A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
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…
Noboru Iguchi, “Dead Sushi” (2012) In the tradition of wacky Japanese comedy horror flicks comes this little number that takes a bizarre concept (bloodthirsty monster sushi)…
Kenji Mizoguchi, “Ugetsu” (1953) Two interwined morality plays about peasants blinded by thoughts of personal fame and glory are the basis for an exploration of love,…
Stanley Kubrick, “The Shining” (1980) In most directors’ hands, a Stephen King horror novel of a family disintegrating under the impact of the husband / father’s…
German and German-language Films
Tommy Tykwer, “Lola rennt / Run Lola Run” (1998) A mundane plot set in Berlin about a young couple who have to replace a stash of…
British Films, Russian and Soviet Films
John Pilger, “Secret World of the US Election: Julian Assange Talks to John Pilger” (RT.com, October 2016) One famous Australian journalist talking to another famous Australian…
Tadashi Imai, “Yuki: Snow Fairy” (1981) In the hands of Tadashi Imai, notable as a director of social realist films in Japan in the 1950s /…
British Films, French and French-language Films
Christian Volckman, “Paris 2054: Renaissance” (2006) A glossy animated style of minimal black-and-white presentation, emphasising detail, mood and atmosphere in a future Paris governed by corporations…
Essays, Multi-media Presentations
Vladimir Putin’s Valdai Speech at the XIII Meeting (Final Plenary Session) of the Valdai International Discussion Club (Sochi, October 2016) As is his usual custom, Russian…