A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Victor Alonso-Berbel, “Perfectly Natural” (2018) No aliens, monsters, paranormal events or denizens of Hell or the 25th dimension abound here but this 12-minute short is as…
French and French-language Films
Simon Duong Van Huyen, Joel Durand, Thibault Leclercq, Valentin Lucas, Andrei Sitari, “Hors de l’eau” (2018) A very well-made short film combining animation with some live…
French and French-language Films
Nicholas Olivieri, Shen Yi, Juliana De Lucca, Varun Nair, David Feliu, “Best Friend” (2019) In the not-so-distant future, a lonely unnamed man find solace in a…
British Films, Russian and Soviet Films
Leo Mattei, Johnny Miller, “The Tragedy of Russia’s Reforms” (PressTV, 2017) Made for the Iranian news channel PressTV, this measured documentary turns out to be a…
French and French-language Films
Ines Scheiber, Jules Durand, Julien Becquer, Elena Dupressoir, Viviane Guimaraes, “Memo” (2017) A very touching film on Alzheimer’s disease and its impact on sufferers’ daily lives,…
Bill Tytla, “Little Audrey – Tarts and Flowers” (1950) Part of a series of cartoons about a cute kindergarten-aged girl called … well, what else? ……
Sid Marcus, “The Mad Hatter” (1940) Mocking the faddish nature of women’s fashions, this animated short can be surprisingly critical of the nature of everyday work…
Laura Neuvonen, “The Last Knit” (2005) Technically this digital animated short is well done but the very simple plot of a woman addicted to knitting a…
Dave Fleischer, “All’s Fair at the Fair” (1938) Best known for their Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons, US animators Max and Dave Fleischer occasionally made animated…
Harold M Shaw, “The Land Beyond the Sunset” (1912) Made in 1912 – the same year in which the Titanic set sail for its fateful meeting…