A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
“Formation of a State” (NovorossiyaTV.com, 24 August 2014) After capturing a group of neo-Nazi fascists fighting for the Poroshenko regime in Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk National…
German and German-language Films
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, “Lili Marleen” (1981) An unhappy tale of thwarted love, Fassbinder’s “Lili Marleen” plays hard and fast with its original source material, a biography…
John Frankenheimer, “The Manchurian Candidate” (1962) At some point during the Korean War in 1952, a platoon of American soldiers is betrayed by their Korean interpreter who…
British Films, West African Films
Biyi Bandele, “Half of a Yellow Sun” (2013) Adapted from the eponymous novel, written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, by playwright / director Biyi Bandele, this film…
Australian and New Zealand Films, Southeast Asian Films
Bety Reis and Luigi Acquisto, “A Guerra da Beatriz / Beatriz’s War” (2013) A major first in the post-independence culture of Timor-Leste, “Beatriz’s War” is a…
Hayao Miyazaki, “The Wind Rises / Kaze tachinu” (2013) Miyazaki’s swansong film is a fictional biography of aeroplane designer and engineer Jiro Horikoshi, creator of the…
Francis Ford Coppola, “Apocalypse Now (Redux)” (2001) The actual plot is very basic: sometime during the Vietnam War – a newspaper clipping on Charles Manson’s trial…
Rob Ager, “The War on Bugs” (2012) Researched, written, edited and narrated by Rob Ager, this documentary examines the themes of the science fiction film “Starship…
Middle Eastern Films, Russian and Soviet Films
“The Syrian Diary” (Rossiya 24, 2013) Made for Russian television, this documentary follows Rossiya 24 reporter Anastasia Popova and a Syrian army unit she is attached…
French and French-language Films
Jean Renoir, “The Grand Illusion” (1934) Jean Renoir’s film is a moving meditation on war and its effects on the traditions of early twentieth century European…