A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
French and French-language Films
Rebecca Zlotowski, “Vie Privée” (“A Private Life”) (2026) Billed as a crime / mystery thriller, this film is best seen as a psychological character study revolving…
French and French-language Films
Louis Garrel, “L’Innocent” (2022) A very clever comedy combining romance and a heist plot, “L’Innocent” works thanks to the excellent performances of its four lead actors…
James Kennedy, “CTRL Z” (2017) Cats may have nine lives but the characters in this very funny sci-fi romantic comedy end up having nearly 4,800 lives…
Billy Wilder, “Some Like It Hot” (1959) Astonishingly this classic Hollywood slapstick comedy still holds up well more than 60 years after its release. The jokes…
Daniel Sorochkin, “Check Please” (2015) A man, Ben (Bryan Manley Davis), takes his girlfriend Laura (Amelia Brain) to evening dinner at a swish restaurant, planning to…
Australian and New Zealand Films
Tony Tilse, “Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears” (2020) Filmed as an addition to the television series about the 1920s flapper / private detective Phryne…
Ben Rock, “Future Boyfriend” (2016) Adapted from a play written by A Vincent Ularich for a science fiction theatre festival, of which its full-length romantic comedy…
Ryan Turner, “A Date in 2025” (2017) Goofy teenage romantic comedy about a socially awkward and self-conscious young man meets insidious panopticon nanny-state, courtesy of artificial…
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…
Wladyslaw Starewicz, “The Cameraman’s Revenge” (1912) A deftly crafted and delightful animation short, this silent film comments on human foibles as performed by realistic insect puppets…