Other Writing
Ecstasy
Saturday, April 28th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting was one of the more orginal films of 1996. It was a powerful insight into the drug scene, a slab of grimy Scottish realism, and the first time many people saw that talented actor, Ewan McGregor. The film was based on a novel by cult author, Irvine Welsh, who enjoyed a brief […]
Footnote
Saturday, April 28th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,A story about two professors of Talmudic studies may not sound the most promising scenario for a night at the movies, but Joseph Cedar’s Footnote, which was nominated for an Oscar this year, will surprise the sceptics. While it is hard to believe, even in Israel, that a Talmudic scholar could become a public intellectual, […]
German Film Festival
Saturday, April 21st, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,That old injunction from Fawlty Towers – “Don’t mention the war!” – is no longer relevant. Nowadays the German film industry is mentioning the war at every opportunity. The game-breaker was probably Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Downfall of 2004. After a movie devoted to Hitler’s last days in the bunker, there was nothing that might prove more […]
The Deep Blue Sea
Thursday, April 12th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,It wouldn’t be a Terence Davies film without a singsong, or several singsongs. In Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), the bleak, powerful, autobiographical movie that brought the director to worldwide attention, the singing took on a ritualistic dimension. Every time the Liverpool locals sang, one felt a few more nails had been hammered into the […]
A Dangerous Method
Thursday, April 12th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,When a film is based on a play called The Talking Cure, it is only to be expected there will be a lot of chat, with relatively few scenes of animatronic monsters and bloodthirsty vampires. Nevertheless, in these days when even Sherlock Holmes has become a Kung Fu hero, one learns to expect anything. It […]
This Must Be the Place
Saturday, April 7th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,Sean Penn has had more dynamic roles, but he can hardly have played a weirder character than Cheyenne, a living relic of the post-punk era, complete with porcupine hairdo, lipstick, and the kind of eyeshadow usually found on Egyptian tomb paintings. Think of Robert Smith from the Cure. When Cheyenne talks, he enunciates every word […]
Le Havre
Saturday, April 7th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,Some films are too good to be saddled with that paralysing epithet, “heart-warming”. One thinks of smiling, rosey-cheeked children, poor but honest parents, perhaps a loveable old codger, and a dog. Aki Kaurismaki’s Le Havre has the dog, it has the salt-of-the-earth characters, but it also has a vein of surreal humour that never allows […]
Goodbye, First Love
Saturday, March 31st, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,Goodbye First Love is one of those films that will polarise its audience in terms of personality. If you are a type A Alpha male, you will most probably find this tale of young love and lost innocence to be unbearably slow and insipid. If you are the sensitive type B, you may be charmed […]
Margin Call
Saturday, March 31st, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,Margin Call is a small drama about a very big topic: the ongoing exercise in wealth creation and global domination that is Wall Street. It has a fine ensemble cast and the compact atmosphere of a chamber opera played out during one long night in a Manhattan office block. For writer-director, J.C.Chandor, who had previously […]
In Search of Haydn
Saturday, March 24th, 2012 Film Reviews, Other Writing,“Anybody can see just by looking at me that I’m a nice sort of fellow,” said Joseph Haydn. Indeed, one could tell simply from listening to the playful first bars of his Piano Sonata No. 56 in D major. Only a nice fellow could write that. The impression of niceness is reinforced by every talking […]