High and Low: a crime thriller of downfall and redemption, and a plea for compassion for material and spiritual suffering
Akira Kurosawa, “High and Low” (1963) Most movies based on pulp crime / police procedural
French and French-language Films
That Obscure Object of Desire: a tale of sexual obsession in a society falling apart through its hypocrisy and violence
Luis Buñuel, “That Obscure Object of Desire” (1977) Between two full buckets of cold water
Review of Films I’ve seen in 2016
Review of Films I’ve seen in 2016 Dear Under Southern Eyes Readers, Another year gone
Australian and New Zealand Films
The Lost Thing: a multi-layered children’s story that critiques industrial society
Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan, “The Lost Thing” Adapted from co-director Shaun Tan’s picture book
A pointless rehash of a low budget TV series in “Evangelion: 1.11 – You Are (Not) Alone”
Hideaki Anno, Masayuki, Kazuya Tsurumaki, “Evangelion: 1.11 – You Are (Not) Alone” Since the original
Middle Eastern Films | Northern European Films
9 Days – From My Window in Aleppo: an ordinary documentary short with little to say and leaving too many unanswered questions
Floor van der Meulen, Thomas Vroege, Issa Touma, “9 Days – From My Window in
In the Realm of the Senses: two lovers pursuing happiness and freedom in a repressive society
Nagisa Oshima, “Ai no korida / In the Realm of the Senses” (1976) Forty years
Festen: a rich film skewering Danish society and social hypocrisy, and delivering redemption
Thomas Vinterberg, “Festen” (1998) “Festen” remains the best-known and most mainstream of the various films
The Founder: a fictional character study calling into question the American Dream and how it enables control and exploitation
John Lee Hancock, “The Founder” (2016) How do you make an engrossing film about a
Dead Sushi: wacky comedy horror film takes pot-shots at corporate culture and greed, and food obsessions
Noboru Iguchi, “Dead Sushi” (2012) In the tradition of wacky Japanese comedy horror flicks comes