A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
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…
Takashi Miike, “Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai” (2011) As this is a Takashi Miike film, this flick has the requisite blood-letting shock factor to satisfy Miike’s…
Chinese and Chinese-language Films
Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, “Confession of Pain” (2006) Ain’t no bad time like Chinese New Year for a police officer to come home one night…
Sidney Hayers, “The Avengers (Season 5, Episode 15: The Joker)” (1967) Oops! As Steed (Patrick Macnee) excitedly races down the staircase to greet Peel (Diana Rigg)…
British Films, North American Films
Christopher Nolan, “The Prestige” (2006) Rather fussy if good-looking film about duplicity and duplications, duelling and an all-consuming devotion to one’s art, “The Prestige” is a…
Australian and New Zealand Films
John Hillcoat, “The Proposition” (2005) A gritty and visually stunning film essay on the combined effect of nineteenth-century British imperialism and Victorian mores, colonialism and a…
French and French-language Films
Philippe Grammaticopoulos, “The Bellies / Les Ventres” (2009) Delightful short film inspired in part by Rene Laloux’s animated work, “The Bellies” features a simple story about…
Pedro Almodóvar, “The Skin I Live In / La Piel Que Habito” (2011) Georges Franju’s sci-fi horror classic “Eyes without a Face” was overdue for a remake…
Lars von Trier, “Medea” (1988) Originally made for TV and with a script based on that other famous Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer’s adaptation of Euripides’s play “Medea”, this…
Italian and Italian-language Films
Pier Paolo Pasolini, “Medea” (1969) This film will always be a personal favourite of mine for its exploration of a human society and the kind of woman…