Blu-Ray Review: Encounter of the Spooky Kind
Chinese folklore is full of stories of ghosts, supernatural creatures and monsters. These spirits and apparitions are largely malevolent and play a prominent role in popular culture. Cinema is no exception. The success of A Chinese Ghost Story sparked a surge of similar films (Mr Vampire, The Eye, Rigor Mortis etc) in Hong Kong. Humour …
Blu-ray Review: Merrily We Go to Hell
Between 1927 and 1943, the year when she retired from feature filmmaking, Dorothy Arzner was the only female film director working in Hollywood. While the situation isn’t exactly perfect now, it was a whole lot worse as we entered the epoch of ‘talkies’. She made twenty films over that period and launched the careers of …
Blu-Ray Review: The Hands of Orlac
Robert Wiene was one of the great directors of the German expressionist period at the beginning of the 20th century. Indeed, he’s responsible for one of the best and still most admired films from that movement, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. He went on to make 45 films, mostly during the silent era, and whilst …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review – 9/11: One Day in America
I’d argue that we can define modern history as the period before and after September 11th 2001. Anyone waking up on that Tuesday morning would never have believed the events which were about to transpire. The attack on the World Trade Centre was the deadliest on US soil, killing just under 3000 people and injuring …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan
The first rule of documentary filmmaking is to never get involved. To observe your subject objectively and not interfere with the events taking place on screen. This often throws up a Pandora’s Box of moral and ethical questions. However, the moment you intervene not only do you change the focus of your film but you …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: The Story of Looking
To say Mark Cousins loves film would be an understatement, to say the least. The former host of Moviedrome went on to create the definitive history of film in The Story of Film: An Odyssey, along with several other documentaries focusing on cinema. The Northern Irish filmmaker is also highly curious and inquisitive. Many of …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Gorbachev. Heaven
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a name and a face which will be well known to anyone of a certain age. His role in the dismantling of the Iron Curtain is possibly the most important event in the history of post-war Europe. In the West and former Eastern Bloc states his lauded as a hero for …
Film Review – Occupation: Rainfall
Most of today’s modern science fiction films, and there is nowhere near as many as there should be, are big budget star driven vehicles. They tend to be very hit and miss, with an emphasis on disappointment, but the cost means ideas are often sacrificed for bangs and whooshes. Occasionally, a small budget sci-fi comes …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Sing, Freetown
In many ways the more recent history of Sierra Leonne is not so different to that of its neighbours. Its climate and habitat shielded it from conquest until the European colonisers arrived by sea. Perched on the west coast of Africa, several nations established trading posts until eventually the British created the settlement of the …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: The Witches of the Orient
For an athlete the Olympic Games is the pinnacle of sporting achievement. An event which marks the culmination of years of training and dedication. However, there’s much more to Olympic success that personal or team glory. As a representative of your country, you carry the hopes and expectations of millions on your shoulders. When Japan …