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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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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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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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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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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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 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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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 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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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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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
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Absurdistan
Welcome to ABSURDISTAN, a small village in the high desert mountains, just on the outskirts of reality, where magical visions and bizarre events fuse together. The village is facing a water shortage, but the men are too lazy to fix a rickety pipeline and the women are getting fed up with their...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 War Game
Two grade-school-aged boys play with cap guns in an apartment complex. As their fun gets increasingly rough, one of the "toys" turns out to look suspiciously like a real revolver and the "game" grows increasingly dangerous. This visually accomplished meditation on violence, sans any spoken...Watch Movie
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Tales of the Valley of the Wind
Filmmaker Damon Packard lifts the underlying themes and several of the characters from Hayao Miyazaki's NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND (and the manga upon which it was based) and puts them to remarkable use. Sword fights, sorcery and the usual chaotic hybrid of influences...Watch Movie
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Evening Land
"In October 1975, I was invited by Stig Björkman, a Swedish filmmaker in charge of production for the Danish Film Institute, to begin research on a feature film which was to be funded chiefly by the Institute and two private producers, Steen Herdel and Ebbe Preisler. Together with Danish...Watch Movie
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I am Jesus Christ
Jesus is back on Earth at Christmas only to find it’s become less about him and more about Santa and presents. Undaunted, he takes a job as a "Store Santa" to get the true meaning of Christmas out to the kids. But the modern world is no place for an out-of-touch savior. Can...Watch Movie
