A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Jindrích Polák, “Ikarie XB-1” (1963) A compelling early 1960’s science fiction gem from the old Czechoslovakia is this lavish effort by Polák that details the day-to-day…
French and French-language Films
René Clair, “Paris qui dort” (1925) An amusing and light-hearted moral fable about what would happen if individuals suddenly had unfettered freedom to do what they…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Johnnie To, “Exiled” aka “Fong Juk” (2006) Set in Macau territory just before its return by Portugal to China in 1998, this gangster film is a…
French and French-language Films
Chris Marker, “La Jetée” aka “The Jetty’ (1962) Unusual in its use of still black-and-white photography to tell its story of time travel, this short movie…
Pavel Klushantsev, “Planeta Bur’ ” aka “The Planet of Storms” (1962) In the early 1960’s Soviet space exploration was focussed on sending probes and eventually manned…
John Schlesinger, “Midnight Cowboy” (1969) Over forty years ago when this movie was released, it was seen as gritty and ground-breaking but these days “Midnight Cowboy”…
Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo Sapeña, “Fermat’s Room” (2009) Three brilliant mathematicians and an inventor, each already having solved a difficult problem, are invited to dinner together…
Alfred Hitchcock, “Marnie” (1964) Not a bad psychological thriller / character study of a compulsive kleptomaniac with deep-seated fears and flashback memories, this film is very…
Hi all, Just done a rough count of every movie I’ve reviewed from the start of January to the end of June and I figured I’ve…
Roman Polanski, “Repulsion” (1965) A good psychological character study of a young woman suffering mental illness and falling apart while alone and isolated in her sister’s apartment, “Repulsion”…