Second Run
Blu-Ray Review: The Ear
Living under an oppressive regime essentially means spending your life in a constant state of anxiety and trepidation. Those citizens residing in communist countries during the Cold War faced a constant barrage of propaganda and indoctrination. You never knew who was listening. Could never be at ease. Friends and neighbours would inform on each other. …
Blu-Ray Review: A Case for a Rookie Hangman
One of the things which separates us humans from other animals is our boundless imagination (although, having said that I’ve known some extremely resourceful cats). Nowhere has this creativity and inventiveness flourished so much as in literature. Loosely based on the third book of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Pavel Juráček draws on the work of …
Blu-ray Review: Everybody in Our Family
Romania has long produced highly individual and unashamedly idiosyncratic cinema. Heralded by the release of Cristi Puiu’s directorial debut Stuff and Dough in 2001, and exploding during the middle of the decade, the Romanian new wave movement is characterised by an emphasis on minimalism and realism. Directors such as Corneliu Porumboiu, Adrian Sitaru, Cristian Mungiu, …
Blu-Ray Review: Ikarie XB-1
Space, the final frontier. Man’s imagination has been turned upwards for centuries. Dreaming of boldly going where no man has gone before. The thought of travelling beyond the stars has driven the creative juices of generations of writers and film-makers. Intergalactic adventures aren’t just about space racoons and exterminating dustbins. The thought of exploring the …
Blu-ray Review: Dawson City: Frozen Time
Bill Morrison may not be a name you’ve seen up in lights but he’s doing a vital job when it comes to preserving our past. The American documentary film-maker and hunter of lost treasures has directed around thirty shorts and features so far in his (relatively) short career. He specialises in delving into rare, often …
Blu-Ray Review: World on a Wire
The simulation hypothesis proposes that you and I are living inside a simulation. In fact, we all are; wherever you may live in the world. This is an artificial world, most likely computer generated, run by beings with much higher intelligence than us. It is a theory which has helped fashion countless science fiction books, …
Blu-Ray Review: Diamonds of the Night
In a period blighted by massacres, brutality and war, without doubt the lowest point in human history was the Holocaust. Looking back through time it seems almost unimaginable that human beings could stoop so low. Whilst Hollywood has tackled the subject in high profile films such as The Pianist, Schindler’s List and Sophie’s Choice, there …
Blu-ray Review: Invention for Destruction
Whilst Karel Zeman may have only made six full length ‘live action’ films, every one of them is a meticulously crafted work of art. Between 1955 and 1970, emancipated by the imagination of Jules Verne and his fantastical worlds, he melded his masterpieces with animation to create tales which thrill and beguile. He inspired the …
Blu-Ray Review: Black Peter
Making films under the curtain of censorship is an extremely precarious and potentially life-threatening undertaking. It can easily lead to a very short career. This is what makes the achievements of the Czech new wave film-makers even for impressive. The likes of Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, Ivan Passer, Jiří Menzel and Pavel Juráček put the …
Blu-Ray Review: Intimate Lighting
The death of Miloš Forman this year marked the passing of one of Czech cinema’s greats. He was an integral part of the Czech New Wave. His countryman Ivan Passer worked closely with him on several films, most notably on The Fireman’s Ball and A Blonde in Love. Passer went on to make films in …