A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Derren Brown and Simon Dinsell, “Derren Brown – Apocalypse (Part 1)” (2012) A cleverly staged if at times daft and rather too cinematic experiment in which…
French and French-language Films
Georges Franju,” Thérèse Desqueyroux” (1962) A remake of this film with Audrey Tautou as the titular character was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012…
French and French-language Films
Georges Franju, “Judex” (1963) A remake of the Louis Feuillade 1916 mini-series about the mystery masked crusader Judex (Latin for “judge”), Georges Franju’s film is said…
Hanneke van Ravenswaay and Ben Jurna, “Moral Dilemma … Can Ethics Help?” (1998) This episode of “The Examined Life” investigates a moral dilemma faced by a…
French and French-language Films
Jean-Pierre Melville, “Le Samouraï” (1967) A beautiful and seductive film that spawned many imitators, of which some like John Woo’s “The Killer” also became cult flicks,…
D Zyuz’kov, Natalia Yurchenko documentary (1984) A curious little 20-minute gem on Youtube, this Soviet television documentary about the gymnast Natalia Yurchenko, made about the time…
John Allman, “Is Ethics based on Virtue?” (1998) Part of a series “The Examined Life” which brings theories of ethics to bear on contemporary life, this…
Julie Taymor, “Frida” (2001) A very pretty and colourful film on the life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907 – 1954), “Frida” plays the artist’s life…
Derren Brown and Simon Dinsell, “Derren Brown – The Experiments: The Secret of Luck” (2011) Now for his next trick … in this final episode of…
Derren Brown and Simon Dinsell, “Derren Brown – The Experiments: The Guilt Trip” (2011) In this rather creepy episode, the third in a 4-part series, Derren…