A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Sergei Parajanov, “Ambavi Suramis Tsikhitsa” / “The Legend of Suram Fortress” (1986) “The Legend of Suram Fortress” is based on an old Georgian folk tale as…
Sergei Parajanov, “The Color of Pomegranates (Sayat Nova)” (1969) A true labour of love, this film is a meditation on the life of the Armenian poet…
David Cronenberg, “Crash” (1996) Based on the eponymous 1973 novel by J G Ballard, this film can be viewed as a companion to it rather than…
Alfred Hitchcock, “Number 17” (1932) It has many of the ingredients of a typical Hitchcock suspense thriller film but “Number 17” is merely a daft and confusing…
Australian and New Zealand Films, Eastern European Films
Ben Ferris, “Penelopa” aka “Penelope” (2009) Lovely to look at but beautiful, almost abstract scenes of nature and long circular panning shots that lovingly savour the…
Wanuri Kahiu, “Pumzi” (“Breath”) (2009) Just over 20 minutes long, this movie short from Kenya is set in a post-apocalyptic future where a global war has rendered the…
Alfred Hitchcock, “Rich and Strange” aka “East of Shanghai” (1931) One of a group of films Hitchcock made in his lean early-1930’s period – the others include…
Alfred Hitchcock, “Waltzes from Vienna” (1934) What’s this? – a musical comedy about Johann Strauss II and his waltz “The Blue Danube” by Alfred Hitchcock? The…
French and French-language Films
Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde, “C’est arrive près de chez vous” (“It could happen in your neighbourhood”) aka “Man Bites Dog” (1992) Made by four…
German and German-language Films
Ivan Engler, “Cargo” (2009) Debut full-length directorial feature for Ivan Engler, “Cargo” is a bloodless effort set in the distant future when the Earth has become…