Sleep Tight My Baby: one take is all it takes for an effective horror short
Pansu Kim, “Sleep Tight My Baby” (2001) Very devastating film about a teenage girl trapped with a baby and quarrelling parents filmed in one continuous take; much…
French and French-language Films, German and German-language Films
Carnage: comedy of no-manners patronises Americans and diminishes its audiences
Roman Polanski, “Carnage” (2011) Not one of his better efforts due to the nature of the original play but then again, a comedy from Polanski is…
The Century of the Self (Episode 4: Eight People sipping Wine in Kettering): too much focus on politics, not enough on culture and society
Adam Curtis, “The Century of the Self (Episode 4: Eight People sipping Wine in Kettering)” (2002) Final episode in this 4-part documentary series brings the penetration…
The Century of the Self (Episode 3: There is a Policeman inside all Our Heads – He must be Destroyed): a stroll through an amusement park of curious cultural fads and trends
Adam Curtis, “The Century of the Self (Episode 3: There is a Policeman inside all Our Heads – He must be Destroyed)” (2002) The third installment in Curtis’s…
The Century of the Self (Episode 2: The Engineering of Consent): the use of psychoanalysis as tool for social control
Adam Curtis, “The Century of the Self (Episode 2: The Engineering of Consent)” (2002) This episode continues Curtis’s investigation of the ways in which Freudian psychoanalysis…
Coriolanus: an examination of a simple man and his place in a duplicitous and corrupt society
Ralph Fiennes, “Coriolanus” (2011) When I was 28 years of age, a mysterious Shakespeare-reading frenzy seized me and before I knew what I was doing, I had…
Kony 2012: is this film astroturfing for a US invasion of eastern Africa?
Jason Russell, “Kony 2012” (2012) Having heard about nothing else but this 30-minute feature going viral across Youtube and various social networking sites, I determined to…
French and French-language Films
Le Voyage dans la Lune: delightful and charming film about space travel
Georges Méliès, “Le Voyage dans la Lune” (1902) Delightful short film, the first science fiction film and the first film to feature animation as well as…
The Century of the Self (Episode 1: Happiness Machines): the rise of consumerism, passivity and other anti-democratic forces
Adam Curtis, “The Century of the Self (Episode 1: Happiness Machines)” (2002) Finally after much nagging by a friend in London, I got around to watching…
Provincial School (dir. Ivan Maximov): freaky school where the pupils get the better of the teacher
Ivan Maximov, “Provincial School” (1992) Amusing little animated short, running at under five minutes, about a most unusual country school where the kids resemble foetuses of…