A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Errol Morris, “Tabloid” (2010) Errol Morris’s documentaries fall into two camps: a serious one (“Fog of War”) and one of portraits of eccentric individuals dominated by…
Jesper Huor and Bosse Lindquist, “WikiRebels” (2010) Made for Sveriges Television AB (SVT), this documentary traces the rise of Wikileaks, the global non-profit media organisation that…
Adam Curtis, “The Way of All Flesh” (1997) As told in this fascinating documentary, the story of Henrietta Lacks – or rather, that of her cancer…
Adam Curtis “The Living Dead (Episode 2: You have used Me as a Fish long enough)” (1995) Curtis sure doesn’t do things by halves and his “The…
Adam Curtis, “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (Episode 1: Love and Power)” (2011) A curious and challenging visual essay, the first in a…
Ignacio Cerdà, Ethan Jacobson, Francisco Stohr, “The Awakening” (1991) This 8-minute short is the first of three films forming a trilogy about death and how we…
French and French-language Films
Denis Dercourt, “The Page Turner” / “La Tourneuse de Pages” (2006) A cool, elegant psychological study of revenge, this film will certainly speak to a lot…
Stephen K Tsuchida, “A Ninja Pays Half my Rent” (2002) Hilarious student short about finding the perfect room-mate (which could be extended to include the perfect…
French and French-language Films, German and German-language Films
Orson Welles, “The Trial” / “Le Procès” (1962) This film is a visually striking adaptation of the famous Franz Kafka novel. Welles’s directorial approach tries to…
French and French-language Films, North American Films
Pierre Coffin, “Pings” (2 shorts, 1997) Ralph Eggleston, “For the Birds” (2000) Dony Permedi, “Kiwi!” (2006) All four films are about birds obviously but they’re also about…