Tokyo Story (1953)

Essential Viewing

Japan

Feature Film
Original Title: 東京物語
Director: Ozu Yasujirō
Writers: Noda Kōgo, Ozu Yasujirō
Cinematographer: Atsuta Yuuharu
Composer: Saitō Kojun
Cast: Ryū Chishū, Higashiyama Chieko, Hara Setsuko, Sugimura Haruko, Yamamura Sō, Miyake Kuniko, Kagawa Kyōko, Tono Eijirō, Nakamura Nobuo, Osaka Shirō

Containing one of cinema’s greatest and most heartbreaking performances from Hara, Ozu’s beautifully paced and moving film, detailing an elderly couple’s sombre journey to Tokyo to visit their busy and insensitive, grown-up children, proves to be an unforgettable, deeply rewarding, and achingly sad masterpiece. Iain.Stott

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Vertigo (1958)

Highly Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writers: Alec Coppel, Samuel Taylor, Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac
Cinematographer: Robert Burks
Composer: Bernard Herrmann
Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore

Hitchcock’s most acclaimed film, depicting a retired policeman’s journey into obsession as he becomes infatuated with the woman that he is hired to follow, is a dark, and at times, hard-to-watch film, which, with its stunning performance from Stewart, Herrmann’s wonderful score, and some appropriately ugly cinematography, manages to paint a scathingly brilliant portrait of the dark heart of man. Iain.Stott

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La Règle du Jeu (1939)

Essential Viewing

France

Feature Film
Original Title: La règle du jeu
Director: Jean Renoir
Writers: Carl Koch, Jean Renoir
Cinematographers: Alphen, Bachelet, Jacques Lemare, Alain Renoir
Cast: Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, Jean Renoir, Mila Parély, Julien Carette, Gaston Modot, Roland Toutain, Odette Talazac, Claire Gérard

Renoir’s delightful masterpiece, a satirical look at the lives of the idle rich and the complicit, accommodating poor, during a weekend shooting party at a country mansion just prior to WWII, proves to be an insightful, funny, and visually arresting film, and perhaps the definitive French farce. Iain.Stott

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Citizen Kane (1941)

Feature Film | Drama | USA | English | 1h59m

Dir: Orson Welles | Scr: Herman J. Mankiewicz & Orson Welles | Ph: Gregg Toland | Prod: Orson Welles | Mus: Bernard Herrmann | Ed: Robert Wise | AD: Van Nest Polglase | Snd: John Aalberg | Sfx: Vernon L. Walker | Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, Everett Sloane, George Coulouris 

Welles’s brilliant and vibrant fictional biopic, depicting the life of a newspaper magnate from childhood to death, concentrating on his fruitless quest to fill the gap left by the maternal love that he was denied as a child, is a film that just about deserves its lofty reputation. With gorgeous photography, magnificent mise en scène, peerless production values, and several excellent performances (not the least of which coming from the incredible Comingore), Citizen Kane comes as close to capturing a man’s entire life on celluloid as any film ever has.

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Vernon God Little (2003)

UK

Novel
Author: DBC Pierre

Pierre’s satirical-but-human novel, following the misadventures of a small-town-Texas boy, accused of complicity in a School massacre and several other murders, is, with its delightfully original prose and continually surprising narrative, a wonderful portrait of the Columbine, reality-TV, and news-as-entertainment generation. Iain.Stott

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Skins: Series 2 (2008)

UK

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

The second series of this popular, Bristol set, youth centred comedy drama, notably darker and more dramatic in tone than its predecessor, is an honest, brave, and often very funny attempt to capture the lives of a group of young people on the verge of adulthood. Iain.Stott

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The Pilgrim (1923)

Recommended

USA

Short Film
Writer/Director: Charles Chaplin
Cinematographer: Roland Totheroh
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Kitty Bradbury, Syd Chaplin, Mack Swain, Charles Reisner, Tom Murray

An escaped convict on the lam, disguised as a preacher, is mistaken for the new minister of Devil's Gulch, where he muddles through a service, falls for his landlady’s daughter, and comes unstuck at the hands of a former cellmate, in this tremendously entertaining if somewhat unexceptional Chaplin short. Iain.Stott

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Shoulder Arms (1918)

Recommended

USA
Short Film
Writer/Director: Charles Chaplin
Cinematographer: Roland Totheroh
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Syd Chaplin, Jack Wilson, Henry Bergman, Tom Wilson, Loyal Underwood

Chaplin’s class conscious war film, following the misadventures of an American recruit in France in 1918, highlighting the privations suffered by those involved during WWI and the absurdity of war, is an amusing, biting, and somewhat atypical Chaplin short. Iain.Stott

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A Dog's Life (1918)

Recommended

USA
Short Film
Writer/Director: Charles Chaplin
Cinematographer: R.H. Totheroh
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Syd Chaplin, Henry Bergman, Albert Austin, Bud Jamison, Tom Wilson, Granville Redmond

Click for review.

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Girl Shy (1924)

Essential Viewing

USA

Feature Film
Directors: Fred Newmeyer, Sam Taylor
Writers: Sam Taylor, Tim Whelan, Ted Wilde, Thomas J. Gray
Cinematographer: Walter Lundin
Cast: Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Richard Daniels, Carlton Griffin

A timid, stuttering, girl-shy tailor – the author of The Secret of Making Love – falls in love with a rich girl, and goes to great lengths in order to save her honour, in Lloyd’s delightful romantic comedy, a richly textured, beautifully paced, and thoroughly entertaining film, which slowly builds to a fantastic, action-packed climax. Iain.Stott

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An Eastern Westerner (1920)

Recommended

USA

Short Film
Director: Hal Roach
Writers: Frank Terry, H.M. Walker
Cinematographer: Walter Lundin
Cast: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Noah Young, Jim Kelley, Sammy Brooks, Mark Jones, Wallace Howe

An immature playboy is shipped off out west in order to curb his outlandish behaviour, and ends up in a number of scrapes, in this amusing Harold Lloyd short, which is perhaps best remembered, and deservedly so, for a hilarious poker sequence. Iain.Stott

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Safety Last! (1923)

Highly Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Directors: Fred Newmeyer, Sam Taylor
Writers: Hal Roach, Sam Taylor, Tim Whelan, H.M. Walker
Cinematographer: Walter Lundin
Cast: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother, Noah Young, Westcott Clarke

A department store clerk goes to extreme lengths in order to win the approval of his intended, including lying, risking starvation, and undertaking death-defying feats, in Lloyd’s most celebrated feature, a cynically satirical and shamelessly romantic film, which features several wonderfully timed set-pieces and a cracking central performance. Iain.Stott

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You Only Live Once (1937)

Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Fritz Lang
Writers: Gene Towne, Graham Baker
Cinematographer: Leon Shamroy
Cast: Henry Fonda, Sylvia Sidney, Barton MacLane, Jean Dixon, William Gargan, Jerome Cowan, Chic Sale

A captivating and affecting if slightly rushed feeling crime film, featuring a pair of excellent performances from Fonda and the angel-faced Sidney, Lang’s bleak examination of the criminal justice system – You Only Live Once – follows a recently released ex-con and his new bride’s (seemingly futile) attempts to live a normal life. Iain.Stott

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Where Eagles Dare (1968)

Cautiously Recommended

UK/USA
Feature Film
Director: Brian G. Hutton
Writer: Alistair MacLean
Cinematographer: Arthur Ibbetson
Composer: Ron Goodwin
Cast: Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, Mary Ure, Patrick Wymark, Michael Hordern, Anton Diffring, Ferdy Mayne, Derren Nesbitt, Victor Beaumont, Ingrid Pitt

This amusing adaptation of MacLean’s novel, following a crack team of soldiers as they parachute into Nazi territory in order to rescue a high ranking British officer, is, despite often feeling rather silly and quite empty, and having a most bizarre and out-of-place score, a constantly surprising and camply entertaining action film. Iain.Stott

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Sick (2003)

Not Recommended

UK
Short Film
Director: Hattie Dalton
Cinematographer: Donald NG
Composer: Gabriel Currington
Cast: Simon Merrells, Jane Robins

This blackly comic, very short, and cheaply made short film, depicting the misadventures of a young man as he calls in a sickie, is, nevertheless, quite amusing if rather underwhelming. Iain.Stott

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She Loves Me She Loves Me Not (2003)

Recommended

UK
Short Film
Writer/Director: Jamie Rafn
Cinematographer: Federico Alfonzo
Composer: Gordan Halaykievic
Cast: Christina Baily, Matt Laroche

Rafn’s likable silent short film, depicting a relationship between the drop-dead-gorgeous Baily and the laddish Laroche in its entirety, from coy flirting to acrimonious break-up, in the form of a series of vignettes in the style of the titular game, is, with Alfonso’s often stunning cinematography and Halaykievic’s delightful score, a thoroughly entertaining experience. Iain.Stott

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The Most Beautiful Man in the World (2002)

Recommended

UK/France
Short Film
Writer/Director: Alicia Duffy
Cinematographer: Nanu Segal
Cast: Holly Bishop, Paige Bishop, Anton Saunders, Julee Moorcroft

Duffy’s enigmatic short film, depicting a brief encounter between a listless young girl and the titular beautiful man, is a sumptuous, intimate, and rather beautiful (or perhaps disturbing) experience. Iain.Stott

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Dad's Dead (2003)

Recommended

UK
Part-Animated Short Film
Writer/Director/Animator: Chris Shepherd
Cinematographer: Peter Ellmore
Composer: John Moore
Cast: Ian Hart, Chris Freeney, Dallas Messias, John Murphy, Dave Kent, Kay D'Arcy

Shepherd’s often stunning part-animated short film, exploring with great visual imagination the souring of a childhood friendship in 1970s Liverpool, proves to be, with the ever-excellent Hart’s lively narration, a funny, disturbing, and darkly affecting piece. Iain.Stott

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The Cat with Hands (2001)

Not Recommended

UK
Animated Short Film
Writer/Director/Animator: Robert Morgan
Cinematographer: Marcus Waterloo
Cast: Livy Armstrong, Victoria Hayes, Daniel Hogwood-Kane

An arrestingly shot if instantly forgettable part-animated short film recounting the legend of a mystical cat that steals human body parts to use as its own. Iain.Stott

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The Last Post (2001)

Recommended

UK
Short Film
Director: Dominic Santana
Writer: Lee Santana
Cinematographer: Patrick Crockart
Composer: Tim Phillips
Cast: Kevin Knapman, Gael García Bernal, Jimena La Torre, David Dayan Fisher

The Santana brothers’ affecting short - a snapshot of a shameful episode from a shameful war, a war that is a great black spot on the history of both Britain and Argentina - manages to capture the human cost of the actions of two right-wing governments in need of a political boost. Iain.Stott

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That's My Wife (1929)

Cautiously Recommended

USA
Short Film
Director: Lloyd French
Writers: Leo McCarey, H.M. Walker
Cinematographer: George Stevens
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, William Courtright, Jimmy Aubrey

That's My Wife is a mildly entertaining Laurel and Hardy silent short, involving a marital dispute, a conservative uncle, and Laurel in drag, which just about manages to amuse despite being rather predictable. Iain.Stott

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On the Loose (1931)

Recommended

USA

Short Film
Director: Hal Roach
Writers: Hal Roach, H.M. Walker
Cinematographer: Len Powers
Composer: Leroy Shield
Cast: Zasu Pitts, Thelma Todd, John Loder, Claud Allister, Billy Gilbert, Otto Fries, Charlie Hall, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy

Roach’s short, following two young women, disappointed at always being taken to Coney Island by gentlemen admirers, who mistakenly think, when two debonair Englishmen promise to take them somewhere classy and original, that their days at funfairs are numbered, proves to be, with Pitts’s brilliantly world-weary performance and a delightful cameo from Laurel and Hardy, a thoroughly enjoyable experience, which also provides an interesting look at the leisure habits of people during the early 1930s. Iain.Stott

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My Learned Friend (1943)

Highly Recommended

UK
Feature Film
Directors: Basil Dearden, Will Hay
Writers: John Dighton, Angus MacPhail
Cinematographer: W. Cooper
Composer: Ernest Irving
Cast: Will Hay, Claude Hulbert, Mervyn Johns, Charles Victor, Derna Hazell, Eddie Phillips, Lloyd Pearson, Maudie Edwards

Click for review.

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Reds (1981)

Recommended

USA
Feature Film/Feature Documentary
Director: Warren Beatty
Writers: Warren Beatty, Trevor Griffiths
Cinematographer: Vittorio Storaro
Composer: Stephen Sondheim
Cast: Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Edward Herrmann, Jerzy Kosinski, Jack Nicholson, Paul Sorvino, Maureen Stapleton

Beatty’s engrossing epic, following the life of journalist-turned-revolutionary, John Reed, during the 1910s in America and Russia, is a well-made and even-handed portrait of passionate people attempting, and generally failing, to bridge the horribly messy gap between ideals and cold, hard reality. Iain.Stott

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Logan's Run (1976)

Not Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Michael Anderson
Writers: David Zelag Goodman, George Clayton Johnson, William F. Nolan
Cinematographer: Ernest Laszlo
Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
Cast: Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Peter Ustinov, Richard Jordan, Michael Anderson Jr.

Anderson’s mildly diverting work of science-fiction, portraying a post-apocalyptic society in which the inhabitants of an idyllic, sheltered city must give up their lives at the age of thirty, suffers from some rather earnest and melodramatic acting that makes some scenes unintentionally funny, but Ustinov deserves some praise. Iain.Stott

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Leave 'em Laughing (1928)

Not Recommended

USA
Short Film
Director: Clyde Bruckman
Writers: Reed Heustis, Hal Roach
Cinematographer: George Stevens
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charlie Hall, Edgar Kennedy, Jack Lloyd

This silent Laurel and Hardy short, involving tooth ache, laughing gas, and a traffic cop, is one of the comedy duo’s more tedious efforts, but does contain one or two amusing moments. Iain.Stott

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Perfect Day (1929)

Recommended

USA

Short Film
Director: James Parrott
Writers: H.M. Walker, Leo McCarey, Hal Roach
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Edgar Kennedy, Kay Deslys, Isabelle Keith, Baldwin Cooke

Stan, Ollie, and wives’ attempts to leave suburbia and enjoy a picnic in the country are thwarted by polite neighbours, a drawing pin, and abject stupidity, in this funny early-talkie, which criminally underuses the considerable talents of Edgar Kennedy. Iain.Stott

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When the Wind Blows (1986)

Recommended

UK
Animated Feature Film
Director: Jimmy T. Murakami
Writer: Raymond Briggs
Composer: Roger Waters
Cast: John Mills, Peggy Ashcroft

This imaginatively animated film, depicting a terribly naïve retired couple as they attempt to survive a nuclear strike, is an all too believable, disturbing, funny, and moving portrait of the tragic absurdity of war. Iain.Stott

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Tit for Tat (1935)

Essential Viewing

USA

Short Film
Director: Charley Rogers
Cinematographer: Art Lloyd
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charlie Hall, Mae Busch, James C. Morton

This cracking sequel to Them Thar Hills (1934), a tale of escalating, reciprocal destruction and violence, is a hilarious short film, ripe for metaphorical readings, and one of the comedy team’s finest efforts. Iain.Stott

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Them Thar Hills (1934)

Recommended

USA
Short Film
Director: Charley Rogers
Cinematographer: Art Lloyd
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Mae Busch, Charlie Hall, Billy Gilbert

A Gout-stricken Ollie, under doctor’s orders to get out into the country and drink plenty of water, finds, with Stan, an ideal spot to pitch their caravan, water-well included, which, it just so happens, is filled with bootleggers‘ moonshine, dumped earlier that afternoon: chaos and hilarity ensue. Iain.Stott

Followed by Tit for Tat (1935)

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County Hospital (1932)

Recommended

USA

Short Film
Director: James Parrott
Writer: H.M. Walker
Cinematographer: Art Lloyd
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Billy Gilbert, May Wallace, Estelle Etterre, William Austin, Sam Lufkin

This Laurel and Hardy film, following Stan to the titular hospital to visit a convalescing, broken-legged Ollie, is, despite some rather dodgy back-projection, a destructively funny short work. Iain.Stott

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Miracle Mile (1988)

Essential Viewing

USA

Feature Film
Writer/Director: Steve De Jarnatt
Cinematographers: Theo Van de Sande, Dennis Weaver
Composers: Tangerine Dream
Cast: Anthony Edwards, Mare Winningham, John Agar, Lou Hancock, Mykelti Williamson, Denise Crosby, Robert DoQui, O-Lan Jones, Claude Earl Jones, Alan Rosenberg, Danny De La Paz, Diane Delano, Raphael Sbarge, Brian Thompson

De Jarnatt’s stunning apocalyptic drama, depicting a young musician’s attempts to save his new love after rumours of an impending nuclear strike begin to circulate, succeeds, thanks mainly to Tangerine Dream’s ethereal score, in capturing the dreamlike disbelievability of hard-to-comprehend events, and, with Edwards and Winningham’s touching performances, also manages to be ironically beautiful. Iain.Stott

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The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)

Recommended

France

Feature Film
Original Title: Les demoiselles de Rochefort
Writer/Director: Jacques Demy
Cinematographer: Ghislain Cloquet
Composer: Michel Legrand
Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Dorléac, Michel Piccoli, Jacques Riberolles, Jacques Perrin, Gene Kelly, Danielle Darrieux, George Chakiris, Grover Dale

Demy’s pleasingly convoluted musical, following several intertwining narratives of loves lost, found, and desired, is, thanks in the main to the delightful performances of real life siblings Deneuve and Dorléac, a charming and entertaining if slightly lightweight experience. Iain.Stott

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Raging Bull (1980)

Essential Viewing

USA

Feature Film
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writers: Mardik Martin, Paul Schrader, Joseph Carter, Jake LaMotta, Peter Savage
Cinematographer: Michael Chapman
Cast: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent, Nicholas Colasanto, Johnny Barnes

Scorsese’s magnum opus, unflinchingly portraying of the rise and fall of talented but volatile middleweight boxer Jake La Motta in the New York of the 1940s and ‘50s, is, with Chapman’s ironically beautiful photography and De Niro and Pesci’s outstanding performances, a truly stunning examination of violent lives. Iain.Stott

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Oedipus (2005)

Recommended

UK
Short Film
Directors: Rong
Writer: Nathan Filer
Cinematographers: Robert Curzon-Butler, Ben Atkins
Cast: Nathan Filer, Peter Clifford

The Rong collective’s finest achievement by quite someway, a modern, dirtily hilarious retelling of Oedipus Rex, featuring a porn magazine, a housewife of the month, and an unlocked bathroom door, is, thanks in the main to the fantastic Filer’s excellent relating of his equally excellent screenplay, a very funny and quite unforgettable short film. Iain.Stott

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The End (2002)

Recommended

UK
Short Film
Writer/Directors: Tim Clayton, Rob Crowther
Cinematographer: Simon Vickery
Cast: Mike Hayley

An amusing short film depicting a man who, through innocently moving a globe on his desk and hearing the resulting chaos outside, realises that the fate of the world is in his hands. Iain.Stott

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Nine 1/2 Minutes (2002)

Cautiously Recommended

UK
Short Film
Writer/Directors: Josh Appignanesi, Misha Manson-Smith
Cinematographer: Baz Irvine
Composer: Lotown
Cast: David Tennant, Zoe Telford

This mildly diverting short film, following a couple on a rather unusual first date, just about holds the attention thanks in the main to the charismatic duo of Tennant and Telford. Iain.Stott

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Persona (1966)

Essential Viewing

Sweden

Feature Film
Writer/Director: Ingmar Bergman
Cinematographer: Sven Nykvist
Composer: Lars Johan Werle
Cast: Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann

Bergman’s enigmatic masterpiece, exploring the tortuous relationship between an unaccountably mute actress and her vivacious nurse, is, with its striking imagery and Andersson and Ullman’s fantastic performances, an erotic, troubling, disturbing, and unforgettable experience. Iain.Stott

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Wild Strawberries (1957)

Essential Viewing

Sweden

Feature Film
Original Title: Smultronstället
Writer/Director: Ingmar Bergman
Cinematographer: Gunnar Fischer
Composer: Erik Nordgren
Cast: Victor Sjöström, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Jullan Kindahl, Folke Sundquist, Björn Bjelfvenstam, Naima Wifstrand, Gunnel Broström, Gertrud Fridh, Sif Ruud

Bergman’s tender, episodic masterpiece, following an old man on a literal and metaphorical journey through time, space, and memory, is a beautifully acted, shot, and scored film that manages to be insightful, funny, disturbing, and above all else very moving. Iain.Stott

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Radio On Remix (1998)

Not Recommended

UK
Short Television Film
Director: Chris Petit
Cinematographer: Martin Schäfer
Cast: David Beames

This re-edit of Petit’s 1980 masterpiece, Radio On, has a certain hypnotic beauty, but the whole thing, which would perhaps be better housed in an art gallery, feels rather pointless and empty. Iain.Stott

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Taxi Driver (1976)

Essential Viewing

USA

Feature Film
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Paul Schrader
Cinematographer: Michael Chapman
Composer: Bernard Herrmann
Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Cybill Shepherd, Albert Brooks, Leonard Harris, Peter Boyle, Martin Scorsese

Scorsese’s brilliant masterpiece, following an emotionally disturbed social misfit through the streets of nocturnal New York, is, with Herrmann’s final and perhaps greatest score and De Niro’s incredible performance, a violently insightful portrait of loneliness and isolation. Iain.Stott

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Radio On (1980)

Highly Recommended

UK/West Germany

Feature Film
Writer/Director: Chris Petit
Cinematographer: Martin Schäfer
Cast: David Beames, Lisa Kreuzer, Sandy Ratcliff, Andrew Byatt, Sue Jones-Davies, Sting, Sabina Michael

Petit’s depressingly beautiful film, an emotional and physical portrait of 1979’s Britain, following a sullen man on a road trip from London to Brighton after the death of his brother, is, with its striking imagery and memorable soundtrack, a masterful and quite unforgettable depiction of pessimistic times. Iain.Stott

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Ninotchka (1939)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Writers: Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch, Billy Wilder, Melchior Lengyel
Cinematographer: William Daniels
Composer: Werner R. Heymann
Cast: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire, Bela Lugosi, Sig Ruman, Felix Bressart, Alexander Granach, Gregory Gaye

Lubitsch’s charmingly silly film, depicting a tentative romance between a frivolous French playboy and a dour Soviet envoy, is, thanks in the main to the way that Garbo and Douglas play off each other, a thoroughly entertaining if rather artificial ode to the benefits of compromise and moderateness. Iain.Stott

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Juno (2007)

Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Jason Reitman
Writer: Diablo Cody
Cinematographer: Eric Steelberg
Composer: Mateo Messina
Cast: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, Allison Janney, J.K. Simmons, Olivia Thirlby

Reitman’s delightful film, following an unbelievably smart yet pregnant 16-year-old girl from conception to birth, taking in inept pro-lifers and potential adoptive parents, is, with its artificial but brilliant dialogue, Page’s wonderful performance, and a pleasantly quirky soundtrack, a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Iain.Stott

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Lust, Caution (2007)

Recommended

China/Taiwan/Hong Kong/USA
Feature Film
Original Title: 色，戒
Director: Ang Lee
Writers: James Schamus, Wang Hui-Ling, Eileen Chang
Cinematographer: Rodrigo Prieto
Composer: Alexandre Desplat
Cast: Tang Wei, Tony Leung, Joan Chen, Tou Chung-Hua, Wang Lee-Hom

Lee’s follow-up to Brokeback Mountain (2005), following a young member of the Chinese resistance assigned to be the mistress of a member of the collaborationist government in China in 1942, is, thanks in the main to Tang and Leung’s restrained but affecting performances, an engrossing, deeply human, and really rather moving film. Iain.Stott

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Capote (2005)

Recommended

USA/Canada
Feature Film
Director: Bennett Miller
Writers: Dan Futterman, Gerald Clarke
Cinematographer: Adam Kimmel
Composer: Mychael Danna
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr., Chris Cooper, Bruce Greenwood, Mark Pellegrino

Miller’s engrossing film, portraying Truman Capote’s writing of the non-fiction novel In Cold Blood, an exploration of the events that lead to the horrific murder of an entire Kansas family in 1959, is, with excellent performances from Hoffman and Collins Jr. and Danna’s thoughtful score, an insightful, restrained, and moving depiction of difficult events. Iain.Stott

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Her Name Is Sabine (2007)

Highly Recommended

France
Feature Documentary
Original Title: Elle s'appelle Sabine
Director: Sandrine Bonnaire
Cinematographer: Sandrine Bonnaire, Catherine Cabrol
Composers: Jefferson Lembeye, Nicola Piovani
Featuring: Sabine Bonnaire

Actress Sandrine Bonnaire’s intimate portrait of her autistic sister, Sabine, alternating between home-movie footage of a young, pretty, and vibrant Sabine before she was hospitalised, and patient, observational footage of her today, physically, mentally, and emotionally diminished, is a delicate, beautiful, humane, and heartbreakingly moving film. Iain.Stott

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The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Not Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Louis Leterrier
Writer: Zak Penn
Cinematographer: Peter Menzies Jr.
Composer: Craig Armstrong
Cast: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Lou Ferrigno, Débora Nascimento, Pedro Salvín

This mildly diverting action flick, following a scientist’s attempts to find a cure for his radiation-induced condition whilst avoiding the attentions of the military, is a well-made but quite forgettable film and a rather empty experience. Iain.Stott

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Blades of Glory (2007)

Best Avoided

USA
Feature Film
Directors: Josh Gordon, Will Speck
Writers: John Altschuler, Craig Cox, Jeff Cox, Dave Krinsky, Busy Philipps
Cinematographer: Stefan Czapsky
Composer: Theodore Shapiro
Cast: Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, William Fichtner, Jenna Fischer, Craig T Nelson

An amusing chase sequence aside, this juvenile comedy, following two disgraced former rivals as they become figure skating’s first all male pairing, is a tedious and painfully unfunny film. Iain.Stott

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Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case (2007)

Recommended

Russia
Feature Documentary
Original Title: Bunt. Delo Litvinenko
Director: Andrei Nekrasov
Cinematographers: Sergei Tsikhanovich, Marcus Winterbauer
Composer: Vadim Kulitskiy
Featuring: Alexander Litvinenko, Andrei Nekrasov, Vladimir Putin, Marina Litvinenko, Boris Berezovsky, André Glucksmann, Andrei Lugovoi, Anna Politkovskaya, Mikhail Trepashkin, Ivan Demushkin

Ostensibly an exploration of the murder of former Russian agent, Alexander Litvinenko, Nekrasov’s compelling documentary, mixing often disturbing archive footage with conventional if occasionally rather ostentatious talking heads footage, is, in reality, more of an attack against Putin and Russia’s seeming continuation as a totalitarian police state than an investigation of the titular case. Iain.Stott

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In the Valley of Elah (2007)

Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Paul Haggis
Writers: Paul Haggis, Mark Boal
Cinematographer: Roger Deakins
Composer: Mark Isham
Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon, Jason Patric, Josh Brolin, James Franco, Barry Corbin, Josh Brolin, Frances Fisher, Wes Chatham, Jake McLaughlin, Mehcad Brooks

A rather cheesy final shot aside, Haggis’s otherwise subtle film, part murder mystery, part exploration of the dehumanising effects of war, is, thanks in the main to some exceptional performances, Lee Jones in particular is outstanding, a thoroughly compelling, powerful, and moving work. Iain.Stott

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Diary of the Dead (2007)

Cautiously Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Writer/Director: George A. Romero
Cinematographer: Adam Swica
Composer: Norman Orenstein
Cast: Michelle Morgan, Josh Close, Shawn Roberts, Amy Lalonde, Joe Dinicol, Scott Wentworth, Philip Riccio, Chris Violette, Tatiana Maslany, Todd Schroeder

Romero’s least successful zombie picture by quite some way, this rather unsubtle social satire, following a group of film students as they document an outbreak of zombiism, is, despite some rather hammy acting, a fairly entertaining if desperately disappointing film. Iain.Stott

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Fade to Black (2006)

Not Recommended

UK/Italy/Serbia
Feature Film
Director: Oliver Parker
Writers: Oliver Parker, Davide Ferrario
Cinematographer: John de Borman
Composer: Charlie Mole
Cast: Danny Huston, Diego Luna, Paz Vega, Anna Galiena, Christopher Walken, Nathaniel Parker, Violante Placido, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Semeli Economou

Parker’s adaptation of Ferrario’s novel, Dissolvenza al nero (1994), a fictionalised account of Orson Welles’s time in Italy in 1948 making Black Magic (1949), involving murder, political skulduggery, and some amateur sleuthing, is an uneven and slightly rushed if mildly diverting thriller with a good performance from Huston as Welles. Iain.Stott

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Cloverfield (2008)

Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Matt Reeves
Writer: Drew Goddard
Cinematographer: Michael Bonvillain
Cast: Michael Stahl-David, Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan, Mike Vogel, T.J. Miller, Odette Yustman

Reeves’s cracking monster movie, following a group of ridiculously-good-looking young people as they try to avoid being eaten by an indiscriminately destructive monster in Manhattan, is a compelling, visceral, and deceptively smart allegorical thriller. Iain.Stott

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The Orphanage (2007)

Cautiously Recommended

Spain/Mexico
Feature Film
Original Title: El orfanato
Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
Writer: Sergio G. Sánchez
Cinematographer: Óscar Faura
Composer: Fernando Velázquez
Cast: Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Príncep, Mabel Rivera, Montserrat Carulla, Andrés Gertrúdix, Edgar Vivar

Bayona’s diverting ghost story, a tale about a young mother who after the disappearance of her young son becomes convinced that his imaginary friends are to blame, is a well-made and often surprising film that, unfortunately, never quite feels credible enough to deliver the visceral punch that the genre demands. Iain.Stott

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Live from the Cenotaph - Last Voices of a Generation (2008)

UK
Television
Featuring: Huw Edwards, Henry Allingham, Harry Patch, William Stone

The BBC’s coverage of the Armistice Day Service at the cenotaph, Whitehall, London, a service of remembrance for those that lost their lives during the first world war, forces us to ask certain questions: should these proceedings be denominational, or even religious at all? Does the constant use of the work sacrifice confuse us into thinking that these poor unfortunate souls actually had a choice in the matter? Do these proceedings romanticise war and death, making horrible, tragic bloodshed seem noble? Shouldn’t we just remember the tragic slaughter of the average men who died for the follies of rich men? Iain.Stott

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SherryBaby (2006)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film
Writer/Director: Laurie Collyer
Cinematographer: Russell Lee Fine
Composer: Jack Livesey
Cast: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Brad William Henke, Giancarlo Esposito, Danny Trejo, Ryan Simpkins, Bridget Barkan, Sam Bottoms

Notable mainly for Gyllenhaal’s performance, Collyer’s feature debut, a portrait of a young recovering addict, just out of prison, who is attempting to rebuild her relationship with her young daughter, is, despite being more depressing than moving, a compelling if rather difficult to watch film. Iain.Stott

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Dark Horse (2005)

Recommended

Denmark/Iceland
Feature Film
Original Title: Voksne mennesker
Director: Dagur Kári
Writers: Dagur Kári, Rune Schjøtt
Cinematographer: Manuel Alberto Claro
Composers: Slowblow
Cast: Jakob Cedergren, Nicolas Bro, Tilly Scott Pedersen, Morten Suurballe, Bodil Jørgensen, Nicolaj Kopernikus, Anders Hove

Kári’s follow-up to the memorable Noi Albinoi (2003), following the misadventures of a twenty-something slacker and his obese, aspiring-referee best friend, is a cracking film that begins as riotously funny, offbeat comedy, and gradually and subtly darkens in tone as life’s realities slowly creep up on its young protagonists. Iain.Stott

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