Paris Films, Athens.

The Triplets of Belleville

When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters—an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire—to rescue him.

Plastic Jesus

Tom is a young guy from Zagreb, completely without money, trying to make films in Belgrade. He somehow manages to survive with a help of women. He doesn't believe in anybody, respects no one and is in constant conflict with the ruling system and order. After being left by a silly American girl, Tom binds with a woman whose husband is abroad. When she kicks him out, he moves in with her husband's sister, who later kills him in the attack of jealousy. All this is shown in the context of major historical events prior to 1968. with lots of archive footage of world leaders.

French Touch: Desires

Fleeting encounters, conversations about identity and experiencing life and love in the most authentic way. Six contemporary stories of men exploring love, lust and modern dating. These award winning French shorts bring raw and diverse stories with beautiful aesthetics, eclectic music and astonishing cinematography. The 6 short films are: Bootyful (2019); Naughty Spot [Gare aux coquins] (2021); Herculanum (2016); Masculine (2018); Woeful Flesh [Les nuits d'Edouard] (2018); Falling [Tomber] (2018).

The Big Parade

The story of an idle rich boy who joins the US Army's Rainbow Division and is sent to France to fight in World War I, becomes friends with two working class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare, and finds love with a French girl.

Boys On Film 1: Hard Love

Created by gay directors and actors, Boys On Film features numerous award-winning shorts that deal with all aspects of gay life. Volume 1: Hard Love contains nine complete films: Hong Khaou's "Summer" starring Peter Peralta and Jay Brown; Michael Simon's "Gay Zombie" starring Brad Bilanin, Ryan Carlberg, and Robin McDonald; Jason Bushman's "Serene Hunter" starring Eric Debets, Flannan Obé, and Jonathan Blanc; Timothy Smith's "Le Weekend" starring Omar and Fernando Peres; Jean Baptiste Erreca's "Cowboy Forever" featuring Govinda Machado de Figueiredo and Jones Carlos Fialho de Araújo; Damien Rea's "Scarred" starring Chris Anderson, David Durham, and Lara Cazalet; Tim Hunter's "Packed Lunch" featuring Kevyn Boemia, Chris Sayers, and Steven Quigg; John Winter's "Mirror Mirror" starring Roy Billing; and Maxwell Barber's "VGL-Hung!" starring Marcus Proctor, Jeff Chandler, and Ashley Ryder.

Two Lovers

Set during the 16th-century Spanish occupation of Flanders, the story concentrates on the fiercely patriotic Mark Van Ryke (Colman). Donning the guise of "Leatherface," a swashbuckling masked avenger, Van Ryke performs his derring-do on behalf of the Prince of Orange (Nigel de Brulier). Naturally, Van Ruke considers beautiful Spanish aristocrat Donna Leonora de Vargas (Vilma Banky) to be a bitter enemy, and the feeling is mutual. To no one's surprise, however, Van Ryke and Donna Leonara eventually fall in love (hence the title). The pulse-pounding climax finds Van Ryke riding hell-for-leather through a rainstorm to warn the Flemish troops about the Spaniards' plans to burn the city of Ghent to the ground. Two Lovers was based on Madame Orczy's novel Leatherface, and adapted for the screen by Alice Duer Miller.

Alphaville

Lemmy Caution is on a mission to eliminate Professor Von Braun, the creator of a malevolent computer that rules the city of Alphaville. Befriended by the scientist’s daughter Natasha, Lemmy must unravel the mysteries of the strictly logical Alpha 60 and teach Natasha the meaning of the word “love.”

The Holy Mountain

The Alchemist assembles together a group of people from all walks of life to represent the planets in the solar system. The occult adept's intention is to put his recruits through strange mystical rites and divest them of their worldly baggage before embarking on a trip to Lotus Island. There they ascend the Holy Mountain to displace the immortal gods who secretly rule the universe.

Limite

Adrift in the vast expanse of the ocean, a solitary boat carries three castaways—a man and two women. Stranded and devoid of any glimmer of rescue, they find solace in recounting the tales of their lives to one another. As they delve into their personal narratives, reminiscing about the circumstances that led them to this desolate predicament, they navigate through the depths of three distinct destinies. Bound by the confines of their shared space, every aspect of their existence becomes a boundary, underscoring their plight.

Lonesome Cowboys

Five lonesome cowboys get all hot and bothered at home on the range after confronting Ramona Alvarez and her nurse.

Lost Highway

A tormented jazz musician finds himself lost in an enigmatic story involving murder, surveillance, gangsters, doppelgängers, and an impossible transformation inside a prison cell.

Requiem for a Dream

The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.

Broken Blossoms

The love story of an abused English girl and a Chinese Buddhist in a time when London was a brutal and harsh place to live.

City Lights

A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor and suitor.

Pandora's Box

Lulu is a young woman so beautiful and alluring that few can resist her siren charms. The men drawn into her web include respectable newspaper publisher Dr. Ludwig Schön, his musical producer son Alwa, circus performer Rodrigo Quast, and seedy old Schigolch. When Lulu's charms inevitably lead to tragedy, the downward spiral encompasses them all.

The Phantom of the Opera

The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.

The Gold Rush

A gold prospector in Alaska struggles to survive the elements and win the heart of a dance hall girl.

Cotton Wool

A single mother suffers a devastating stroke leaving her teenage daughter and 7-year-old son to care for her, testing the family's strength to hold things together as their roles are reversed.

O'Horten

Odd Horton is dependable and contained: he's a train driver retiring after 40 years of service, living a simple life. His idea of adventure is to fly from one city in Norway to another. Starting on the night of his retirement dinner, Odd has a series of dislocating experiences: a boy insists that Odd sit by his bedside while he falls asleep; misadventure causes Odd to miss his last run; he witnesses an arrest; he assists an old man and makes a friend; he takes a trip with a blindfolded driver; he adopts a dog; he takes stock late one night at the roundhouse; he revisits his mother's disappointment in him. How should he live the rest of his life?

The Tree of Life

The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father. Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.

The Sawdust Paradise

She dances- The Dance of Death. She Sings- The song of Life. Scintillating, Fascinating, Desirable, Swifty She Weaves the Web of Destruction and then Regeneration. A Drama of Lights and Shadows.

The Block Signal

Joe Ryan, a veteran train engineer, is demoted to a flagman position after a disastrous crash-- one caused by his cowardly and opportunistic partner. Though Ryan's failing eyesight is named as the cause of the crash, he's undeterred as he designs an automatic braking invention.

River of Fundament

Visionary artist Matthew Barney returns to cinema with this 3-part epic, a radical reinvention of Norman Mailer’s novel Ancient Evenings. In collaboration with composer Jonathan Bepler, Barney combines traditional modes of narrative cinema with filmed elements of performance, sculpture, and opera, reconstructing Mailer’s hypersexual story of Egyptian gods and the seven stages of reincarnation, alongside the rise and fall of the American car industry.

The Midshipman

Produced under the supervision of the U.S. Navy. James Randall, an upperclassman at the Naval Academy, falls in love with Patricia Lawrence, the sister of a plebe. She is engaged to Basil Courtney, a wealthy reprobate who arranges with Rita to discredit James.

The Joyless Street

In 1921, we follow two women - Marie and Grete - from the same poor Viennese neighborhood, as they try to better the lives of themselves and their families during the period of Austrian postwar hyperinflation.

Santa Sangre

A former circus artist escapes from a mental hospital to rejoin his mother – the leader of a strange religious cult – and is forced to enact brutal murders in her name.

The Way of the Strong

A gangster falls for a blind violinist, only for his mobster rivals to kidnap her.

The Bride's Play

A sweet-natured young Irish woman is courted by a romantic poet and a local country gentleman. Which man will she choose?

After Hours

Desperate to escape his mind-numbing routine, uptown Manhattan office worker Paul Hackett ventures downtown for a hookup with a mystery woman.

Deserted at the Altar

Anna Moore, a poor orphaned country girl, and her little brother, Tommy, live with hypocritical Squire Simpson, who conspires with his son to acquire the inheritance due the girl.

Why Broncho Billy Left Bear County

Through a kindly act Broncho Billy earns the deep gratitute of Marion Rivers, who presents him with a Bible. Not long afterwards, she comes upon him as he is about to hold up the stage, but at sight of the girl he is overwhelmed with shame and taking out the little Bible promises her that he will live honorably. In the meantime, Marion's father holds up the stage at another point, and one of the stagecoach drivers, mounting a bareback pony, rides off for the sheriff. Broncho Billy sees Rivers get away with the money, and when he hears the sheriff and his men coming, for Marion's sake he goes to warn her father. To shield him, he takes the bags of money and rides away with the men after him. He leaves the money at the mile post with a note saying: "SAheriff, I'm through with Bear County, this stick-up was my last", and rides across the border. (Moving Picture World Synopsis)

Annette

The story of Henry, a stand-up comedian with a fierce sense of humour and Ann, a singer of international renown. In the spotlight, they are the perfect couple, healthy, happy, and glamourous. The birth of their first child, Annette, a mysterious girl with an exceptional destiny, will change their lives.