1606 – Banlieue 13 / DISTRICT B13 (2004)

timespace coordinates:  suburbs of Paris, 2013

In 2010, social problems have overrun the poorer suburbs of Paris. Especially Banlieue 13, commonly referred to as B13: a ghetto with a population of two million people. Unable to control B13, the authorities surround the entire area with a high wall topped by barbed tape, forcing the inhabitants within to survive without education, proper utilities or police protection. Police checkpoints stop anybody going in or out. Three years later, the district has become overrun with gangs…

District 13 (French title Banlieue 13 or B13), is a 2004 French action film directed by Pierre Morel and written and produced by Luc Besson. The film is notable for its depiction of parkour in a number of stunt sequences that were completed without the use of wires or computer generated effects.

David Belle, regarded as the founder of parkour, plays Leïto, the main character of the story. (wiki)

imdb   /   rt

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Brick Mansions (2014)

timespace coordinates: 2018, dystopian Detroit.

English-language remake of District 13

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1605 – The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)

timespace coordinates: 2000’s/2010’s San Francisco ( Bayview-Hunters Point, Fillmore District)

The Last Black Man in San Francisco is a 2019 American drama film. Its plot centers on the efforts of a young Black man to reclaim his childhood home, a now-expensive Victorian house in a gentrified neighborhood of San Francisco.

The film is the feature debut of director and producer Joe Talbot. Talbot wrote the screenplay with Rob Richert and the story with Jimmie Fails, on whose life the film is partly based. The movie stars Fails, Jonathan Majors, Tichina Arnold, Rob Morgan, Mike Epps, Finn Wittrock, and Danny Glover.  (wiki)

Kickstarter-funded, feat Michael Nyman OST.

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1601

1600 – Alone in Berlin (2016)

timespace coordinates:  World War II-era Berlin (September 1940 – April 1943)

Alone in Berlin is a 2016 war drama film directed by Vincent Pérez, based on the 1947 non-fiction book Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada. The novel’s characters Otto and Anna Quangel are based on Otto and Elise Hampel.

When their son dies in France, the couple start writing postcards to urge people to protest against Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. The film stars Emma Thompson, Brendan Gleeson, Daniel Brühl, and Mikael Persbrandt.

 The Irish Times wrote: “the film offers a fascinating and timely blueprint for political dissent, a methodology that connects with pamphleteering, graffiti, and memes.” (wiki)

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1595 – Fallen Angels (1995)

timespace coordinates: 1995 urban, nighttime Hong Kong

Fallen Angels is a 1995 Hong Kong drama film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai, starring Leon Lai, Michelle Reis, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Charlie Yeung, and Karen Mok. As with the filmmaker’s other features, plot takes a back seat to mood.

Originally conceived by Wong as the third story for 1994’s Chungking Express, it was cut after he decided that it was complete without it. He instead decided to develop the story further into its own feature film and borrowed elements of Chungking Express, such as themes, locations and methods of filming. Wanting to also try to differentiate it from Chungking and to try something new, Wong decided along with cinematographer Christopher Doyle to shoot mainly at night and using extreme wide-angle lenses, keeping the camera as close to the talents as possible to give a detached effect from the world around them.

In an interview, Wong had this to say:

…To me, Chungking Express and Fallen Angels are one film that should be three hours long. I always think these two films should be seen together as a double bill. In fact, people asked me during an interview for Chungking Express: “You’ve made these two stories which have no relationship at all to each other, how can you connect them?” And I said, ‘The main characters of Chungking Express are not Faye Wong or Takeshi Kaneshiro, but the city itself, the night and day of Hong Kong. Chungking Express and Fallen Angels together are the bright and dark of Hong Kong.” I see the films as inter-reversible, the character of Faye Wong could be the character of Takeshi in Fallen Angels; Brigitte Lin in Chungking could be Leon Lai in Fallen Angels. All of their characters are inter-reversible. Also, in Chungking we were shooting from a very long distance with long lenses, but the characters seem close to us.

In the Village Voice, J. Hoberman wrote:

The acme of neo-new-wavism, the ultimate in MTV alienation, the most visually voluptuous flick of the fin de siècle, a pyrotechnical wonder about mystery, solitude, and the irrational love of movies that pushes Wong’s style to the brink of self-parody.

wiki   /   imdb   /   rottentomatoes

1592 – One Night in Bangkok (2020)

timespace coordinates: 2020 Bangkok night drive

director: Wych Kaosayananda

stars: Mark Dacascos, Vanida Golten, Prinya Intachai

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1590 – Train to Busan 2 / Peninsula (2020)

timespace coordinates: 2020  South Korea /  Hong Kong

Peninsula (Korean: 반도; Hanja: 半島; RR: Bando; marketed in the United States as Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula) is a 2020 South Korean action horror film directed by Yeon Sang-ho.

It is a standalone sequel to the 2016 film Train to Busan and follows a soldier who is sent along with his team to retrieve a truck full of money from the wastelands of the Korean peninsula now inhabited by zombies, rogue militia and a nice family. (wiki)

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imdb