New Wave Films
Film Review: Zama
There are some film directors who seem to churn out several films per year (I’m looking at you Takeshi Miike) whilst others consistently deliver every year or two. Whether by choice, being distracted by other artforms or through a painstaking production process, a small group are much less prolific. Paul Thomas Anderson is a prime …
Film Review: Western
Globalization has inexorably changed the face of the world. Since the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957, the membership of the (now) European Union has grown from six states to twenty-eight (for a year, at least). The rapid expansion east to incorporate former Soviet Bloc countries has led to a huge wave of …
Film Review: Glory
Eastern European cinema has changed considerably over the decades, but it has had a tendency to reflect the concerns and problems of normal people. After decades of censorship, as the old Eastern Bloc opened itself up to capitalism and the EU, the nature of its cinema changed. However, disillusionment set in, and with the financial …
Film Review: The Death of Louis XIV
Over more than half a century, Jean-Pierre Léaud has had a profound influence on French cinema. He’s arguably the most important actor of his generation. He first came to notice as a child as the star of François Truffaut’s masterpiece 400 Blows. He excelled in some of Truffaut’s best films and worked with some of …
DVD Review: Behemoth
There are many ways to skin a documentary but seldom follow a similar path to Zhao Liang’s meandering poetic and lyrical Behemoth. Whilst the angle a filmmaker approaches subjects like environmental destruction, industrialisation and social inequality can differ wildly, it’s a rare kind of director who is bold enough to just let the pictures do …
Film Review: Cemetery of Splendour
The distance between the living and the dead can sometimes be negligible and the lines between waking life and dreaming occasionally blur. The belief in our connection to the spirit world is something which has been part of religions, cultures and personal beliefs for centuries. In his new film, Cemetery of Splendour, Apichatpong Weerasethakul mixes …
Film Review: The Measure of a Man
With controversy still heavy in the air after the end of Cannes Film Festival last month it continues to confound and confuse in its attribution of awards. Whilst all the headlines were around the winners of the Palme d’Or and Grand Prix, one film won an almost unprecedented two awards. Shahab Hosseini won Best Actor …
Film Review: The Pearl Button
Patricio Guzmán has built up a reputation of being one of the most thoughtful and meditative documentary film makers over the last 40 odd years. His contemplative style continues into his output, only releasing a film every 4 or 5 years or so. However, as Nostalgia for the Light and Salvador Allende attest, they’re well …
DVD Review: Taxi Tehran
The survivor spirit is alive and well and living in Tehran. Despite being banned from making films by the Iranian regime, Jafar Pahani has responded by becoming more prolific. Celebrated for the spellbinding Offside and The Circle before the restrictions, he’s now releasing his third film, Taxi Tehran, since the interdiction came into place. Hot …
Film Review: The Lesson
Bulgaria is hardly known for having a strong film making tradition. Despite having its golden age in the 1970s and 1980s most people in the West will struggle to name one film that the country has produced. Whilst Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s film The Lesson is unlikely to change this situation it’s certainly a sign that …