A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
German and German-language Films
Wim Wenders, “Wings of Desire” (1987) A romantic fantasy about an angel who yearns to be human becomes a meditation on the nature of physical being…
Nigel Cole, “Made in Dagenham”, BBC Films / UK Film Council (2010) Much in the vein of other British comedy-dramas that revolve around social and…
Debra Granik, “Winter’s Bone” (2010) Source: www.mirror.co.uk Meet Ree Dolly: she’s a 17-year-old girl caring for her severely depressed mom and two younger siblings, Sonny and Ashlee, on…
Akira Kurosawa, “Ran” (1985) “Ran” (“Chaos” or “Revolt”) was Kurosawa’s last attempt at creating and filming an epic historical drama set in Japan’s Kamakura period when feudal…
Robert Bolano, “Nazi Literature in the Americas” (translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews), Picador, ISBN 978-0-330-51388-3 (2010) You might have feared that an alarmingly titled…
French and French-language Films
Andre Techine, “La fille du RER (The Girl on the Train)”, Strand Releasing (2009) Not a bad drama but I couldn’t quite see the point of…
French and French-language Films
Jacques Tati, “Playtime”, Madman Cinema / The AV Channel, DVD (1967) Source: www.lauradors.com Said to have been the most expensive movie made in…
French and French-language Films
Luis Buñuel, “Belle de Jour” (1967) It’s got a trashy premise – a rich doctor’s wife “plays” at being a prostitute for a few hours each…
Matt Reeves, “Let Me In”, Hammer Films / Overture Films (2010) Once upon a time about 25 years ago in a small town somewhere in Reagan-era America, there was…
Rodrigo Cortes, “Buried” (2010) For a one-trick pony in which the trick is one man stuck in a wooden box buried 2 metres underground, this is…