A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Peter Greenaway, “The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover” (1989) Straight away viewers can tell there’s much more simmering away in this story about a…
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…
Noboru Iguchi, “Dead Sushi” (2012) In the tradition of wacky Japanese comedy horror flicks comes this little number that takes a bizarre concept (bloodthirsty monster sushi)…
German and German-language Films
Wim Wenders, “Der Amerikanische Freund / The American Friend” (1977) Based on the novel “Ripley’s Game” by Patricia Highsmith, “The American Friend” is at once a…
Tim Burton, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (2007) US film director Tim Burton has long been fascinated with non-conformists and outsiders, especially those…
Kim Kiduk, “Pieta” (2012) This tale of dark revenge centres around a class of people at the bottom-feeding end of the capitalist social hierarchy pyramid, those…
Ingmar Bergman, “The Virgin Spring / Jungfrukällan” (1960) Perhaps not so celebrated as “The Seventh Seal”, this morality tale on the nature of humanity, the remoteness…
Toshiya Fujita, “Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance / Shurayukihime: Urami Renga” (1974) At the end of the first eponymous film, main character Yuki (Meiko Kaji)…
Toshiya Fujita, “Lady Snowblood / Shurayukihime” (1973) Based on a manga and the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” homage to old 1970s Asian martial arts…
Chanwook Park, “Oldboy” (2003) When I saw this film the first time over a decade ago, I was impressed with its style and colour and the…