Tag: drama
Gemma Bovery
Saturday, May 30th, 2015 Film Reviews,Emma Bovary is one of the most enduring characters in world literature, but many would argue no screen adaptation has ever captured the spirit of Flaubert’s masterpiece – even with directors as distinguished as Jean Renoir, Vincente Minnelli and Claude Chabrol. Within a few months there will be a new Madame Bovary, directed by Sophie […]
A Royal Night Out
Saturday, May 23rd, 2015 Film Reviews,“God save the Queen. She ain’t no human bean!” sang Johnny Rotten in the Jubilee year of 1977. “Oh yes she is,” say the makers of A Royal Night Out – a movie designed to convince us the British Royal Family are not only human but adorable. For director, Julian Jarrold, this film is even […]
Clouds of Sils Maria
Friday, May 15th, 2015 Film Reviews,Clouds of Sils Maria is not a title to attract teenage thrill-seekers on a Friday night. Those with a philosophical bent may know this was the town in the Swiss Alps where Friedrich Nietzsche went to breathe the mountain air and wrestle with his concept of the Eternal Return. Since the days of Aristophanes philosophers […]
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
Saturday, May 2nd, 2015 Film Reviews,To get the most out of Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter it helps to have seen Fargo – the Coen brothers’ movie of 1996, not the TV series. One of the loose ends in that film was a briefcase full of money left buried in the snow by a hapless Steve Buscemi. As the credits roll […]
The One Eyed Girl
Saturday, May 2nd, 2015 Film Reviews,It’s becoming tautologous to say “a disappointing Australian film.” While I never expect a masterpiece, it would be nice to find a local movie that manages to cover more than a narrow slice of the emotional spectrum. The usual bill of fare ranges from angst to misery and back again. A disproportionate number of new […]
Testament of Youth
Saturday, April 25th, 2015 Film Reviews,Lest we forget it’s Anzac Day here’s another movie about the First World War, albeit far from the shores of Gallipoli. Testament of Youth is based on the war-time memoirs of Vera Brittain (1893-1970), first published in 1933, 15 years after the end of hostilities. Having begun the project as a novel Brittain struggled with […]
The Age of Adaline
Saturday, April 25th, 2015 Film Reviews,Anyone who is still meditating on the fragility of life after watching Testament of Youth, may not be in the most receptive mood for The Age of Adaline. The story concerns a woman named Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) who is permanently fixed at the age of 29 due to a freak – and utterly unconvincing […]
While We’re Young
Saturday, April 18th, 2015 Film Reviews,We all know the story of the fan that secretly hungers to supplant his or her idol. Look no further than All About Eve (1980), one of Hollywood’s finest moments. Noah Baumbach, the son of two film critics, can be relied upon to know all about this movie, and countless others. He also seems to […]
Mommy
Saturday, April 11th, 2015 Film Reviews,Mommy is every mother’s horror movie. The story begins with a single mum crashing her car while on the way to collect a son who is being expelled from a special needs school. He has, apparently, set fire to a kitchen and put another boy in hospital. When the son arrives on the scene, ecstatic […]
X + Y
Saturday, April 11th, 2015 Film Reviews,You’ve probably seen him in Hugo (2011), Martin Scorsese’s sole foray into the ‘young adult’ genre. Asa Butterfield is now 17, and much taller, although this doesn’t mean he has escaped the frail and sensitive roles. In Morgan Matthews’s X + Y, Butterfield plays the second disturbed child to be seen at the movies this […]