A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Italian and Italian-language Films
Bruno Bozzetto, “Allegro Non Troppo” (1976) A spoof of and tribute to Walt Disney’s famous “Fantasia” film, “Allegro Non Troppo” is noteworthy mainly for its six…
Dony Permedi, “Pony” (2006) “Pony” is a short animated film made by Permedi as an undergraduate college project with the subversions of everyday life and student…
Hayao Miyazaki, “Spirited Away” (2001) In many ways, “Spirited Away” represents the peak of Studio Ghibli’s creativity and innovation, and the beginning of its decline as a creator…
Charlie Kaufmann and Duke Johnson, “Anomalisa” (2015) Not often does a film come along that encapsulates in its appearance and format its themes of human alienation,…
Riho Unt and Hardi Volmer, “Sõda” (1987) It has the look of a political satire disguised as an animal fable and I would say that the…
Riho Unt, “Kapsapea / A Cabbage” (1993) A stop-animation parody of action adventure films like the Indiana Jones movie series, “Kapsapea” revolves around the travails of…
Hayao Miyazaki, “The Wind Rises / Kaze tachinu” (2013) Miyazaki’s swansong film is a fictional biography of aeroplane designer and engineer Jiro Horikoshi, creator of the…
Elísabet Ýr Atladóttir, “Memoria” (2013) A creepy psychological character study, “Memoria” is very depressing to watch. The single protagonist, Vincent, is a young alcoholic and drug…
Bo Mathorne, “The Backwater Gospel” (2011) In a total running time of just over nine minutes, this raw and stark animation is a superb comment on…
Tomek Baginski, “The Kinematograph” (2009) Here is a bittersweet story of a lone inventor labouring to produce the first moving picture with sound and colour only…