A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Simon Napier-Bell, “George Michael: Portrait of an Artist” (2022) For a documentary whose narrative is based completely on interviews with people who knew or were acquainted…
Clarke Tolton, “Metal from the Dirt” (2018) Unfortunately like other documentaries I have seen on underground heavy metal, Clarke Tolton’s documentary on the underground heavy metal…
British Films, North American Films
Dexter Fletcher, “Rocketman” (2019) Rather than playing as a straight biopic – a template that felled “Bohemian Rhapsody” – this comedy drama portraying the life and…
Rhys Thomas, “The Great Pretender” (2012) The public fascination with the shy Parsi Indian boy born in a British colonial backwater in Zanzibar in 1946, who…
German and German-language Films
Sarah Vianney, “Botswana’s Heavy Metal Queens” (2018) Despite the title, the heavy metal queens of Botswana featured in this Deutsche Welle documentary aren’t musicians and there’s…
French and French-language Films
Gaspar Noe, “Climax” (2018) In the hands of Argentine-French director Gaspar Noe, a story about a group of young dancers hired to be part of a…
Bryan Singer, “Bohemian Rhapsody” (2018) Astonishingly, given the rich source material and the fact that so many people are knowledgeable (or fancy themselves to be) about…
David Leitch, “Atomic Blonde” (2017) I confess I had very low expectations of this spy action thriller film. I was pleasantly surprised that the acting was…
Australian and New Zealand Films
?, “David Bowie Iconic” (2016) From the packaging, I thought this DVD was supposed to be a documentary about the British rock / pop legend but…
John Cameron Mitchell, “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” (2001) A feisty little number showcasing John Cameron Mitchell as a director, actor, scriptwriter and singer, “Hedwig and…