Derren Brown – Fear and Faith (Part 2): religious conversion on tap in episode
Derren Brown and Simon Dinsell, “Derren Brown – Fear and Faith (Part 2)” (2012) In this second episode of “Fear and Faith”, UK hypnotist / skeptic…
nausika
Derren Brown – Fear and Faith (Part 1): health warning is needed for this manipulative series on the placebo effect
Derren Brown and Simon Dinsell, “Derren Brown – Fear and Faith (Part 1)” (2012) In this two-part series, UK hypnotist and skeptic Derren Brown investigates the…
Gibel’ Sensatsii / Loss of Feeling: good-looking film about robots and workers versus capitalists
Aleksandr Andriyevsky, “Gibel’ Sensatsii / Loss of Feeling” (1935) A very handsome-looking film made in 1935, “Gibel’ Sensatsii” is sometimes also known as “The Robots of…
The Death Ray: early Soviet silent with plenty of action, skulduggery and even some poetic film-making
Lev Kuleshov, “The Death Ray / Luch Smerti” (1925) A silent Soviet action thriller that starts with a workers’ revolt in a factory which is crushed…
TGFOP or not TGFOP: a talk on black tea at The Tea Centre
“Tea and Conversation with David Lyons: Black Tea” at The Tea Centre, Sydney, 10 November 2012 After that talk on green tea back in September, I was…
Derren Brown – The Heist: an experiment on conformity and deference to authority and self-help twaddle
Derren Brown and Benjamin Caron, “Derren Brown – The Heist” (2006) Under the pretence of training a group of middle-level managers in a corporate workshop on…
Derren Brown – Apocalypse (Part 2): heavily staged and predictable post-apocalypse experiment
Derren Brown and Simon Dinsell, “Derren Brown – Apocalypse (Part 2)” (2012) Second and final part of a mini-series in which Brown conducts an experiment on…
Derren Brown – Apocalypse (Part 1): clever if daft and stagey experiment hides some sober truths
Derren Brown and Simon Dinsell, “Derren Brown – Apocalypse (Part 1)” (2012) A cleverly staged if at times daft and rather too cinematic experiment in which…
French and French-language Films
Thérèse Desqueyroux (dir. Georges Franju): a skilfully made psychological study of much emotional depth
Georges Franju,” Thérèse Desqueyroux” (1962) A remake of this film with Audrey Tautou as the titular character was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012…
French and French-language Films
Judex (dir. Georges Franju): an affectionate, light-hearted homage to Louis Feuillade and silent films
Georges Franju, “Judex” (1963) A remake of the Louis Feuillade 1916 mini-series about the mystery masked crusader Judex (Latin for “judge”), Georges Franju’s film is said…