A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
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”,…
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…
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
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
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Lu Chuan, “Kekexili: Mountain Patrol” (2004) Not often that you come across a film bearing a strong conservation message combined with a package of stunning…
Gareth Edwards, “Monsters”, Vertigo Films (2010) Some time in the not too distant future, a NASA space probe has gone and collected some alien…
Kim Jiwoon, “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” (2010) An affectionate homage to Sergio Leone’s spaghetti / paella Westerns of the 1960’s, this Korean riff on…
Marc Forster, “The Kite Runner” (2006) Based on a best-selling novel by Afghan writer Khaled Hosseini, this is a picturesque film of childhood friendship that for…
Alfred Hitchcock, “Rear Window” (1954) From the days when Hollywood occasionally made films that featured rich sub-text and challenged audiences to question their role as viewers comes this…