Film Reviews
A Ghost of a Chance
Saturday, November 26th, 2011 Film Reviews,With some films box office success owes as much to timing as to the intrinsic qualities of actors, directors or cinematographers. I don’t mean genre pictures made for the Christmas market, but those rare films that capture the spirit of the times. Frank Capra’s movies did this in the 1930s and 40s, with their parables […]
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Saturday, November 19th, 2011 Film Reviews, Other Writing,Contrary to popular belief, this is not a film in which Tilda Swinton plays Julia Gillard, with John C. Reilly as Bill Shorten. That particular episode in Australian political history was a horror movie that has not yet run its course. We Need to Talk About Kevin is less than two hours of concerted horror, […]
Bill Cunningham New York
Saturday, November 12th, 2011 Film Reviews, Other Writing,There are many occasions in this film when one begins to wonder: “Is Bill Cunningham actually, clinically, mad?” Never in the course of a human life-time has so much energy and enthusiasm been expended on a subject that many would regard as trivial, superficial or blatantly commercial – the fashion industry. After watching this documentary […]
Autoluminescent
Saturday, November 5th, 2011 Film Reviews, Other Writing,“I was a nightmare, but I’m not gonna go there again..” sings Rowland S. Howard in the plaintive song that gives this documentary its title. We never quite see the nightmarish side, but Howard was a long-term heroine user and few addicts are known for their charm and savoir faire. He was an addict ergo […]
Norwegian Wood
Saturday, October 29th, 2011 Film Reviews,Norwegian Wood will do nothing to dispell the popular preconception that Japanese films are obsessed with sex and death. It is a long, slow, intense story about a young student, Watanabe (Ken’ichi Matsuyama), and his relationship with a disturbed girl, Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi – the schoolgirl from Babel). It is a tale saturated in melancholy, […]
Midnight in Paris
Saturday, October 22nd, 2011 Film Reviews, Other Writing,Long before Woody Allen was known as a successful movie director, he did stand-up comedy routines. These were collected on an LP record that I recall listening to in my teens. The most memorable sketch was about spending time in Paris with Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. Allen’s latest film, Midnight in Paris, may be seen […]
Red State
Saturday, October 15th, 2011 Film Reviews, Other Writing,After watching Red State, the first impulse is to sit back and ask: “What was that all about?” While this is a film that appears to have a message, it’s not an easy one to decipher. Perhaps the only thing that comes through clearly is that the United States is a terrible place beset with […]
Page One: Inside the New York Times
Saturday, October 8th, 2011 Film Reviews,Think of the New York Times and Tom Wolfe’s acqueous description in The Painted Word comes quickly to mind: “that great public bath, that vat, that spa, that regional physiotherapy tank, that White Sulphur Springs, that Marienbad, that Ganges, that River Jordan for a million souls”.. a daily ritual immersion in news and commentary – […]
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Saturday, October 1st, 2011 Film Reviews,Whatever one thinks of Werner Herzog, it has to be admitted that he has a grandiloquent way with titles. Even Dwarves Started Small (1970) is hard to beat. In Australia in 1984, he made the peculiar – and pretty dreadful – film, Where the Green Ants Dream. His 1992 documentary on the oil fires burning […]
A Quiet Life
Saturday, September 24th, 2011 Film Reviews, Uncategorized,Of all the national film festivals held every year in this country, the Italian Film Festival is second only to the French in both magnitude and popularity. 2011 is the twelfth anniversary of this event, which according to the publicity release includes: “31 new Italian films, including 29 features and 2 documentaries, plus 3 cult […]