The Land Beyond the Sunset: a very moving and thoughtful film on achieving happiness and peace
Harold M Shaw, “The Land Beyond the Sunset” (1912) Made in 1912 – the same year in which the Titanic set sail for its fateful meeting…
Fantasy
The Beautiful Leukanida: early animated fable of love, jealousy, war and annihilation in an insect universe
Wladyslaw Starewicz, “The Beautiful Leukanida / Prekrasnaya Lyukanida” (1912) In a long career spanning some 55 years in stop-motion puppet animation, Russian-Polish animator Wladyslaw Starewicz produced…
French and French-language Films
The Mascot: a puppet dog’s mission of self-sacrifice results in an amazing masterpiece of stop-motion animation
Wladyslaw Starewicz, “The Mascot / Fétiche Mascotte ” (1933) An amazing and brilliant short work of stop-motion animation, “The Mascot” is one of several masterpieces made…
Tales from Earthsea: a fantasy film lacking in sparkle and wonder
Goro Miyazaki, “Tales from Earthsea / Gedo senki” (2006) Watching this film, gorgeous as it is visually, I couldn’t help but feel that it’s a classic…
Over Your Dead Body: an extreme, almost cartoon-ish horror ghost film homage where life imitates art
Takashi Miike, “Over Your Dead Body” (2014) From the incredibly prolific director Takashi Miike, who never met a film genre he couldn’t make an insanely extreme…
Steppenwolf: a stodgy and soporific adaptation of a cult counter-culture novel
Fred Haines, “Steppenwolf” (1974) There was a period in the 1960s when this 1927 novel was the darling of the psychedelic counter-culture in the United States,…
Formulaic coming-of-age heroic fantasy blends with Thai Buddhist beliefs in “The Legend of Muay Thai: 9 Satra”
Pongsa Kornsri, Gun Phansuwon, Nat Yoswatananont, “The Legend of Muay Thai: 9 Satra” (2018) Not known for its animation industry, Thailand nevertheless seems to be pinning…
Your Name: teenage romance comedy drama comes with an unexpected twist sending it into disaster sci-fi fantasy
Makoto Shinkai, “Your Name” (2016) At first this teenage romance drama seems to be just as sappy and sentimental as any other such film – especially…
On Body and Soul: a quiet and quirky character study / romance drama founders on a thin and manipulative plot
Ildiko Endelyi, “On Body and Soul / Teströl és lélekröl ” (2017) A quirky romance drama on the universal human desire for connection with others, and the struggles…
German and German-language Films
Faust: a visually stunning film with many magnificent scenes – but a thin story weakens it
F W Murnau, “Faust” (1926) Visually powerful and stunning, with an incredible opening scene of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding high in the sky,…