A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Latin American Films (Spanish language)
Cristina Gallego, Ciro Guerra, “Birds of Passage / Pájaros de Verano” (2018) In many ways, this film tells a classic tale of individuals from poor backgrounds…
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…
Quentin Tarantino, “Jackie Brown” (1997) Of the early films directed by Quentin Tarantino that have achieved cult status, perhaps the jewel of them all is this…
Italian and Italian-language Films
Giuliano Carnimeo, “The Case of the Bloody Iris” (1971) Known also as “What are those Strange Drops of Blood on Jennifer’s Body?”, this flick is representative…
Australian and New Zealand Films
Daniel Nettheim, “The Hunter” (2011) Based on the novel by Julia Leigh, “The Hunter” is both a mystery thriller and a journey of self-discovery and redemption…
Werner Herzog, “My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?” (2009) In this film, based on an actual incident, director Werner Herzog pursues his life-long fascination…
French and French-language Films
Michael Haneke, “Caché / Hidden” (2005) An imaginative if overly layered thriller about a couple threatened by an unseen and unknown stalker, Michael Haneke’s “Hidden” is…
Latin American Films (Spanish language)
Ana Piterbarg, “Todos tenemos un Plan / Everybody has a Plan” (2012) Ah, don’t we love films about identical twin brothers turning on themes of identity,…
French and French-language Films, German and German-language Films
Jean-Jacques Annaud, “The Name of the Rose” (1986) Based on Umberto Eco’s novel of the same name, this film is a very good if underrated adaptation…
Andrew S Allen, “The Thomas Beale Cipher” (2010) Unusual collage-type animated film that’s based on the legend about the three cypher-texts that supposedly reveal the location…