Robert Kramer Movies

Noted French filmmaker Laurence Ferreira Barbosa directs this loosely-structured triptych about a trio of unconnected people who struggle through the loneliness of their lives. Impetuous 17-year-old Marguerite (Lolita Chammah), who feels cut off from both her family and classmates, passes the time by talking to God. Eventually, she decides to enter a convent. Meanwhile, housewife Claire (Isabelle Hubbert) is frustrated after ten years of childless marriage. While going to visit a fertility expert in Paris, she happens upon an old lover, gets picked up by some guy at a bar and has a bizarre encounter with an America singer (Robert Kramer). Meantime, Jacques (Frederic Pierrot) is divorced, unemployed, and loathed by his daughter. Just as his life looks one long exercise in desperate futility, he meets comely Eva (Juliette Andrea). Suddenly, he transforms himself into a private dick, trying to track down a missing associate. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

The victim of a probable mugging dies, whereupon the detectives launch a homicide investigation. The trail of clues leads to the planned circumcision of Alison Martin (Emmy Rossun), the daughter of an American father (Cotter Smith) and an Egyptian mother (Ava Haddad). The outcome of the story is triggered by the ethnic and religious schism between Alison's parents. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In 1969, director Rob Kramer was a young antiwar activist who traveled to Hanoi in North Vietnam to make a film about the untold story of that war, entitled People's War. Over twenty years later, he has made a documentary exploring the effect of the war and the intervening years on Vietnam, and on Linda Evans, who accompanied him to Hanoi. At the time of the film, she was still passionately dedicated to the principles which resulted in her serving a 40 year sentence in prison in California. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this film version of E. L. Doctorow's Billy Bathgate, Loren Dean plays the title character, a street-smart kid who inveigles his way into the confidence of 1930s gangster Dutch Schultz (Dustin Hoffman). Billy is ordered to look after Schultz' new moll, Drew Preston (Nicole Kidman), while Dutch fends off tax evasion charges and such up-and-coming rivals as Lucky Luciano (Stanley Tucci). Even though they know they're playing with dynamite, Billy and Drew fall in love. In attempting to escape Schultz' wrath, Billy succeeds only in putting himself in the thick of a gun battle between his boss and Luciano. When "Charley Lucky" emerges triumphant, Billy is forced once again to rely on his wits to escape being sent to the bottom of the briny in a cement overcoat. Bruce Willis shows up in an extended cameo as Dutch Schultz' former business associate. Billy Bathgate was adapted for the screen by British playwright Tom Stoppard. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Hubert Selby's controversial 1964 cult novel Last Exit To Brooklyn is adapted to the big screen by director Ulrich Edel in this drama. The story is set in the early 1950s in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a blighted waterfront town of boarded-up storefronts and striking factory workers. Harry Black (Stephen Lang), a machinist put in charge of the local union strike office, suddenly finds himself one of the most important men in town. But for all his sudden power, there's something disturbing Harry. He rejects his wife's caresses and discovers himself infatuated with a frail young man who calls himself Georgette (Alexis Arquette), who has a crush on well-muscled hood Vinnie (Peter Dobson). But Harry doesn't confront his problem head-on until he falls head-over-heels in love with Regina (Zette), a local transvestite. As the strike becomes more intense, Harry sinks deeper into an obsessive affair with Regina, using the strike fund to shower him/her with personal gifts. As Harry sinks into obsession, other characters float through the decaying streets. There's the attractive prostitute Tralala (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who falls in love with a sailor about to be shipped overseas. There is also an agreeable young man named Tommy (John Costelloe) who is beaten by his soon-to-be father-in-law Big Joe (Burt Young) for making his daughter Donna (Ricki Lake) pregnant. Everything comes to a tragic conclusion as the workers' strike escalates into a violent confrontation. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Grieving Jimmy (Vincent Gallo) is shocked to learn after his mother's death that his long-lost father Doc (Paul McIssac) is alive and living somewhere in Europe. Jimmy goes in search of his father, a former radical Weatherman from the 1960s who fled the country during the turbulent decade. Although he suffers from a mysterious ailment contracted in Africa, the drunken Doc now devotes his efforts to healing instead of politically motivated violence. Ruy Furtado co-stars with Cesar Monteiro and Roslyn Payne. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

In this docudrama, filmmaker Robert Kramer, who has had long periods of residence in Europe, and an expatriate doctor friend of his, set out to rediscover their native country by traveling from Maine to Florida on old US Route 1, a major north-south route built before the interstate highway system was constructed. The doctor has just returned from a long stint of public service in Africa, and is undecided about what to do with his life. Despite an apparently determined attempt to dig into the seedy side of American life, the travelers run into one inspirational scene after another, and run into such luminaries as Pat Robertson and Jesse Jackson on the presidential campaign trail, and performers like Ossie Davis and Helen Hayes. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Set in the near future when a subterranean world is ruled over by a totalitarian psycho, this tame story about the macho hero Diesel (Gerard Klein) and the woman he saves (Agnes Soral) is too cliched to convince for long. When the woman, a prostitute, has to run for her life because she witnessed a murder, Diesel comes to her rescue, and a series of chases and confrontations follows. From the three gangsters after the woman, to the ruler of the city, the characters tend to be surface sketches and the situations predictable. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

An aging Nazi war criminal, "Doktor S.," was convicted of killing more than 11,000 people in Byelorussia and Lithuania during World War II and served 18 years in prison before being released due to poor health, bad eyesight, and old age. He tells his story in this unusual docudrama, leaving the viewers to sort out the limited information gleaned from his recollections. He complains because he lost his good standing with the SS when his brother came to Germany from the U.S. and started criticizing the Nazis. It does not matter that his brother died in Buchenwald; Doktor S. still resents him for ruining his position within the Gestapo. Next, the man explains how he had to work his way back into favor by committing atrocities -- but when confronted with specifics, the story told by Doktor S. raises more questions than it answers. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Wim Wenders' The State of Things (Der Stand der Dinge) was financed by one of the director's chief mentors, Francis Ford Coppola. This highly autobiographical work concerns a shoestring movie producer and his ragtag crew. Stranded in the outer reaches of Portugal, the director doesn't even have any film in his camera. There's nothing left to do but scare up a potential backer--preferably one of those rich, movie-mad Americans. In illustrating the plight of the fictional filmmakers, Wenders strikes a blow on behalf of the homeless and disenfranchised everywhere; it is also an a clef recreation of the difficulties faced by the director during production of his first American film Hammett (also made under the auspices of Coppola). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After a businessman is captured by kidnappers, his rescue seems incumbent on a group of filmmakers, rather than a lackluster police force -- a premise that is matched by the rest of this movie. The kidnapping victim rambles on philosophically with his captors, who end up leaving him alone -- thereby providing him with a chance to escape. As he makes a break for it, he is literally hounded by some guard dogs. Then there are also some interviews with people who know one of the kidnappers, though it is not clear why. Neither the victim, nor the kidnappers, nor the filmmakers can compete with the canines, the only protagonists who add some bite to the action. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In 1974, there was a revolution in Portugal, led by that country's military, to bring about a more democratic government. This documentary, begun over a year later, chronicles the aftermath of that change with interviews of striking workers, military units favoring the changes, and shots of rallies and meetings. From the documentarian's perspective, soon after the ostensible victory by pro-worker forces, things began to tighten up again rather swiftly. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi