A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Carol Reed, “The Third Man” (1949) Here’s an excellent movie character study about the testing of loyalties and trust in a world that’s just come out…
Georgiy Kropachyov and Konstantin Yershov, “Viy” (1967) A rare 1960s Soviet film in the horror genre, “Viy” is more Gothic fairy tale than a straight horror…
Renny Harlin, “5 Days of War” aka “5 Days of August” (2011) Directed by Renny Harlin and financed by the Georgian government, this drama is a…
Vladimir Chebotaryov and Gennady Kazansky, “Chelovek-Amfibiya” aka “Amphibian Man” (1962) An unusual science fiction / fantasy / romance of a doomed love affair combined with a…
Akira Kurosawa, “Rashomon” (1950) For this film, director Kurosawa used a blend of two short stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, “Rashomon” and “In a Grove”, the latter…
Mitsuyo Seo, “Momotaro’s Divine Sea Warriors” (1945) Japan’s first full-length animated movie is a World War II propaganda film aimed at children and centred around a…
Joel Coen, “Fargo” (1996) A kidnap plot cooked up to save a car salesman’s hide going awry through sheer bad luck, incompetence and stupidity is the…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Wan Guchan and Wan Laiming, “Princess Iron Fan” / “Tian Shan Gong Zhu” (1941) This retelling of a Chinese folk tale “Journey to the West” featuring…
Yevgeny Sherstobitov, “The Andromeda Nebula” (1967) Based on a novel “Andromeda: a Space-Age Tale” by Ivan Efremov, this is a very visually striking film about the…
Alan J Pakula, “Klute” (1971) Ostensibly a crime thriller about a prostitute who assists a small-town private investigator in a missing-person case, this film is better…