A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
French and French-language Films, Northern European Films
Joachim Lafosse, “A Silence” (2024) Smooth, sober and straightforward in its minimal style, this Belgian film delivers its punches hard and heavy in its fictional retelling…
Jang Jaehyun, “Exhuma” (2024) It starts innocently enough when a newborn boy contracts a mystery illness and ends up in intensive care in hospital – but…
Arabic-language Films, Middle Eastern Films
Mohamed Kordofani, “Goodbye Julia” (2023) A morning car accident becomes an unlikely catalyst in a plot that explores the complicated relationship, with all its differences, prejudices…
Michael Mohan, “Immaculate” (2024) The, er, venerable niche horror subgenre known as nunsploitation is revived and refreshed as a vehicle for one young woman’s transformation through…
British Films, North American Films
Rose Glass, “Love Lies Bleeding” (2024) A surprisingly entertaining film, spoilt only by a cartoonish climax of wishful female empowerment in which love, even lesbian love,…
British Films, German and German-language Films
Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest” (2023) As films about the Nazi Holocaust go, “The Zone of Interest” is one of the most disturbing I have…
North American Films, Russian and Soviet Films
[Vladimir Putin’s] Interview to Tucker Carlson (Kremlin, 10 February 2024) Former Fox News journalist / political commentator / writer Tucker Carlson became the first Western reporter…
French and French-language Films
Justine Triet, “Anatomie d’une chute” / “Anatomy of a Fall” (2023) In “Anatomie d’une chute”, the dry courtroom drama format becomes instead a psychological study of…
Danny Haiphong, “Michael Hudson on Russia, Iran and the Red Sea: NATO War Economy Collapses” (Danny Haiphong, 17 January 2024) Danny Haiphong is an independent journalist,…
Kristoffer Borgli, “Dream Scenario” (2023) This psychological fantasy comedy film is as oddball as they come, yet “Dream Scenario”, the first English-language feature film from Norwegian…