A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Kihachiro Kawamoto “Tabi (The Trip)” (1973) Very striking little animation piece, reminiscent of an extended Monty Python cartoon piece, “The Trip” looks quite simple and has…
Ryuhei Kitamura, “Aragami” (2003) The Japan Foundation Office across the road from where I work put on a week’s worth of Japanese films during the April…
French and French-language Films
Georges Méliès, “Le Voyage dans la Lune” (1902) Delightful short film, the first science fiction film and the first film to feature animation as well as…
Ivan Maximov, “Provincial School” (1992) Amusing little animated short, running at under five minutes, about a most unusual country school where the kids resemble foetuses of…
Jan Svankmajer, “Jabberwocky / Zvahlav aneb Saticky Slameneho Huberta” (1971) Inspired by the Lewis Carroll poem of the same name, and which it dispenses with early…
Latin American Films (Spanish language)
Luis Buñuel, “The Exterminating Angel / El ángel exterminador” (1962) So far everything I have seen of Luis Buñuel has been supremely first class and “The Exterminating…
Alexander Petrov, “Rusalka” (1996) Often referred to as “The Mermaid” in English, though mermaids and Russian rusalki are quite different creatures, this is a very beautiful…
Larry Jordan, “Our Lady of the Sphere” (1969) An intriguing and colourful film, “Our Lady of the Sphere” is based on the Bardo Thodol, a Tibetan…
Suzan Pitt, “Asparagus” (1979) A stunning and very colourful film short with a distinct animation style reminiscent of old cartoons from the 1930s, “Asparagus” is an…
French and French-language Films
Walerian Borowczyk, “Les Jeux des Anges” (1964) So far the strangest film I have seen from Borowczyk, “Les Jeux …” at first doesn’t appear to have…