A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Yoshitaro Kataoka, “Danemon’s Monster Hunt at Shojoji / Shojoji no tanuki-bayashi Dan Dan’emon” (1935) While looking for something else on Youtube, I found this uncaptioned short…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
“The War in the Shadows: Challenges of Fighting Terrorism in Xinjiang” (China Global Television Network, 2021) Part of a series of documentaries produced by China Global…
British Films, North American Films
Dominic Cooke, “The Courier” (2020) The story of Greville Wynne, a most unlikely character ever to become a spy for MI6 during the Cold War in…
Carlton Meyer, “Conquering the Middle East” (Tales of the American Empire, 2 April 2021) This episode in Carlton Meyer’s long-running “Tales of the American Empire” series…
James Kennedy, “CTRL Z” (2017) Cats may have nine lives but the characters in this very funny sci-fi romantic comedy end up having nearly 4,800 lives…
Sandun Seneviratne, Charlie Bray, “Vikaari” (2020) Cunningly disguised as a TV current affairs article / mini-documentary, complete with different styles of filming including videotaping, this short…
André Øvredal, “Tunnelen” (2016) Even something as seemingly innocuous and commonplace as driving to the seaside – and then getting stuck in peak-hour traffic on the…
Sadie Rogers, “How is This the World” (2019) Starting out almost as a gritty film noir crime thriller, this short film transforms into a music video…
Australian and New Zealand Films, North American Films
Brooke Goldfinch, “Red Rover” (2015) In less than 15 minutes, “Red Rover” explores very minimally in a character-driven study the reactions of individuals and a community…
Hyunsuk Kim, “Pinki” (2018) Initially looking like a Korean mash-up of Neil Blomkamp’s “District 9” and “Chappie” with The Transformers film series and Joonho Bong’s “The…