A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
French and French-language Films, Middle Eastern Films
Ari Folman, “The Congress” (2013) Partly based on Stanislaw Lem’s novel “The Futurological Congress”, in which the central character suffers from both delusional and actual mental…
French and French-language Films
Chris Marker, “Sans Soleil” (1983) Picture yourself receiving a letter from a long-time friend who has been living and travelling for many years in Japan, Iceland…
French and French-language Films
Luis Buñuel, “That Obscure Object of Desire” (1977) Between two full buckets of cold water that the main characters dump on each other unfolds (for the…
Thomas Vinterberg, “Festen” (1998) “Festen” remains the best-known and most mainstream of the various films made under Dogme 95 movement rules. Even if audiences no longer…
French and French-language Films
Frédéric Doazan, “Supervenus” (2013) This 3-minute debut effort for writer / director Frédéric Doazan is a devastatingly critical comment on modern standards of female beauty as they have…
Guy Maddin, “My Winnipeg” (2007) An unusual blend of memoir, documentary and dark fantasy, Guy Maddin’s “My Winnipeg” probably does more to promote his home city,…
Todd Browning, “Freaks” (1932) A unique cult film of the kind that can be said to be the only film of its genre – outsider film,…
French and French-language Films
Luis Buñuel, “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie / Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie” (1972) This comedy-of-manners film about six people who constantly make arrangements to…
French and French-language Films
Luis Buñuel, “The Phantom of Liberty / Le Fantôme de la Liberté” (1974) This film might be seen as a snapshot in the life of modern…
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,…