This is an epic-length drama from Brazil, in co-operation with several European countries. Original title: O Riso e a Faca (“The laughter and the knife”)

An environmental engineer accepts a position in West Africa, where he develops complex relationships with two locals while uncovering details about his predecessor’s unexplained disappearance.

The theatrical version, which I watched, is more than three and a half hours long. I used the term “theatrical” loosely, because the film didn’t make it into many actual theaters. The world-wide gross was less than $15,000.

And that was the express version! The so-called “director’s cut” runs more than five and a half hours. To add to the epic feel, the film was lensed in a special ultra-wide and rarely used aspect ratio (8:3).

The two sex scenes below are each five minutes long in the theatrical version. I haven’t seen the longer cut.

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This provides additional angles on a scene we watched in episode 2.

There was no apparent nudity in episode 3, but there were several shots of Linda pegging Jason Bateman.

UPDATE: A commenter found her on Threads.

UPDATE 2: Another commenter found an additional topless scene: Paradise Falls, s2e4. The commenter also corrected the Paradise Falls timeline.

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I go through Tuna’s old collages regularly to seek inspiration for new projects, and just to enjoy some nostalgia. The film Decoys came onto the radar today, and it got me to wondering about Kim.

Hailing from Quebec, Kim had a fairly strong presence in the film world, and in the nude scene world, in the first decade of the 2000s. She was still working as of 2015, but I suppose she realized at that point that she had had been performing for more than 30 years without any possibility of future stardom, so she got married in 2016, and walked away from the whole entertainment business at age 35. She got so deep into private life that she even abandoned her Facebook page. As far as I know, she never looked back. I haven’t read a word about her since she got married, other than IMDb’s note that she has two children.

Videos – various sources.

New Russian dramedy series, “To Get Back on One’s Feet”

A former prisoner nicknamed Staryy returns to his hometown after 20 years of imprisonment and learns that he has a daughter Olya with limited mobility. In addition, Staryy has one important unfinished business from 20 years ago. His former accomplice Rakhimov, for whom Staryy went to prison, is at large, taking all the blame on himself. Meanwhile, Rakhimov has made a decent living with the money he stole and has completely forgotten about the existence of his former friend. The local police officer orders Staryy, who is under surveillance by the authorities, to live together with his own daughter. In an attempt to improve relations with Olya, “daddy” persistently begins to help her, but the daughter is not delighted with her newfound father and tries to get rid of the relative who suddenly appeared. But gradually she manages to discern something human in his actions, a trusting relationship is built between them and both realize that Staryy is the one who needs real help and support.

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Spanish title: Siempre es invierno

Directed by the esteemed David Trueba, and adapted from his own novel, “Blitz,” Always Winter tells the story of the love affair between a Spanish man in his 30s and a Belgian woman in her 60s.

Miguel, a landscape architect, who travels to Belgium with his girlfriend Marta to attend a conference. Their relationship ends during the trip, and after the breakup, Miguel decides to stay a few more days to try and recover. It’s there that he meets Olga, a woman volunteering at the architecture conference, and his life takes a different turn.

The lovers speak English to one another, as it is their common language, but many languages are heard throughout.

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It Would Be Night in Caracas (Aún es de noche en Caracas) is a thriller set during the 2017 Venezuelan uprising. It is a Netflix production filmed in Mexico and Colombia.

Following her mother’s death and her apartment seizure, Adelaida assumes a dead neighbor’s identity to escape the violent, collapsing country with a Spanish passport.

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This is a French/American co-production, a drama filmed on location in Paris.

IMDb: 6.2
Tomato Meter: 64%

It was panned by both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, but their reviewers are male, and this is a picture made by a woman for women.

The official blurb:

Set during the frenzy of Paris Fashion Week, three women’s lives intersect in Paris, Maxine, a filmmaker in her forties who discovers she has breast cancer and is drawn into an unexpected connection with a familiar collaborator; Ada, a fresh face in modeling, escaping a predetermined future back home in South Sudan; and Angèle, a makeup artist working in the shadows of the catwalks. As their paths cross, the film reveals the quiet resilience beneath the surface of public performance and honors the unspoken solidarity shared among these women across professions, cultures, and continents.

I’m not so sure I would have used the word “frenzy” in a review of this film. It is used correctly, but it sort of implies that the frenzy of Fashion Week is somehow reflected here. It is, but only briefly, and only to provide contrast. The focus is the most lugubrious possibilities of real life, like cancer, or life in South Sudan, in contrast to the shallow, frenzied self-importance of fashion. It is a very low-energy film, filled with quiet, sincere conversations and solemn reflections. Even the sex is sad. It’s as if they told Winnie the Pooh’s story from Eeyore’s perspective, set to Rachmaninoff’s “Isle of the Dead.”

I’m not saying it’s a poor movie. I think the Tomato and IMDb scores accurately reflect its merit, but I would say that you should be aware before watching it that it is a slow, sad character study, and you are more likely to appreciate it if you possess a minimum of one vagina.

Trivia:

Couture is the first fictional film allowed to be shot inside Chanel’s Paris showroom and atelier. Director Winocour was given special access to the brand’s fashion shows and behind-the-scenes work, including time with the seamstresses and other workers. However, all brand logos had to be removed from the screen.

The very good news is that we get to see a superstar’s reconstructed breasts. These clips and images are captured from a screener, thus the blurred identification info and the timing calculation.

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Added videos

Polish drama. Original title: “Powiedz mi, co czujesz”

The relationship of two young artists becomes a volatile space charged with emotion and fierce physicality. The film captures the exhilaration and instability of two people trying to find a language for connection.

Izabella’s nudography