A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
British Films, West African Films
Biyi Bandele, “Half of a Yellow Sun” (2013) Adapted from the eponymous novel, written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, by playwright / director Biyi Bandele, this film…
British Films, Multi-media Presentations
Ivan McKee / Business for Scotland, “Economic Case for an Independent Scotland (Part 2)” (The Glad Cafe, Shawlands, Glasgow, 26th Nov 2013) In the run-up to…
Jonathan Mostow, “Surrogates” (2009) “Surrogates” has an interesting sci-fi concept with potential for philosophical speculation about the nature of being and reality in the style of…
British Films, Russian and Soviet Films
George Galloway and Gayatri Pertiwi, “Sputnik: Orbiting the World with George Galloway (Episode 17)” (RT.com, 8 March 2014) I haven’t been following this weekly series of…
Australian and New Zealand Films, Southeast Asian Films
Bety Reis and Luigi Acquisto, “A Guerra da Beatriz / Beatriz’s War” (2013) A major first in the post-independence culture of Timor-Leste, “Beatriz’s War” is a…
Latin American Films (Spanish language)
Fabián Bielinsky, “El Aura / The Aura” (2005) While promoting this film, Fabián Bielinsky died from a heart attack so “El Aura” and “Nueve Reinas / Nine Queens”,…
French and French-language Films
Roman Polanski, “Frantic” (1988) For a film proclaiming itself “Frantic”, this suspense thriller is surprisingly cool, calm and collected as it follows its hapless protagonist doctor…
Hayao Miyazaki, “The Wind Rises / Kaze tachinu” (2013) Miyazaki’s swansong film is a fictional biography of aeroplane designer and engineer Jiro Horikoshi, creator of the…
Alfred Hitchcock, “Topaz” (1969) Coming towards the tail-end of a long and illustrious career in film direction, this Cold War spy thriller is one of two…
Lars von Trier, “Dogville” (2003) First in a series of films on American culture from Lars von Trier’s own rather idiosyncratic viewpoint, “Dogville” is a minimalist…