A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Australian and New Zealand Films
Gillian Armstrong, “Women He’s Undressed” (2015) Hollywood could not have dreamt up a more classic story of the country boy who finds his home town and…
Akira Kurosawa, “High and Low” (1963) Most movies based on pulp crime / police procedural novels rarely exceed their pulpy inspirations but legendary Japanese director Akira…
French and French-language Films
Luis Buñuel, “That Obscure Object of Desire” (1977) Between two full buckets of cold water that the main characters dump on each other unfolds (for the…
Review of Films I’ve seen in 2016 Dear Under Southern Eyes Readers, Another year gone and another round-up of the most interesting films seen in 2016!…
Australian and New Zealand Films
Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan, “The Lost Thing” Adapted from co-director Shaun Tan’s picture book written for children, the beguiling “The Lost Thing” seems a very…
Hideaki Anno, Masayuki, Kazuya Tsurumaki, “Evangelion: 1.11 – You Are (Not) Alone” Since the original “Neon Genesis Evangelion” anime series aired on TV over two decades…
Middle Eastern Films, Northern European Films
Floor van der Meulen, Thomas Vroege, Issa Touma, “9 Days – From My Window in Aleppo” (2016) Filmed over nine days (hence the title) in August…
Nagisa Oshima, “Ai no korida / In the Realm of the Senses” (1976) Forty years ago this film was made and it still has the power…
Thomas Vinterberg, “Festen” (1998) “Festen” remains the best-known and most mainstream of the various films made under Dogme 95 movement rules. Even if audiences no longer…
John Lee Hancock, “The Founder” (2016) How do you make an engrossing film about a character who is essentially unlikeable, a predator who steals others’ ideas…