A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Multi-media Presentations, North American Films
SCG News, “Flight MH-17 – What You’re Not Being Told” (StormCloudsGathering, 27 July 2014) As the StormCloudsGathering News website says, on 17 July 2014 two significant…
Multi-media Presentations, North American Films
SCG News, “The Odessa Massacre – What REALLY Happened” (StormCloudsGathering, 12 May 2014) It’s only 11 minutes long but this short documentary on the Odessa Trade…
Mark Devries, “Speciesism: the Movie” (2013) As home movies go, few possibly extend very far into the realms of journeys of self-discovery and self-awakening as this…
Errol Morris, “The Thin Blue Line” (1988) Originally intended to be a documentary about another person who appears briefly in the film, “The Thin Blue Line”…
North American Films, Northern European Films
Lars von Trier, “Dancer in the Dark” (2000) Lars von Trier’s one attempt at making a tractor musical is the third and final installment in a…
Gabriela Cowperthwaite, “Blackfish” (2013) It’s as much advocacy journalism as documentary and makes no apologies for aiming at the heart as much as the brain: “Blackfish”…
Eastern European Films, North American Films
Joshua Marston, “The Forgiveness of Blood / Falja e Gjakut” (2010) Hard to believe that even in Europe there are societies where the very new and…
Brazilian Films, North American Films
Hector Babenco, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1985) I had read the Manuel Puig novel of the same name many years ago and found it an…
Shane Carruth, “Upstream Color” (2012) Since making “Primer”, Shane Carruth’s career as film director and producer has definitely leapt ahead. There is still a rough-edged quality…
J Searle Dawley, “Frankenstein” (1910) Made by Edison Studios in 1910, this is the first adaptation of the famous Gothic horror novel by Mary Shelley onto…