A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Lindsay Anderson, “O Lucky Man!” (1973) A satirical allegory that exposes life in Western capitalist society and the values and beliefs needed to survive successfully in…
Ken Russell, “Savage Messiah” (1972) Idiosyncratic British director Ken Russell’s “Savage Messiah” is a fictional biographic drama of the short life of French artist and sculptor…
British Films, North American Films
Rupert Goold, “Judy” (2019) Adapted from Peter Quilter’s musical stage drama “End of the Rainbow”, this bio-pic covers the last twelve months of Hollywood film legend…
British Films, Russian and Soviet Films
Leo Mattei, Johnny Miller, “The Tragedy of Russia’s Reforms” (PressTV, 2017) Made for the Iranian news channel PressTV, this measured documentary turns out to be a…
Tom Barbor-Might, “Nazi Quest for the Holy Grail” (2013) Of the mish-mash of strange and bizarre ideas, beliefs, pseudo-science and superstitions that were subsumed into Nazi…
Ian Barber, “Father Brown (Episode 29: The Truth in the Wine)” (2015) Being laid up with flu recently restricted me to watching re-runs of old TV…
Trevor Nunn, “Red Joan” (2019) Adapted from the novel of the same name which as the film acknowledges is based on the real-life case of Melita…
British Films, North American Films
Dexter Fletcher, “Rocketman” (2019) Rather than playing as a straight biopic – a template that felled “Bohemian Rhapsody” – this comedy drama portraying the life and…
Rhys Thomas, “The Great Pretender” (2012) The public fascination with the shy Parsi Indian boy born in a British colonial backwater in Zanzibar in 1946, who…
Mike Leigh, “Peterloo” (2018) Made just before the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester in August 1819, when British cavalry troops and foot soldiers…