h movies

France

Feature Film
Original Title: Un secret
Director: Claude Miller
Writers: Claude Miller, Natalie Carter, Philippe Grimbert
Cinematographer: Gérard de Battista
Composer: Zbigniew Preisner
Cast: Cécile De France, Patrick Bruel, Ludivine Sagnier, Julie Depardieu, Mathieu Amalric, Nathalie Boutefeu, Yves Verhoeven, Orlando Nicoletti, Valentin Vigourt, Quentin Dubuis

Handsome to look at and boasting some fine performances, this diverting film, a familiar tale exploring Jewish identity before, during, and after the Second World War, is a rather underwhelming experience that fails to fully convey the weight of the incidents that we are shown. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, France | No comments

Wednesday, 29 October 2008

Back to Normandy (2007)

Posted on 14:40 by john cena

France
Feature Documentary
Original Title: Retour en Normandie
Director: Nicolas Philibert
Cinematographer: Katell Djian
Featuring: Nicolas Philibert, Jospeh Leportier, Marie-Louise Leportier, Nicole Picard, Gilbert Peschet, Blandine Peschet, Annick Bisson, Michel Bisson, Jacqueline Milliere, Anne Borel, Catherine Borel, Christophe Borel, Olivier Borel, Pierre Borel, Yvonne Borel, Norbert Delozier, Charles Lihou, Annie Lihou, Roger Peschet, Caroline Itasse, Janine Callu, Nicole Cornue, Bruno Gahery, Claude Hebert

Documentarian Philibert, returns to the site of I, Pierre Riviere…(1976), a film that he had worked on 30 years previously, and rediscovers its amateur cast, exploring their memories of filming and their subsequent lives; what results is a constantly surprising, genuinely moving, and occasionally devastatingly sad minor-masterpiece exploring the simple beauty of rural life, the power of cinema, and the effects of time. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Documentary, France | No comments

Arctic Tale (2007)

Posted on 11:57 by john cena

USA
Feature Documentary
Directors: Adam Ravetch, Sarah Robertson
Writers: Linda Woolverton, Mose Richards, Kristin Gore
Cinematographer: Adam Ravetch
Composer: Joby Talbot
Featuring: Queen Latifah

This well-meaning documentary, charting the lives from birth to adulthood of a Polar Bear and a Walrus, is, with its manufactured story, cutesy narration, fart jokes, and syrupy score, rather hard going for adults, but for children, at whom it is aimed, it is a nice introduction to “factual” films. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Documentary, USA | No comments

Tuesday, 28 October 2008

Cheats (2002)

Posted on 01:24 by john cena

USA
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Andrew Gurland
Cinematographer: Fred Murphy
Composer: Mark Mothersbaugh
Cast: Trevor Fehrman, Elden Henson, Matthew Lawrence, Martin Starr, Maggie Lawson, Mary Tyler Moore, Morris Panych, Jewel Staite, Barbara Tyson

Gurland’s semi-autobiographical film, chronicling the misadventures of a group of friends as they cheat their way through the school system, is, with a typically charismatic performance from Fehrman, and a likeably uncharismatic performance from Starr, a mildly diverting, occasionally very funny, but ultimately quickly forgettable film. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Monday, 27 October 2008

Still Life (2006)

Posted on 13:37 by john cena

China/Hong Kong
Feature Film
Original Title: 三峡好人
Director: Jia Zhangke
Writers: Jia Zhangke, Guan Na, Sun Jiamin
Cinematographer: Yu Lik-wai
Composer: Lim Giong
Cast: Zhao Tao, Han Sanming, Li Zhubing, Wang Hongwei, Ma Lizhen, Zhou Lin, Luo Mingwang

Chronicling a city and its inhabitants in a state of flux, Jia’s beautifully observed if emotionally uninvolving film, with its long, stately takes, restrained performances, and lack of any real resolution, proves to be an admirable if somewhat inconsequential and forgettable work. Iain.Stott

Posted in China, Feature Film, Hong Kong, TSPDT 21st Century | No comments

You, the Living (2007)

Posted on 02:05 by john cena

Essential Viewing

Sweden/Germany/France/Denmark/Norway
Feature Film
Original Title: Du levande
Writer/Director: Roy Andersson
Cinematographer: Gustav Danielsson
Composer: Benny Andersson
Cast: Jessika Lundberg, Elisabeth Helander, Kemal Sener, Gunnar Ivarsson, Håkan Angser, Eric Bäckman

This painterly, blackly comic minor masterpiece from Sweden’s greatest living film-maker, a series of darkly humorous vignettes castigating man’s selfishness, is, with its eye-catching mise-en-scène and droll performances, an often hilarious, depressingly insightful, and truly unforgettable portrait of modern life’s rubishness. Iain.Stott

Posted in Denmark, Feature Film, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden | No comments

Sunday, 26 October 2008

Persepolis (2007)

Posted on 14:26 by john cena

Recommended

France/USA
Animated Feature Film
Writer/Directors: Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi
Composer: Olivier Bernet
Cast: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Simon Abkarian, Gabrielle Lopes, François Jerosme

This stylish, animated, black & white feature, recounting the growing pains of a young Iranian girl as she lives through revolution, war, exile, sex, drugs, love, heartache, and oppression, is, with some wonderfully memorable images, a moving and engaging if slightly rushed-feeling film. Iain.Stott

Posted in Animated Feature Film, France, TSPDT 21st Century, USA | No comments

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

Posted on 11:57 by john cena

France/USA
Feature Film
Original Title: Le scaphandre et le papillon
Director: Julian Schnabel
Writers: Ronald Harwood, Jean-Dominique Bauby
Cinematographer: Janusz Kaminski
Composer: Paul Cantelon
Cast: Mathieu Almaric, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais, Niels Arestrup, Olatz López Garmendia, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Marina Hands, Max von Sydow, Isaach De Bankolé, Emma de Caunes

A stunning, one-of-a-kind near-masterpiece, Schnabel’s remarkable film relates the true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, following a massive stroke that left him almost completely paralysed, wrote a book about his experiences, solely using blinking as a means of communication. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, France, TSPDT 21st Century, USA | No comments

Our Daily Bread (2005)

Posted on 06:22 by john cena

Essential Viewing

Germany/Austria

Feature Documentary
Original Title: Unser täglich Brot
Director: Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Writers: Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Wolfgang Widerhofer
Cinematographer: Nikolaus Geyrhalter

This masterful, non-judgmental documentary, exploring the nightmarish and/or ingenious (depending upon your viewpoint) ways in which man manipulates his environment in order to mass-produce food, is, with its long, often static takes, natural soundtrack, and lack of contextualising facts, a brilliant portrait of the very unnaturalness of modern life. Iain.Stott

Posted in Austria, Feature Documentary, Germany, Our Daily Bread | No comments

A Complete History of My Sexual Failures (2008)

Posted on 01:12 by john cena

Recommended

UK
Feature Documentary
Director: Chris Waitt
Cinematographer: Steven Mochrie
Featuring: Chris Waitt

Questions of authenticity aside (surely most of this is staged), this personal documentary, documenting Waitt’s attempts to find out why all his relationships end so miserably (I’d like to know how he managed to have relationships with these beautiful and seemingly intelligent women in the first place), is a surprising, often hilarious, and even, on one occasion, rather moving portrait of a quite possibly emotionally disturbed young man. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Documentary, UK | No comments

Saturday, 25 October 2008

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Posted on 14:03 by john cena

USA/UK
Feature Film
Director: Tim Burton
Writers: John Logan, Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Wheeler, Christopher Bond
Cinematographer: Dariusz Wolski
Composer: Stephen Sondheim
Cast: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Jamie Campbell Bower, Sacha Baron Cohen, Laura Michelle Kelly, Jayne Wisener

Burton’s gruesome adaptation of the hit Broadway musical of the same title, a tale of murder, vengeance, love, and unknowing cannibalism, is, with its tedious and occasionally tuneless musical numbers, a rather shallow and empty if visually arresting and mildly diverting experience. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, UK, USA | No comments

The Workshop (2007)

Posted on 09:00 by john cena

UK
Feature Documentary
Director: Jamie Morgan
Featuring: Jamie Morgan, Paul Lowe

Morgan’s personal documentary, documenting his and others' attempts to find themselves and happiness at a Paul Lowe workshop, is, for all its orgies, rants against monogamy, and alien sightings, not quite the laugh-at-the-freak fest that it might have been, but, of course, for a film that comes to the not-so-earth-shattering conclusion that the secret to happiness is the acceptance of self, it’s not particularly insightful either. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Documentary, UK | No comments

21 (2008)

Posted on 06:24 by john cena

USA
Feature Film
Director: Robert Luketic
Writers: Peter Steinfeld, Allan Loeb, Ben Mezrich
Cinematographer: Russell Carpenter
Composer: David Sardy
Cast: Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts, Jack McGee, Josh Gad, Sam Golzari, Helen Carey

Inspired by true events, very loosely it would seem: this mildly diverting if clichéd and rather flashy film, depicting the exploits of a group of talented maths students from MIT, who travel to Las Vegas each weekend to count cards, is fatally hampered by a number of sudden and illogical character developments. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Out of the Blue (2006)

Posted on 01:28 by john cena

New Zealand
Feature Film
Director: Robert Sarkies
Writers: Robert Sarkies, Graeme Tetley, Bill O'Brien
Cinematographer: Greig Fraser
Composer: Victoria Kelly
Cast: Karl Urban, Matthew Sunderland, Lois Lawn, Simon Ferry, Tandi Wright, Paul Glover, William Kircher, Georgia Fabish, Fayth Rasmussen

This considerate, unsensational, and extremely well made recreation of the worst mass shooting in New Zealand’s history justifies its existence with some incredible tales of courage, not the least of which being that of 73-year-old Helen Dickson (the excellent Lois Lawn), who, having just had a hip replacement, crawled, more than once, through a ditch in order to contact the emergency services and check up on a shooting victim, whilst presumably being fully aware that she herself could be shot at any moment. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, New Zealand | No comments

Friday, 24 October 2008

No Country for Old Men (2007)

Posted on 13:31 by john cena

Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Writers: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Cormac McCarthy
Cinematographer: Roger Deakins
Composer: Carter Burwell
Cast: Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Kelly McDonald, Woody Harrelson, Barry Corbin

With its deliberate, measured pace, minimalist sensibilities, and enigmatic ending, this, an unsparing adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s bleak novel, is the Coen brothers’ least commercial offering to date; but, with Tommy Lee Jones’s excellent performance at the film’s moral centre, it is a never-less-than-compelling existential thriller. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, TSPDT 21st Century, USA | No comments

Bunny Chow Know Thyself (2006)

Posted on 09:31 by john cena

Recommended

South Africa
Feature Film
Director: John Barker
Writers: John Barker, David Kibuuka, Joey Yusuf Rasdien, Salah Sabiti
Cinematographer: Zeno Petersen
Composer: Joel Assaizky
Cast: David Kibuuka, Kim Engelbrecht, Kagiso Lediga, Joey Yusuf Rasdien, Jason Cope, Keren Neumann, Salah Sabiti, Angela Chow

This delightful, rambling South African comedy, following a group of young comedians from Johannesburg to a rock festival, with its striking black and white photography, relaxed, improvisational tone, and hugely likable performances, is perhaps the most amiable and shamelessly enjoyable film of the year. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, South Africa | No comments

[•REC] (2007)

Posted on 06:24 by john cena

Spain

Feature Film
Directors: Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza
Writers: Jaume Balagueró, Luis Berdejo, Paco Plaza
Cinematographer: Pablo Rosso
Cast: Manuela Velasco, Ferran Terraza, Jorge Serrano, Pablo Rosso, David Vert, Vicente Gil, Martha Carbonell, María Teresa Ortega

This visceral Spanish zombie film, following a fictional television crew as they manage to capture the outbreak of an infection that causes its victims to become extremely violent, is, with its patient build up to the action and the immediacy of its handheld camerawork, a gripping and credible horror film. Iain.Stott

Followed by [•REC]² (2009).

Posted in Feature Film, Spain | No comments

Margot at the Wedding (2007)

Posted on 00:41 by john cena

Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Noah Baumbach
Cinematographer: Harris Savides
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black, Zane Pais, Flora Cross, Halley Feiffer, Ciarán Hinds

Baumbach’s follow up to the excellent The Squid and the Whale, a sparring match between two neurotic sisters during the build up to one of the pair’s wedding, is a keenly observed, insightful, naturalistic, outstandingly acted, and thoroughly compelling delight. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Thursday, 23 October 2008

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Posted on 13:43 by john cena

USA

Feature Film
Director: Ben Affleck
Writers: Ben Affleck, Aaron Stockard, Dennis Lehane
Cinematographer: John Toll
Composer: Harry Gregson-Williams
Cast: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, Amy Ryan, Titus Welliver, John Ashton, Slaine, Edi Gathegi

Affleck’s feature-length directorial debut, an adaptation of Lehane’s novel about a couple of young detectives’ attempts to locate a missing young girl, is a beautifully paced, exceptionally acted, well observed, and thought provoking portrait of damaged lives, as well as an unflinching and grimly moving exploration of tough moral issues. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Dan in Real Life (2007)

Posted on 10:32 by john cena

USA
Feature Film
Director: Peter Hedges
Writers: Pierce Gardner, Peter Hedges
Cinematographer: Lawrence Sher
Cast: Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook, Alison Pill, Brittany Robertson, Marlene Lawston, Emily Blunt

Hedges’s likable if fairly forgettable romantic comedy, a tale of a widower inadvertently falling in love with his brother’s new girlfriend, is something of a mixed bag: the scenes between Carell and Binoche are often magical, and there are some genuinely beautiful moments, but much of the rest feels like wilfully quirky packaging. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film | No comments

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

Cassandra's Dream (2007)

Posted on 23:30 by john cena

Best Avoided

UK/USA/France
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Woody Allen
Cinematographer: Vilmos Zsigmond
Composer: Philip Glass
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell, Hayley Atwell, Sally Hawkins, Tom Wilkinson, John Benfield, Phil Davis

Allen’s talky, unconvincing thriller, an exploration of the consequences of a pair of brothers’ decision to murder a colleague of their uncle for monetary gain, is fatally hamstrung by the prolific film-maker's dialogue, which fits ill with his working class characters' mouths, and, not the least, by Farrell’s Australian/South African sounding efforts. Iain Stott

Posted in Feature Film, France, UK, USA | No comments

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)

Posted on 11:56 by john cena

USA/UK

Feature Film
Director: Sidney Lumet
Writer: Kelly Masterson
Cinematographer: Ron Fortunato
Composer: Carter Burwell
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei, Aleksa Palladino, Michael Shannon, Brian F. O'Byrne

A rather annoying stylistic choice aside, this bleak thriller from the 83-year-old Lumet, a depiction of the tragic consequences of two brothers’ decision to rob their own parents’ jewellery store, is an unsurprisingly well acted film that manages, with its zig-zagging, overlapping structure, to slowly paint a devastating portrait of fear, desperation, guilt, betrayal, grief, and retribution. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, UK, USA | No comments

Jindabyne (2006)

Posted on 01:31 by john cena

Australia

Feature Film
Director: Ray Lawrence
Writers: Beatrix Christian, Raymond Carver
Cinematographer: David Williamson
Composers: Paul Kelly, Dan Luscombe
Cast: Laura Linney, Gabriel Byrne, Chris Haywood, Deborra-Lee Furness, John Howard, Leah Purcell, Eva Lazzaro, Sean Rees-Wemyss, Stelios Yiakmis, Simon Stone, Tatea Reilly, Jie Pitman, Kevin Smith

Lawrence’s misanthropic follow-up to the excellent Lantana is something of a disappointment, although, for the most part, this examination of the consequences of a group’s decision to continue with their fishing trip after finding the body of a murdered young Aboriginal girl, is gripping, insightful, and wonderfully performed, there are moments that defy logic, and the ending, in particular, lacks credibility. Iain Stott

Posted in Australia, Feature Film | No comments

Tuesday, 21 October 2008

Breach (2007)

Posted on 12:24 by john cena

USA

Feature Film
Director: Billy Ray
Writers: Adam Mazer, William Rotko, Billy Ray
Cinematographer: Tak Fujimoto
Composer: Mychael Danna
Cast: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney, Dennis Haysbert, Kathleen Quinlan, Caroline Dhavernas

For the most part, this political thriller, a depiction of the capture of the real life super-spy Robert Hanssen, who for more than twenty years sold government secrets to the Soviets and subsequently to the Russians, is a compelling, character-focused, well-made, and excellently acted film, but where it falls down somewhat is in the final act in which everything is tidied up just that little bit too easily. Iain Stott

Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Once (2006)

Posted on 02:56 by john cena

Ireland
Feature Film
Writer/Director: John Carney
Cinematographer: Tim Fleming
Composers: Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová
Cast: Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová, Bill Hodnett, Danuse Ktrestova, Marcella Plunkett, Niall Cleary

John Carney’s beautiful film, an earthy musical depicting a chaste romance between an Irish busker and a Czech flower-seller, is like a breath of fresh air: a musical that is simultaneously romantic, credible, insightful, and, thanks in the main to Hansard’s emotion-drenched vocals, very very moving. Iain Stott

Posted in Feature Film, Ireland, TSPDT 21st Century | No comments

Monday, 20 October 2008

Into the Wild (2007)

Posted on 13:16 by john cena

Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Sean Penn
Writers: Sean Penn, Jon Krakauer
Cinematographer: Eric Gautier
Composers: Michael Brook, Kaki King, Eddie Vedder
Cast: Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone, Catherine Keener, Brian Dierker, Vince Vaughn, Kristen Stewart, Hal Holbrook

Based on the true story of Chris McCandless, a.k.a. Alexander Supertramp, who, in the early ‘90s, travelled into the wild in order to escape from society and/or his parents, Sean Penn’s impressive film is an excellently acted and beautifully made exploration of the dangers of both living as part of, and not living as part of, a society. Iain Stott

Posted in Feature Film, TSPDT 21st Century, USA | No comments

Half Nelson (2006)

Posted on 02:02 by john cena

USA

Feature Film
Director: Ryan Fleck
Writers: Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden
Cinematographer: Andrij Parekh
Composers: Broken Social Scene
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie, Tina Holmes, Monique Curnen, Denis O'Hare

Fleck and Boden’s (fiction) feature debut, a portrait of an inner-city teacher determined to change the lives of his pupils, who simultaneously is slowly destroying his own with crack cocaine, is a vibrant, beautiful, and wonderfully acted exploration of the inequities and contradictions that make up society. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, TSPDT 21st Century, USA | No comments

Sunday, 19 October 2008

Flanders (2006)

Posted on 12:41 by john cena

Best Avoided

France
Feature Film
Original Title: Flandres
Writer/Director: Bruno Dumont
Cinematographer: Yves Cape
Cast: Adelaide Leroux, Samuel Boidin, Henri Cretel, Jean-Marie Bruveart, David Poulain, Patrice Venant, David Legay, Inge Decaesteker

Lacking the ultra-long takes and minimalist charm of Dumont’s best work, this tremendously disappointing film, alternating between scenes of a farmer’s daughter’s sexual encounters and the barbarities of an unnamed war zone, is a pretentiously enigmatic, unengaging, and at times embarrassingly amateurish film. Iain Stott

Posted in Feature Film, France | No comments

Control (2007)

Posted on 10:25 by john cena

UK/USA/Australia/Japan

Feature Film
Director: Anton Corbijn
Writers: Matt Greenhalgh, Deborah Curtis
Cinematographer: Martin Ruhe
Cast: Sam Riley, Samantha Morton, Alexandra Maria Lara, Craig Parkinson, James Anthony Pearson, Harry Treadaway, Toby Kebbell

Corbijn’s engaging film, a biopic exploring the life of troubled Joy Division lead-singer Ian Curtis, proves to be, thanks to Riley’s incredible performance and some beautiful black and white photography, an even-handed, insightful, and deeply moving work of art. Iain Stott

Posted in Australia, Feature Film, Japan, UK, USA | No comments

Climates (2006)

Posted on 07:35 by john cena

Turkey/France
Feature Film
Original Title: İklimler
Writer/Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Cinematographer: Gökhan Tiryaki
Cast: Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Ebru Ceylan, Nazan Kirilmis, Mehmet Eryilmaz, Arif Asçi, Can Ozbatur

Ceylan’s spare and measured film, an examination of extramarital affairs and break-ups, manages to avoid the melodramatic pitfalls associated with the genre, and presents us, instead, with a hypnotically beautiful experience that is as insightful as it is moving. Iain Stott

Posted in Feature Film, France, TSPDT 21st Century, Turkey | No comments

Babel (2006)

Posted on 07:19 by john cena

Recommended

USA/Mexico/France
Feature Film
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Writers: Guillermo Arriaga, Alejandro González Iñárritu
Cinematographer: Rodrigo Prieto
Composer: Gustavo Santaolalla
Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Mohamed Akhzam, Boubker Ait El Caid, Said Tarchani, Gael Garcìa Bernal, Adriana Barraza, Rinko Kikuchi, Satoshi Nikaido

Iñárritu’s multi-stranded and highly ambitious film, telling three disparate tales connected by a shooting in Morocco and infused with sadness, is a well-made, beautifully acted (particularly by the outstanding Rinko Kikuchi), quietly political, and devastatingly moving portrait of damaged souls and the things that damage them. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, France, Mexico, USA | No comments

Knocked Up (2007)

Posted on 06:48 by john cena

USA

Feature Film
Writer/Director: Judd Apatow
Cinematographer: Eric Alan Edwards
Composers: Joe Henry, Loudon Wainwright III
Cast: Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Martin Starr, Charlyne Yi, Ken Jeong

Perhaps, the Apatow production with the most heart since the early television days, this consistently funny film, following the misadventures of a tremendously unsuited couple as they attempt to deal with a pregnancy that resulted from a drunken one-night stand, is as insightful as it is joyously entertaining. Iain Stott

Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Friday, 17 October 2008

Paranoid Park (2007)

Posted on 01:21 by john cena

USA/France
Feature Film
Director: Gus Van Sant
Writers: Gus Van Sant, Blake Nelson
Cinematographers: Christopher Doyle, Rain Kathy Li
Cast: Gabe Nevins, Daniel Liu, Taylor Momsen, Scott Patrick Green, Lauren McKinney

Van Sant’s beautiful, dreamy, hypnotic, and sensual adaptation of Blake Nelson’s novel, an exploration of a young skater’s attempts to deal with the memory of a tragic accident and the guilt and fear involved with it, also manages to affectingly examine the universal difficulties inherent to the transition from boyhood to manhood. Iain Stott

Posted in Feature Film, France, TSPDT 21st Century, USA | No comments

Thursday, 16 October 2008

Away from Her (2006)

Posted on 12:13 by john cena

Recommended

Canada
Feature Film
Director: Sarah Polley
Writers: Sarah Polley, Alice Munro
Cinematographer: Luc Montpellier
Composer: Jonathan Goldsmith
Cast: Gordon Pinsent, Julie Christie, Olympia Dukakis, Michael Murphy, Kristen Thomson, Wendy Crewson

Talented actress Sarah Polley’s directorial debut, an adaptation of Alice Munro’s short story, The Bear Came Over the Mountain, which explores the effects of Alzheimer’s disease and institutional care on a 40-year-old marriage, manages to depict difficult subject matter with controlled respect: the performances are restrained, the camera unobtrusive, and the overall effect is quietly devastating. Iain Stott

Posted in Canada, Feature Film | No comments

Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)

Posted on 09:10 by john cena

China/Hong Kong
Feature Film
Original Title: 滿城盡帶黃金甲
Director: Zhang Yimou
Writers: Zhang Yimou, Cao Yu
Cinematographer: Zhao Xiaoding
Composer: Umebayashi Shigeru
Cast: Chow Yun Fat, Gong Li, Jay Chou, Ye Liu, Dahong Ni, Qin Junjie, Li Man, Chen Jin

Until the overblown and ridiculous fight scenes begin, there is a certain amount of pleasure to be gained from the stunning visuals: bright, primary, and golden coloured opulent decoration represent a masterpiece of production design, but, alas, all is surface gloss: whilst the eyes are treated, the intellect and the emotions are fatally neglected. Iain Stott

Posted in China, Feature Film, Hong Kong | No comments

Atonement (2007)

Posted on 03:22 by john cena

UK/France

Feature Film
Director: Joe Wright
Writers: Christopher Hampton, Ian McEwan
Cinematographer: Seamus McGarvey
Composer: Dario Marianelli
Cast: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Romola Garai, Saoirse Ronan, Vanessa Redgrave, Brenda Blethyn

The occasional melodramatic moment and an over-insistent score aside, this adaptation of Ian McEwan’s acclaimed novel, a tale of childish misunderstandings and impotent redemption, is good, solid, quite moving, occasionally disturbing, well-acted, and stylish middlebrow entertainment. Iain Stott

Posted in Feature Film, France, UK | No comments

After the Wedding (2006)

Posted on 02:59 by john cena

Recommended

Denmark/Sweden
Feature Film
Original Title: Efter brylluppet
Director: Susanne Bier
Writers: Anders Thomas Jensen, Susanne Bier
Cinematographer: Morten Søborg
Composer: Johan Söderqvist
Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Rolf Lassgård, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Stine Fischer Christensen, Christian Tafdrup, Meenal Patel, Neeral Mulchandani

Bier yet again manages to elicit some fantastic performances in this moving film, an exploration of secrets and lies, and illness and redemption, which manages to present a documentary-like immediacy with its naturalistic performances and intimate, probing camerawork. Iain Stott

Posted in Denmark, Feature Film, Sweden | No comments

Wednesday, 15 October 2008

A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

Posted on 01:07 by john cena

Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Robert Altman
Writers: Garrison Keillor, Ken LaZebnik
Cinematographer: Edward Lachman
Cast: Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Lily Tomlin, Meryl Streep, Lindsay Lohan, Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, Virginia Madsen, Maya Rudolph

Altman’s last film, quite suitably depicting the final performance of a popular live radio show, is a gentle, slightly nostalgic, funny, observant, and above all else reverent depiction of country musicians, gentle entertainment, and times gone by. Iain Stott

Posted in Feature Film, TSPDT 21st Century, USA | No comments

Tuesday, 14 October 2008

Next Door (2005)

Posted on 01:28 by john cena

Recommended

Norway/Denmark/Sweden
Feature Film
Original Title: Naboer
Writer/Director: Pål Sletaune
Cinematographer: John Andreas Andersen
Composer: Simon Boswell
Cast: Kristoffer Joner, Cecilie A. Mosli, Julia Schacht, Anna Bache-Wiig, Michael Nyqvist, Øystein Martinsen

Sletaune’s enigmatic, beautifully-paced film, an abstruse psychological portrait of a young man’s tentative dealings with his sexy neighbours, mixing strikingly sensual mise-en-scène with some excellent performances, is a perverse delight reminiscent of Kafka, Hitchcock, Lynch, and early Polanski. Iain Stott

For a slightly longer piece, see 1000 Nights in the Dark.

Posted in Denmark, Feature Film, Norway, Sweden | No comments

Monday, 13 October 2008

A Mighty Heart (2007)

Posted on 14:24 by john cena

UK/USA
Feature Film
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Writers: John Orloff, Mariane Pearl
Cinematographer: Marcel Zyskind
Composers: Harry Escott, Molly Nyman
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman, Archie Panjabi, Irfan Khan, Will Patton, Denis O'Hare, Adnan Siddiqui, Gary Wilmes

The terribly inconsistent Winterbottom’s best film so far, based on the factual book by Mariane Pearl, chronicling Pakistani and American attempts to locate her kidnapped journalist husband in Karachi, A Mighty Heart is an intimate, briskly paced, naturalistic, suspenseful, beautifully performed (Irfan Khan, in particular, is excellent), and ultimately devastatingly moving minor-masterpiece, which explores the stories behind the headlines. Iain Stott

Posted in Feature Film, UK, USA | No comments

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

Posted on 09:02 by john cena

USA
Feature Film
Director: James Mangold
Writers: Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, Halsted Welles, Elmore Leonard
Cinematographer: Phedon Papamichael
Composer: Marco Beltrami
Cast: Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Logan Lerman, Dallas Roberts, Ben Foster, Peter Fonda, Alan Tudyk

This well-made, testosterone-dripping adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s short story is illogical, clichéd, rather silly, and sentimental, but also suspenseful, well acted, interestingly scored, strikingly shot, and, above all else, compelling: in short, a flawed but, nevertheless, entertaining western. Iain Stott

Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Rome: Season 2 (2007)

Posted on 05:55 by john cena

UK/USA

Television Series
Creators: Bruno Heller, William J. MacDonald, John Milius
Cast: Ray Stevenson, Kevin McKidd, Polly Walker, Lindsay Duncan, Kerry Condon, Zuleikha Robinson, David Bamber, Lyndsey Marshal, Chiara Mastalli, Daniel Cerqueira, Simon Woods, Allen Leech, James Purefoy

The second season of this HBO/BBC co-production, a series that explores the lives of all social-strata of ancient Rome in all their casually violent and twistedly honourable ways, entertains and continues to enthral with its exceptional production values, well-drawn characters, and first-rate performances despite the odd uncharacteristically sentimental moment. Iain Stott

Posted in | No comments

Saturday, 11 October 2008

Rome: Season 1 (2005)

Posted on 09:04 by john cena

UK/USA

Television Series
Creators: Bruno Heller, William J. MacDonald, John Milius
Cast: Ray Stevenson, Kevin McKidd, Polly Walker, Lindsay Duncan, Tobias Menzies, Kerry Condon, Indira Varma, Max Pirkis, Kenneth Cranham, James Purefoy, Ciarán Hinds, Chiara Mastalli

This HBO/BBC co-production, a show boasting outstanding production values and excellent performances that explores the political machinations, power struggles, and day-to-day lives of ancient Romans, is a visceral, sickeningly violent, and thoroughly compelling experience. Iain Stott

Posted in | No comments

In the Night Garden... (2007)

Posted on 08:33 by john cena

UK
Television Series
Creators: Anne Wood, Andy Davenport
Cast: Derek Jacobi, Rebecca Hyland, Nick Kellington, Justyn Towler, Holly Denoon, Isaac Blake, Andy Wareham, Elisa Laghi

In the Night Garden, a CBeebies show aimed at helping pre-school children to relax and fall asleep in the evening, should be, with its mixture of long static takes, slow pans and zooms, repetitive soothing noises and music, and Derek Jakobi’s lilting narration, prescribed by doctors, so calming and hypnotic are its rhythms, as a cure for stress and anxiety; toddlers seem to quite like it as well! Iain Stott

Posted in | No comments

Tuesday, 7 October 2008

Trainspotting (1993)

Posted on 01:05 by john cena

Novel
Author: Irvine Welsh

Welsh’s novel - a collection of tales of Edinburgh’s underclass; an exploration of the lives of junkies and alcoholics, and the consequences of poverty and AIDS - is an all too credible, blackly humorous, disturbing, and essential read. Iain Stott

Posted in | No comments

Teachers: Series 4 (2004)

Posted on 00:49 by john cena

UK
Television Series
Creator: Tim Loane
Cast: Daon Broni, Vicky Hall, Mathew Horne, Tamzin Malleson, Gillian Bevan, Ursula Holden Gill, Lloyd McGuire, Ellen Thomas, Jonas Armstrong, Jason Boyd

The much-maligned final series of Teachers, a series that contained none of the main-stars from the original series, that had completely dropped any pretence of resembling reality, a coarser, and more irreverent beast, is in fact the most purely entertaining of the four series: there are more laughs than ever; the new cast members are more than a match for those that they have replaced, especially the excellent Daon Broni and Mathew Horne, and most importantly, despite being more light hearted, the show actually has more to say about society and the way that we live. Iain Stott

Posted in | No comments

Sunday, 5 October 2008

Those Were the Days (1934)

Posted on 13:16 by john cena

UK
Feature Film
Director: Thomas Bentley
Writer: Jack Jordan, Frank Launder, Frank Miller, Frederick A. Thompson, Arthur Wing Pinero
Cast: Will Hay, Iris Hoey, Angela Baddeley, Claud Allister, George Graves, John Mills, Jane Carr

Notable mainly for introducing music hall star Will Hay to the big screen, this poorly paced farce, revolving around a wife’s deception concerning her age towards her second husband, is generally disappointing and, despite some excellent performances, quite forgettable. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, UK | No comments

The Return (2003)

Posted on 12:54 by john cena

Russia
Feature Film
Original Title: Возвращение
Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev
Writer: Vladimir Moiseyenko, Aleksandr Novototsky
Cinematographer: Mikhail Krichman
Composer: Andrei Dergachyov
Cast: Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin Lavronenko, Natalya Vdovina

Zvyagintsev‘s enigmatic, allegorical debut film, set against a bleak and desolate landscape, beautifully photographed by Mikhail Krichman with a palette of greys and blues, revolving around a father’s return home after an absence of twelve years, and the subsequent road trip he takes with his two sons, is something of a masterpiece and a beautiful and moving exploration of familial relationships, conflict, and fear. Iain Stott

Posted in Feature Film, Russia | No comments

The Day of the Locust (1939)

Posted on 09:28 by john cena

Novel
Author: Nathanael West

West’s masterful novel – an exploration of a violent world in which beautiful 17 year old platinum-blonde prostitutes rub shoulders with impoverished Mexicans, handsome cowboys, emotionally unstable accountants, angry dwarves, and talented artists – is a scathingly brilliant portrait of the broken dreams that litter the streets of Los Angeles, and a metaphor for society’s impending self-implosion. Iain Stott

Posted in | No comments

The Beach (1996)

Posted on 09:16 by john cena

Novel
Author: Alex Garland

A compelling, occasionally thrilling, and gruesomely powerful if slightly disappointing novel, narrated in the first person by the shallowest of protagonists, following a group of privileged young Europeans to a burgeoning commune on a remote island off Thailand where they fish, garden, and smoke a lot of marijuana. Iain Stott

Posted in | No comments

Stripes (1981)

Posted on 08:55 by john cena

USA
Feature Film
Director: Ivan Reitman
Writers: Len Blum, Daniel Goldberg, Harold Ramis
Cinematographer: Bill Butler
Composer: Elmer Bernstein
Cast: Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Warren Oates, P.J. Soles, Sean Young, John Candy, John Larroquette, John Voldstad, John Diehl

This mildly diverting Army comedy, chronicling the progress of two hapless losers as they join the army, blunder their way through basic training, invade Czechoslovakia, and become national heroes, starts well, and there are laughs and good performances along the way, but much of the film is quite tedious. Iain Stott

Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Stalag 17 (1953)

Posted on 08:43 by john cena

USA

Feature Film
Director: Billy Wilder
Writer: Billy Wilder, Edwin Blum, Donald Bevan, Edmund Trzcinski
Cinematographer: Ernest Laszlo
Cast: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss, Harvey Lembeck, Richard Erdman, Peter Graves, Neville Brand, Sig Ruman, Michael Moore, Peter Baldwin

Not one of Wilder’s best, Stalag 17 is a nonetheless entertaining WWII prisoner-of-war comedy, which boasts several excellent performances and some wonderfully irreverent humour, but ultimately proves to be (relatively, at least) quite forgettable. Iain Stott

Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Special March Past of St Joseph's Scholars and Special Parade of St Matthew's Pupils Blackburn (1905)

Posted on 08:36 by john cena

UK
Short Documentary
Producers: Sagar Mitchell, James Kenyon

A short documentary of mild curiosity value showing a group of Blackburn school children passing before the camera. Iain Stott

Posted in Short Documentary, UK | No comments

Skins: Series 1 (2007)

Posted on 08:28 by john cena

Television Series
Creators: Jamie Brittain, Bryan Elsley
Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Mike Bailey, April Pearson, Hannah Murray, Dev Patel, Joseph Dempsie, Mitch Hewer, Larissa Wilson, Daniel Kaluuya, Siwan Morris, Kaya Scodelario

Channel 4’s yoof comedy-drama, a frequently laugh-out-loud funny, often insightful, occasionally moving, and generally thoroughly entertaining series, follows and explores the lives a group of 16 and 17-year-old friends from Bristol: teenagers who for once actually look like teenagers. Iain.Stott

Posted in | No comments

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963)

Posted on 08:17 by john cena

USA

Short Story Collection
Author: J. D. Salinger

Two contrasting long short stories - Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters (1955) and Seymour: An Introduction (1959) - exploring the author’s fictional alter-ego author’s memories of his dead brother, the former is a tightly written account of an ill-fated wedding, and the latter a more personal stream of consciousness portrait of the aforementioned deceased sibling: both stick in the memory. Iain Stott

Posted in | No comments

Population 436 (2006)

Posted on 07:58 by john cena