A brilliant actor Guillaume Canet has brought us a magnificent directorial follow up to his 2006 film Tell No One. Little White Lies is written and directed by Canet and he has done a wonderful job of creating real relationships on the screen amongst this group of fine actors. Continue reading
film review
Smells like a date movie – The Adjustment Bureau
The Adjustment Bureau is Matt Damon’s latest action flick and George Nolfi’s first film as a director. Nolfi has adapted a short story by Phillip K Dick, the sci-fi author who just keeps giving long after he has passed on. Continue reading
Smells like a dead man’s breath – Biutiful
Uxbal is a tortured soul; torn between his family, his work and his death. He alternately exploits and protects various groups of migrant workers in Barcelona who he makes a living off of. We also see glimpses of another life he leads; again is he exploiting grieving families or helping them by speaking to their recently departed loved ones? He makes a connection to the dead he seems to find hard to make in his own life. Biutiful is a startling film full of light and dark. Continue reading
Smells like Fox’s glacier mints – The Thorn in the Heart
Michel Gondry is a French director of one of my favourite films; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. He has made this wonderful documentary about his aunt, the matriarch of the Gondry clan. Continue reading
Smells like eau de cologne – Le Refuge
This is one of those brilliant French films where nothing seems to happen on the surface but it is all going on underneath. Lingering looks an underplayed soundtrack and beautiful people set against gorgeous surroundings. Continue reading
Smells like the end of days – Zone of the Dead
Classic zombie film this is not. Steaming pile of horse manure is more like it. Cliché after cliché, you can see the next plot turn coming a mile off, lacking in wit and good production values, this film is a waste of your time unless you are very very drunk and do not care what you are watching, but even then you could always stick on your much loved copy of the Evil Dead for real entertainment. Continue reading
Smells like paranoid potheads – Down Terrace
If you started watching this film without prior knowledge that it was meant to be a comedy ten you would have initial thoughts of “Oh, loach-leigh-arnold-esque without any of their redeeming features”. It is very kitchen sink, not least because of its almost entirely being set inside the house of the main protagonists. Continue reading
Smells like Smoke and Mirrors – Tears for Sale
Amusing and sentimental by turns this Serbian feature is a look at what happened to the women when the men were all gone after the war. With twisted characters contrasting out of place innocence Tears for Sale is dark and sexy and funny. Continue reading
Smells like a desert storm – The Stoning of Soraya M
Based on the book of the same name by journalist Freidoune Sahebjam The Stoning of Soraya M is a brutal look at life for women in a small village in Iran in 1986. Continue reading
Smells like bleach and honey – The Maid
Set in an upper class neighbourhood in Chile The Maid is a delight. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Golden Globes and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at last year’s Sundance and it is easy to see why. Continue reading
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