Allegory
see all genres ›The allegory or parable frames basic human wisdoms in storytelling action and metaphor. This type of film has a lesson to teach, though the path getting there may be fraught with fantasy or gallows humor.
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Genres / Fantasy / Allegory
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Street of Crocodiles
Stephen and Timothy Quay's masterpiece, STREET OF CROCODILES is adapted from the book by Polish writer Bruno Schulz and was their first film shot on 35mm. A museum keeper spits into the eyepiece of an ancient peep-show and sets the musty machine in motion, plunging the viewer...Watch Movie
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Marwencol
Outside a small bar in Kingston, New York, Mark Hogancamp was beaten nearly to death, his memories wiped away. Seeking recovery, he builds Marwencol, a miniature World War II-era town filled with doll versions of his friends, fantasies and even his attackers. As he documents the town’s dramas...Watch Movie
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Nostalghia
NOSTALGHIA is Andrei Tarkovsky's brooding late masterpiece, a darkly poetic vision of exile. It was the first of his features to be made outside of Russia, the home to which he would never return. Tarkovsky explained that in Russian the word "nostalghia" conveys "the love for your homeland and...Watch Movie
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In the Beginning Was the End
"De-evolution," the idea that mankind is on a downward spiral of regression, was initially espoused by deconstructionist rockers Devo as a joke until the Ohio National Guard opened fire on students at Kent State (including band members Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh),...Watch Movie
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The Book of Life
In this darkly comic retelling of the Apocalypse, Jesus (Martin Donovan) arrives at JFK airport with intriguing assistant, Magdalena (PJ Harvey). While the world ponders the meaning of this second coming, Jesus battles the Devil for human souls, risks the wrath of God and...Watch Movie
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Subconscious Password
In the middle of a crowded bar, Charles finds himself feeling increasingly desperate. The cause of his misery is an old friend he's just run into; his old friend... you know... what's-his-name... Directed by Chris Landreth, the filmmaker behind the Oscar®-winning short RYAN,...Watch Movie
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Heart of Glass
After the international successes of AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD and EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF AND GOD AGAINST ALL (aka THE ENIGMA OF KASPER HAUSER), Werner Herzog baffled many admirers with this cryptic parable. An 18th century Bavarian mountain village is famous for its production of "ruby glass"...Watch Movie
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The Wheel of Torment
A perfect little nightmare, WHEEL OF TORMENT takes several dizzying turns around Hieronymus Bosch’s epic pageants of violence. Eric Henry, Syd Garon and Rodney Ascher channel the rough-and-ready spirit of cut-out animation even as they avail themselves of digital imaging to...Watch Movie
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The White Meadows
The otherworldly salt islands of Iran’s Lake Urmia provide the fittingly surreal setting for director Mohammad Rasoulof’s mesmerizing fable. "I've come to listen to people’s heartaches and take away tears," says an old boatman as he rows among the gray waters and white salt...Watch Movie
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Alice
When Alice follows the White Rabbit into Wonderland, so begins this dream expedition into the astonishing landscape of childhood, through many dangerous adventures, and ultimately to Alice's trial before the King and Queen of Hearts. Czech animator Jan Svankmajer has created a masterpiece of...Watch Movie
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The Clowns
Federico Fellini's fascination with the circus and the surreal come to a head in one of his final masterpieces, THE CLOWNS. The film reflects Fellini's childhood obsession with clowns and begins with a young boy watching a circus set up from his bedroom window. Though comical and referred to as a...Watch Movie
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The Strange Case of Angelica
A beguiling film from master filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira, THE STRANGE CASE OF ANGELICA is a magical tale of a young photographer who falls madly in love with a woman he can never have (except in his dreams). Late one night, Isaac is summoned by a wealthy family to take the...Watch Movie
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The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins
Seven comic episodes adapted from one of the most read books in the world, the Bible. Each episode highlights one of the seven deadly sins and a hilarious comeuppance for the sinner. This comic portmanteau stars the cream of British talent and is written by one of Britain's...Watch Movie
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L'assenza
By chance, a man sees his double in an Italian film of the early 1960s. Fascinated, he returns to see the film again and again, only to find the images changing with every viewing. Becoming addicted to his own image, he travels to Paris for another encounter with his doppelganger. In the...Watch Movie
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The Iron Crown
A deadly tournament for a princess' hand, a mystic "golden deer," babies switched at birth, a raised-by-lions quasi-Tarzan; everything but the proverbial kitchen sink was thrown into this extravagant fantasy adventure. Loin-clothed foundling Arminio (Massimo Girotti) leaves the jungle he grew up...Watch Movie
