A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Larry Charles, “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” (2006) Using the narrative form of a naif travelling in a foreign…
Ridley Scott, “Blade Runner” (1982) The curious thing with this movie is that as it recedes back in time – 2012 will be its 30th anniversary!…
Curtis Hanson, “L.A. Confidential” (1997) Based on the novel by James Ellroy and named after an actual 1950’s magazine which focussed on celebrity scandal, “L.A. Confidential”…
German and German-language Films
G W Pabst, “Pandora’s Box” (1929) On its cinematic release, this German movie garnered little attention for its American star Louise Brooks in her home country…
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…
French and French-language Films
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),…
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…
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…
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…