Money as Debt: global finance and banks explained in easy-going and colourful documentary
Paul Grignon, “Money as Debt” (2006) While looking for something else on Youtube.com, I found this very informative video on how the modern US banking system…
nausika
Overdoing the satire and toilet humour in “Team America: World Police”
Trey Parker, “Team America: World Police” (2004) A silly and puerile satire on American society, culture, the nature of power and the celebration of style over…
Code of samurai honour and Japan under Tokugawa shoguns under superficial examination in “Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai”
Takashi Miike, “Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai” (2011) As this is a Takashi Miike film, this flick has the requisite blood-letting shock factor to satisfy Miike’s…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Confession of Pain: glossy tale of vengeance long-planned with an implausible plot
Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, “Confession of Pain” (2006) Ain’t no bad time like Chinese New Year for a police officer to come home one night…
Obey: important message about 21st century corporate fascism is obscured by fast narrative, tricky visual imagery and annoying music
Temujin Doran, “Obey” (2012) Initially this documentary promised to be an inquiry into the rise of corporatism as the dominant ideology in the West during the…
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God – depravity, denial and abuse of power in Catholic paedophilia scandal
Alex Gibney, “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God” (2012) No matter what narrative or other devices are used to tell or illustrate an…
Cabaret: fine performances undermined by weak plot and underdeveloped themes
Bob Fosse, “Cabaret” (1972) Loosely based on a Broadway play and a 1950s film which in turn were based on two novellas by British writer Christopher…
French and French-language Films
Augustine: period drama struggles under weighty issues of psychology, women’s sexuality and misogyny
Alice Winocour, “Augustine” (2012) In the early years of the twentieth century in France, the ambitious Professor Charcot (Vincent Lindon) runs a hospital for female patients…
Sun, Sea & Satan: highly impassioned and uncompromising film exposing child abuse, political corruption and an unhealthy society
Bill Maloney, “Sun, Sea & Satan” (2008) A highly impassioned film on child abuse in a care home in Jersey, one of the Channel Islands in…
Night Fishing: delving into the world of Korean shamanism and spirituality with an Apple iPhone 4
Park Chan-kyong, Park Chan-wook, “Night Fishing / Paranmanjang” (2011) Filmed using an Apple iPhone4, this fantasy-horror film delves into the little understood world of Korean shamanism…