British Films | North American Films
Tenet: beneath the gloss and sci-fi gibberish, a banal plot with flat characters appears
Christopher Nolan, “Tenet” (2019) For an example of how not to make a blockbuster sci-fi
Hanyo / The Housemaid (dir. Kim Ki-young): a delirious melodrama critical of Western culture and Confucian traditions
Kim Ki-young, “Hanyo / The Housemaid” (1960) Delirious and overwrought in its soap-opera melodrama, this
Oppenheimer: intriguing character study / legal drama on the use and misuse of power
Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer” (2023) Aside from all the Hollywood fanfare fluff surrounding its release, Christopher
Hollywood tries to squeeze blood out of the stone that is “Kong: Skull Island”
Jordan Vogt-Roberts, “Kong: Skull Island” (2017) An example of how post-2000 Hollywood is squeezing as
Australian and New Zealand Films
Storm Boy: a film of unusual friendships and the cycle of life
Henri Safran, “Storm Boy” (1976) A moody and melancholy film, ostensibly about a lonely boy
Bram Stoker’s Dracula: a lavish and surreal film skirting over social issues in Western society now and in the 1890s
Francis Ford Coppola, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992) A visually lavish and often surreal presentation, Francis
The Miseducation of Cameron Post: a sketchy work on psychological abuse and repression in a gay conversion centre
Desiree Akhavan, “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” (2018) Set in 1993, this coming-of-age drama follows
French and French-language Films
Un Beau Matin: a realist meditation on mortality, memory, loss and the love and beauty that endure
Mia Hansen-Løve, “Un Beau Matin” / “One Fine Morning” (2022) One fine morning in Paris
British Films | North American Films
SPECTRE: behind a gritty and stylish front, old Bondian stereotypes return
Sam Mendes, “SPECTRE” (2015) As James Bond films go, “Spectre” looks gritty and stylishly in
French and French-language Films
Saint Omer: dry legal drama on dysfunctional parent-child relationships and the struggles of migrants in an alien culture
Alice Diop, “Saint Omer” (2022) At first presenting as a dry courtroom drama cum psychological