Citizen Kane: interesting film but it privileges style over substance
Orson Welles, “Citizen Kane” (1941) Notwithstanding its tag as America’s greatest film or the world’s greatest film – usually bestowed by American film critics, of course!…
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance: disturbing film about vengeance and how it distorts humanity in a warped society
Park Chanwook, “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance” (2005) “… Lady Vengeance” is the third of South Korean director Park Chanwook’s revenge-themed movie trilogy that began with “Sympathy…
Citizen Dog: comedy with one-dimensional heroes and disappointing plot
Wisit Sasanatieng, “Citizen Dog” (2004) Living in Australia with its huge Hollywood fixation, even though Hollywood’s output of films has declined a lot since the Global…
To Catch A Thief: there’s fluff and then there’s fluff, Hitchcock-style
Alfred Hitchcock, “To Catch A Thief” (1955) A clever light-hearted comedy crime caper set in southern France, this was one of Grace Kelly’s last films before…
Superego and Id meet slapstick in Oristrell’s breathless “Unconscious”
Joaquin Oristrell, “Unconscious” (2004) An amusing and vivacious romance comedy set in Barcelona, 1913, “Unconscious” starts off as a search, possibly whodunnit, mystery and winds up…
Empire of Passions: pedestrian story saved by beautiful visuals and psychological character study
Nagisa Oshima, “Empire of Passions” (1978) By coincidence, when I saw this film the first time early in 2010, I had just finished reading “Therese Raquin”,…
Throne of Blood: a fine film let down by truncated plot and mostly sketchy characters
Akira Kurosawa, “Throne of Blood” (1957) Often referred to as an adaptation of the Shakespearean play, “Macbeth”, this historical drama by Kurosawa is a fine film…
Fair Game: Naomi Watts wastes her time as an unappealing good-girl CIA agent
Doug Liman, “Fair Game” (2010) Picture Source: Melinda Sue Gordon for Warner Bros Pictures, www.hollywoodchicago.com A few weeks ago (early December 2010), I went to a…
French and French-language Films
Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran: easy-going road trip with lessons on life and living
François Dupeyron, “Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran” (2003) This is an easy-going coming-of-age story based on a novel of the same name set in…
German and German-language Films