Brink of Life: sympathetic and unromantic 1950’s investigation of pregnancy and childbirth
Ingmar Bergman, “Brink of Life” (1958) Even in these supposedly more “liberal” times when no topic seems taboo to speak about openly, a director, male or…
Yossi and Jagger: potentially good film needs bulking up in plot, theme and characters
French and French-language Films
The 400 Blows: excellent existential film of young adolescent search for understanding
Francois Truffaut, “The 400 Blows” (1959) This debut feature film by director Francois Truffaut is a very affecting one. By the standards of its time (1950’s),…
Alien: Resurrection (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet): more a lame rehash than a revival
Jean-Pierre Jeunet, “Alien: Resurrection” (1997) The idea behind this movie was to give new life to the Alien movie franchise but despite some interesting ideas about…
American Psycho (dir. Mary Harron): compelling satire on Wall Street society
Mary Harron, “American Psycho” (2000) Based on the Brett Easton Ellis novel of the same name, “American Psycho” is a satirical survey of the people working at…
4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days: intelligent look at friendships under strain in a brutal mercenary society
Crisitan Mungiu, “4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days” (2007) A bleak and often heartbreaking offering from young Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, this movie about a…
Andrei Rublev: multi-layered film about art, faith and taking creative risks
Andrei Tarkovsky, “Andrei Rublev” (1966) Loosely based on the life of the eponymous 15th century Russian icon painter, “Andrei Rublev” examines the relationship of an artist…
Alien 3 (dir. David Fincher): potentially interesting psych horror / slasher flick in space is a mess
David Fincher, “Alien 3” (1992) At least in this third episode in the Alien series, people finally figured out a new original way of killing the…
Hitchcock gives plenty of “Rope” in excellent interior murder mystery
Alfred Hitchcock, “Rope” (1948) Adapted from a play by Patrick Hamilton and based on an actual murder case in which two young men strangled a teenage…
Nang Nak: ghost horror story of a love that transcends death and passage of time
A very moving and emotional story of a love that endures beyond death and time. A farmer fights in a war and leaves his pregnant wife at home. After a long recuperation from wounds and injuries, he returns to find his wife and newborn happy and safe ... not knowing that they are actually ghosts. The village endeavours to tell him the truth but his wife's ghost becomes angry and brings terror and death to the villagers.