A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Kang Woosuk, “Silmido” (2003) Apparently based on actual incidents, this epic film ought to have been just a straightforward “Dirty Dozen” action film with a sketchy…
Italian and Italian-language Films
Sigfrido Ranucci and Maurizio Torrealta, “Fallujah, the Hidden Massacre” (2005) This 27-minute film plays like an extended news or current affairs report: it originally aired on…
David Wojnarowicz and Tommy Turner, “Where Evil Dwells” (1985) Loosely based on an actual American court case in which 17 year old youth Ricky Kasso killed…
French and French-language Films
Eric Darmon, Franck Mallet, “Pierre Henry, or the Art of Sounds” (2006) A so-so documentary about the French experimental music pioneer, Pierre Henry, who with his mentor…
Matt O’Casey, “Queen: Days of our Lives (Part 2)” Contrary to my expectations, knowing something of the band’s history, I found the second part of the…
Matt O’Casey, “Queen: Days of our Lives (Part 1)” (2011) To mark the 40th anniversary of a beloved British rock music institution, the BBC made this…
Kenneth Anger, “Rabbit’s Moon” (started 1950: long version 1972, short version 1979) Based on a Japanese myth about a rabbit on the moon, this film comes…
Kenneth Anger, “Fireworks” (1947) Quite a remarkable debut film this is from a 17-year-old Kenneth Anger which is a coming-of-age piece recreating a dream he had:…
David M Edwards, “Sprawling from Grace, Driven to Madness” (2008) Stumbled across this very pertinent documentary on the consequences of Western societies’ dependence on cars as…