A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Edmund Elias Merhige, “Begotten” (1989) A remarkable student film that explores Christian and pre-Christian creation / fertility / life cycle myths, “Begotten” was inspired by a…
David Blair, “Finding the Telepathic Cinema of Manchuria” (2010) After finishing “WAX or the Discovery of Television among the Bees”, director David Blair set about picking…
Charlie Deaux, “Zoetrope” (1999) Based on my favourite Franz Kafka short story “In the Penal Colony”, this is a stunning-looking short piece about a man’s last…
Lars von Trier, “Medea” (1988) Originally made for TV and with a script based on that other famous Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer’s adaptation of Euripides’s play “Medea”, this…
Robinson Devor, “Zoo” (2007) Based on the case of a Boeing employee who died from a perforated colon while being anally penetrated by a horse in…
Italian and Italian-language Films
Pier Paolo Pasolini, “Salò or the 120 days of Sodom” / “Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma” (1975) Grim and harrowing to watch but an…
Italian and Italian-language Films
Pier Paolo Pasolini, “Medea” (1969) This film will always be a personal favourite of mine for its exploration of a human society and the kind of woman…
Katerina Kitidi and Aris Hatzistefanou, “Debtocracy” (2011) Made on the cheap, this is a passionate and compelling documentary about the current Greek financial crisis, how it…
Adam Curtis, “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (Episode 3: The Monkey in the Machine and the Machine in the Monkey)” (2011) Final installation…
Todd Haynes, “Superstar: the Karen Carpenter Story” (1987) Using Barbie and Ken dolls to play the main characters in miniature sets specially made for this film…