A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
French and French-language Films, North American Films
Pierre Coffin, “Pings” (2 shorts, 1997) Ralph Eggleston, “For the Birds” (2000) Dony Permedi, “Kiwi!” (2006) All four films are about birds obviously but they’re also about…
Sally Cruikshank, “Quasi at the Quackadero” (1975) Here’s a great little cartoon about a mismatched couple, Anita and Quasi, living in a science fantasy future and…
German and German-language Films
Chris Stenner, Arvid Uibel and Heidi Wittlinger, “Das Rad” / “The Wheel” aka “Rocks” (2003) Made with a mix of stop-motion and computer-generated styles of animation…
Australian and New Zealand Films, British Films
Paul Campion, “Night of the Hell Hamsters” (2005), “Eel Girl” (2008) Film shorts are a flexible medium for telling particular kinds of stories or expressing ideas…
Vasily Zhuravlov, “The Space Voyage” / “Kosmicheskiy reys: Fantasticheskaya Novella” (1936) In the 1930s, the youth branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, usually…
Chuyen Bui Thac, “Living in Fear” / “Song trong so hai” (2005) It’s mid-1975, the war has ended and the Americans have gone, and the North…
Tommy Wirkola, “Dead Snow” (2009) For laughs, gore and stunning mountain scenery you can’t go past zombie comedy flick “Dead Snow” but there isn’t much else…
French and French-language Films
Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde, “C’est arrive près de chez vous” (“It could happen in your neighbourhood”) aka “Man Bites Dog” (1992) Made by four…
Hatoshi Matsumoto, “Symbol” (2009) A slapstick comedy about interrelationships and the impact one person can have on events around the world, “Symbol” is the second full-length…
Anders Banke, “Frostbiten” (2006) ‘Tis a Swedish vampire movie that begins with a shot of the night sky against which light snow is seen falling softly…