A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
French and French-language Films
Marcel Duchamp, “Anémic Cinéma” (1926) Here’s an intriguing 7-minute animated film that consists of a sequence of spiralling patterns, either of actual spirals or concentric circles…
French and French-language Films
René Clair, “Entracte” (1924) This film’s title derives from its originally being an interlude between two acts of a ballet. Director Clair deliberately sought to make…
French and French-language Films
Louis Feuillade, “Les Vampires (Part 10: Les Noces Sanglantes)” (1916) Some time after the events of Part 9, star reporter Phillipe Guérande and Jane Bertonnier have…
French and French-language Films
Louis Feuillade, “Les Vampires (Part 9: L’homme des Poisons)” (1916) With the death of Satanas, a new Grand Vampire, Venomous, a chemist with expertise in concocting…
French and French-language Films
Louis Feuillade, “Les Vampires (Part 8: Le Maître de la Foudre)” (1916) Skipping a couple of episodes of this crime-thriller serial, I arrive at Episode 8…
French and French-language Films
Georges Méliès, “Le Voyage dans la Lune” (1902) Delightful short film, the first science fiction film and the first film to feature animation as well as…
French and French-language Films
Louis Feuillade, “Les Vampires (Part 5: L’évasion du Mort)” (1916) This time in the serial, the crooked businessman Juan José Moreno (Fernand Herrmann) plays the leading role…
French and French-language Films
Louis Feuillade, “Les Vampires (Part 2: La Bague qui tue)” (1915), “Les Vampires (Part 4: Le Spectre)” (1916) Here be two further episodes in which investigative…
French and French-language Films
Louis Feuillade, “Les Vampires (Part 1: La tête coupée)” (1915) First episode in a ten-part serial about a gang of criminals called Les Vampires and the…
Suzan Pitt, “Asparagus” (1979) A stunning and very colourful film short with a distinct animation style reminiscent of old cartoons from the 1930s, “Asparagus” is an…