Steppenwolf: a stodgy and soporific adaptation of a cult counter-culture novel
Fred Haines, “Steppenwolf” (1974) There was a period in the 1960s when this 1927 novel was the darling of the psychedelic counter-culture in the United States,…
nausika
Formulaic coming-of-age heroic fantasy blends with Thai Buddhist beliefs in “The Legend of Muay Thai: 9 Satra”
Pongsa Kornsri, Gun Phansuwon, Nat Yoswatananont, “The Legend of Muay Thai: 9 Satra” (2018) Not known for its animation industry, Thailand nevertheless seems to be pinning…
5 Centimetres per Second: an insubstantial trilogy on the fleeting nature of youthful love, hope and desire
Makoto Shinkai, “5 Centimetres per Second” (2007) As with his “Your Name”, Makoto Shinkai’s earlier “5 Centimetres per Second” is a teenage romance based around desire,…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
The World: a slow and meandering narrative reveals a rich world of hope, pain and tragedy behind superficial capitalist glamour
Jia Zhangke, “The World” (2004) In future years, this film, long and meandering though it is, may well be regarded as an early masterpiece in Jia…
No Date, No Signature: a traffic collision leads to an investigation of class conflict and an unsympathetic bureaucracy in a gritty realist drama
Vahid Jalilvand, “No Date, No Signature” (2017) A chance encounter between two characters who would never have met otherwise becomes an examination of class conflict in…
French and French-language Films
Back to Burgundy: a family melodrama beset by cliches and stereotypes blessed by a celebration of viticulture
Cedric Klapisch, “Back to Burgundy / Ce qui nous lie” (2017) An otherwise rather ho-hum family melodrama of sibling jealousies featuring some rather obvious narrative cliches…
Your Name: teenage romance comedy drama comes with an unexpected twist sending it into disaster sci-fi fantasy
Makoto Shinkai, “Your Name” (2016) At first this teenage romance drama seems to be just as sappy and sentimental as any other such film – especially…
Foxtrot: a meditation on loss, grief and the circularity of indifference, suffering and brutality
Samuel Maoz, “Foxtrot” (2017) Divided into three parts, with the first and third parts dominated by the same actors and sharing the same setting (an apartment),…
NYC to Donetsk & back: an American visitor discovers a new nation in the making in eastern Ukraine
Alexander Korobko, “NYC to Donetsk & back” (Russian Hour, 2018) Made in 2017 or 2018, or some time after the death of Mikhail Tolstykh aka Givi…
Rams: a minimal but insubstantial film on the fragility of family and community ties and traditions against the outside world
Grimur Hakonarson, “Rams / Hrutar” (2015 Forty years ago, a family rift led to two brothers in an Icelandic sheep-farming family going their separate ways, splitting…