Almost similar to a French 'Zodiac'. It focuses on the frustration of a team of detectives trying to solve the horrific murder of a young girl in France. The tension of the group boils over and the acting by the whole cast is extremely good.
It's very well directed by Dominik Moll who made the excellent 'Only the Animals' in 2019, but sort of runs out of steam in the final act.
7.4/10
Masaki Kobayashi's first film of the 10 hour trilogy is a major achievement in cinema. It is long and gruelling, but worth it. Kaji, a labour camp supervisor is tormented by ethics and morals as he struggles to make the decisions required in wartime. Meanwhile he has just married the love of his life. The ending is particular devastating and there are some quite brutal moments.
I look forward to the next two chapters.
Absolutely brutal fictionalised version of the events in Stalingrad in the early 1940s, where over a million people were killed in the war, starved or froze to death. Not for the squeamish.
Pretty staggered by how good this film is. It's bleak. So very, unrelentingly, unapolagetically bleak. But it's also incredible.
Two brothers with a tragic past and their own struggles reunite after a period of estrangement. The film's themes are mainly parenthood, addiction and loss. So yes, don't watch it if you're not in the mood to have those things thrust upon you. This isn't a linear film. It weaves in timelines in almost the style of a hyperlink film. The exterior shots are soaked in a teal colour to exude a sort of harsh environment experienced by the characters. They try to make amends for their past but end up in worse situations, then the ending happens. Which tore my internal organs in pieces.
Vinterberg's previous films include the excellent 'The Hunt' and 'Festen', and the very average 'Another Round'. Submarino is step above all of them, Perhaps a few steps above them - it is that good. Such a shame that this film is rarely spoken of, I didn't know of it until recently, but will now shout from the rooftops about how amazing it is.
8.6/10
Albert Finney at his contemptuous best. Good British new wave drama with strong 400 Blows vibes.
Lots of funny moments in this film, which I forgot about. It's a surreal take on the absurdity of the Gulf war. Clooney has had alot to say about the slightly unethical methods that director David O Russell undertook, and he seems a bit of a bastard. But it was a fine, if slightly overlong bit of nostalgia.
Smart film from Coppola about gang rivalry. Like Rumble Fish it's based on a novel by S E Hilton - who wrote it when she was just 16! Apparently the book was banned due to it's portrayal of family disfunction, and underage drinking / smoking. The film was mostly trashed by critics on release.
Heck of a cast in this film though - most of whom went on to become megastars (Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, Diane Lane etc). Also beautiful cinematography by Stephen H. Burumwith lots of lovely fades, dissolves and sunset shots.
7.8/10
Very solid Classic epic western, if a little predictable.
Tense Iranian crime thriller. The first chase sequence is gripping.
Payman Maadi (A Separation, About Elly) is convincing as the lead detective trying to catch a drug baron flooding the streets of Tehran with crack and opium. But the standout is Navid Mohammadzadeh who delivers a beast of a performance here, shockingly good.
The film feels a little overlong at the 2 hour mark and gets very shouty in the middle, But it's well crafted and another of those morality tales from Iranian cinema.
7.7/10
Sweet film about ageing and companionship. Presented in a homage to French new wave by Mia Hansen Love - Leah Sedoux resembles Jean Seberg and is outstanding as a single mum trying to deal with her fathers descent into old age.
7.3/10
Hlynur Pálmason's follow up to the excellent 'A White, white day' is Part Bergman, part Dreyer, part Scorsese's Silence, part Icelandic landscape documentary, part The Piano, with the eerie tone of the lighthouse and the visuals of a Mark Jenkin film.
It follows a Danish priest (Elliott Crosset Hove) who is sent to Iceland to set up a church. The journey is extremely tough, and with the help of his guide (the excellent Ingvar Sigurdsson) they try and traverse the harsh Icelandic terrain. The film is presented on a vignette style almost 4:3 aspect ratio which gives it an otherworldly feel, especially when coupled with the beautiful sparse Icelandic vistas. The subplot is that the priest is a keen photographer eager to capture his experiences and those of the people he meets – which is director Pálmason’s idea for the inspiration behind the film. He creates a false narrative that photographs were found that were purportedly taken by the Priest.
The journey descends into chaos, details of which are best left unspoilt in a review, but it’s safe to say the film is one of the best of the year so far.
8.7/10
Another watch of this superb film. This was my initial review 5 years ago and my thoughts haven't changed much:
"A very difficult watch. The troubles of a group of youngsters in a Kurdish refugee camp on the Iraq / Turk border during the US "liberation" of Iraq. One of the most solemn, melancholic movies I've ever seen. It truly captures the horrors of being an isolated, nomadic group of people that have no place in their country, or any country, due to conflict and prejudice. This film has left it's mark on me, and anybody who doesn't "get" why refugees should be housed not hated should regard this as required viewing. One warning: there's not many payoffs here"
Very watchable drama focused on Inez (Teyana Taylor) who kidnaps her son from the foster care system. A.V. Rockwell wrote and directed it and does an extremely good job - considering (I think) it's her first feature. But Teyana Taylor is the stand out - she gives a mesmerizing performance as a mum on the edge who will 'go to war' for her son, Terry.
The story begins in 1994 in New York and the city becomes this sort of sprawling malignant background character as we shift into 2001 then 2005, and with it, we see the changes and struggles that Inez has to overcome just to stay on an even keel and try to make sure Terry doesn't make the same mistakes she did. Some scenes are incredibly moving, mostly down to the superb work of Teyana Taylor.
The film is not without flaws, but for such an ambitious film early in Rockwell's career, she pulls it off well.
7.7/10
Really good film from Canadian filmmaker Kim Ngyuen. A young girl narrates the story of her life as a child soldier in Sub Saharan Africa to the unborn child in her belly.
This has the brutality of 'City of God' and the foundations for 'Beasts of No Nation', which must have taken large inspiration from this film. An Oscar nomination is zero bearing of quality for a film, but normally it means the movie has a blu-ray release at the very least. Not so with 'War Witch' which is quite difficult to track down.
There are moments of real beauty mixed in with the bloodshed of civil war in the un-named African country, and while there is plenty of magical realism and 'did that really happen' elements, it doesn't stray too far from the central message of the tragedy of children at war.
7.8/10
Very bleak Serbian film about a father who walks 300km to Belgrade to try and get his children back from foster care. Shocking opening scene. Very similar to Nuri Bilge Ceylan's output.
Pretty incredible Robert Altman film this one. It's a character study from the point of view of a woman who is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia who is certain her husband is having an affair. It's extremely creepy, the score (by John Williams) is unsettling and Susannah York's central performance is mesmerizing. The couple take a break in the countryside (Shot in County Wicklow, Ireland) and all hell breaks loose.
All the characters are named after other characters real names - which adds to the mystery and duality of it all. It feels like Altman was riffing on his loose script, and the book that the central character is writing is the actual children's book about a unicorn she wrote in real life! Altman just said, that's cool, let's include it in the film.
Images clearly borrows from Bergman's 'Persona' but also feels as if it heavily inspired Don't Look Now. There's something very Jack Torrance about it too!
Fabulous psychological horror.
8.6/10
Very beautifully shot film about family, death and succession planning, set in the Bolivian Highlands. Some almost Western tropes at times.
Wow, I think this may be Ken Loach's finest film. A woman (Chrissy Rock) finds her children taken off her by welfare services after being constantly abused by her partner, and accused of not being able to care for them.
Rock's performance is superb. There is a bit of comedy here amongst all the emotional devastation, but Loach's direction guides it through. Sadly it's one of those films that makes us wonder if anything has really changed in the last 30 years.
A group of young climate activists set out to destroy an oil pipeline to cause disruption.
I expected this to be weaker than it was for some reason. It's actually directed well with an interesting back story of each character. There are a couple of really odd narrative choices that are not believable, but other than that it's probably worth a watch.
Incredible film by one of the greatest British directors - Michael Powell. 'A way of life is dying on an Outer Hebridean island fishing port, but some of the inhabitants resist evacuating to the mainland.' - Echoes of 'L'Avventura' and also 'Banshees of Inisherin' in this. Plus I had always thought Bergman had inspired the great British film-makers but it seems the other way around here, given this was made in 1937.
I suppose one of the signs of a cult classic is that you keep going back to it, knowing that it’s not the greatest film of all time, it’s just a load of fun. This is one of those. It’s a 6.5/10 sort of film, yet this must be the 4th or 5th time I’ve seen it. It just has the right ingredients in terms of re-watchability. And it is also a lot funnier than I remember in places.
This beautiful film from Wong Kar Wai was made as part of an anthology of films called 'Eros' that explore desire. The other two films in that anthology are directed by Steven Soderberg and Michelangelo Antonioni. ‘The hand’ is mid-length and is like a mini sequel to Wong's 'In the Mood for Love', but with different characters.
Chang Cheng plays Zhang, a shy dressmaker who gets romantically involved with a high end call girl Miss Hua played by the stunning Gong Li. There's something of the Reynolds Woodcock about Zhang's character (his utter love for dressmaking, and the obsession with a mysterious lady), but the tone is classic Wong. Set in 60's Hong Kong there are so many similar shots from 'In the Mood for Love' and once again Christopher Doyle is the DoP that gels it all together in such unique, gorgeous style.
Zhang and Miss Hua’s relationship is charted throughout what seems like a span of several years and the narrative is non-linear with a sort of bookend scene at beginning and end that explains why we are seeing a flashback for most of the film. It’s a really lovely way to spend 55 minutes.
The film can be found on the extras of the ‘2046’ Blu Ray and is also streaming on the Criterion channel.
Intriguing film about escapism and mental illness. A trio of misfits break out of their institution and go wandering, convinced the end of the world is near. There's something similar about 'Wings of desire' here that I can't put my finger on, plus alot of this must have inspired Park Chan Wook's 'Im a cyborg' and it has an insanely beautiful ending.
7/10
Low key drama about a gay teenager who is sent to live with her Jehovah's witness relatives after the death of her father. There's nothing earth shatteringly original in the narrative, but the central performance by Anwen O'Driscoll is likeable and the score, although quite manipulative does it's job really well - so much so that the last 10 minutes caught me off-guard emotion wise.
7/10
Ukranian crime drama about a brute of a man called Leonid, who has to turn to smuggling once again, in order to provide for his family and pay off debts. His nickname is Pamfir (rock), he has fought in bloody battles and seen a tough life. But he is a good father and devoted husband who just wants to live in peace, and now builds wells for locals.
Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk’s film is quite visceral with some really memorable images, especially towards the end of the film, and very immersive. I would imagine this film cuts deep for those brought up in the rural countryside of any Eastern European country.
Things go from bad to worse for Pamfir, as a chaotic event close to home and a organised crime baron conspire to bring him and his family more troubles. There are some lovely, tense long tracking shots, great performances and perhaps some symbolism that the corrupt people who run things in these areas of the world represent the current state of Ukraine’s neighbouring countries.
This one is really worth checking out.
8.2/10
True story based on Sophie Scholl, who was an anti-Nazi activist and part of the White Rose movement in 1940s Germany.
It's a film about principles and bravery with really fine performances all round. The budget shows at times, with some of it feeling like a TV-Movie (the music is quite heavy handed in the first half). However, the content is so powerful it doesn't really matter.
Sophie Scholl: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Scholl
7.2/10
The premise of ‘Il Mare’ is ludicrous and the music is generally awful as tends to be the case with these films, but I have a weird penchant for South Korean romance films. This is the synopsis:
In the year 1999, a young woman (Jun Ji-hyun) leaves her quaint seaside house and returns to the city, leaving in the mailbox a card for the next owner, with instructions to forward any mail of hers to the new address. In the year 1997, two years before, a jaded young architect (Lee Jung-Jae) moves into the same house--and finds the letter. His reply, which he slips into the mailbox, finds its way to her, beginning a parallel-time love story separated by a span of two years.
Sounds tenuous, and there are many holes in the whole time travel setup, but the film isn’t about the minutae of time travel or parallel realities. It’s more about the concept of fate, and love. It’s very well directed and the shots of he sea lodge especially are stunning.
Jun Ji-Hyun also starred in ‘My Sassy Girl’ a year later which has a lot of similarities to ‘Il Mare’ in terms of tone, the romance angle and a slight Sci-Fi element. Look past the slushy music cues and you’ll find an achingly beautiful film.
7.4/10
The Eight Mountains is Felix van Groeningen and his wife Charlotte Vandermeersch's latest film. Van Groegingen directed 'Beautiful Boy' and the brilliant 'Broken Circle Breakdown'. 'The Eight Mountains' though is a different beast. Based on the book of the same name written by Paolo Cognetti it charts 25 years or so in the lives of two best friends who meet in a tiny village in the Italian alps. The two friends Pietro and Bruno seem inseparable as they more or less live a mountain life but they are different. Pietro is the lead character and via his narration we see themes of self doubt, self discovery, regret, belonging. The cinematography is obviously therefore brilliant with vast sweeping mountainous landscapes and lakes.
But what makes this film stand out is the writing. The dialogue and the moments of deep emotion are truly brilliant. The film itself explores family, friendships in small communities but asks the viewer to think about their life choices......who did life correctly? Who made the right choices? Who won at life? Who conquered it? Along the way are relationship dramas and some tragedy but by the end I was left philosophising over a magnificently emotional picture.
'The Eight Mountains' is one of the most profoundly beautiful and moving films I have seen in recent years. Stunning film.
10/10
Impressive art-house film about the start of the Ukraine war in 2014 and the country's relationship with Russia. Some breath-taking camerawork and colour.
7.3/10
