Mikio Naruse is one of the key early directors of Japanese cinema, having made his directorial debut with Mr and Mrs Swordplay in 1930 (a silent film, now sadly lost) and continuing to direct through to his death in 1969. While other … Continue reading REVIEW: Ginza Cosmetics (1951)
Narrative cinema is a broad medium with seemingly endless potential for disrupting common tropes, experimenting with form, and subverting audience expectations. That said, the further a filmmaker strays from the accepted mainstream the more challenging their work will become for … Continue reading REVIEW: A Korean in Paris (2015)
While not a necessary element of horror cinema, social commentary is such a solid match for the genre that the better films usually find room for it somewhere. Ready or Not, a campy exercise in which a bride is hunted for … Continue reading REVIEW: Ready or Not (2019)
What could have been a noisy melodrama is instead a thoughtful, warm, and pleasant slice of life in Paz Fábrega’s Aurora – the third narrative feature from the talented Costa-Rican filmmaker. Professional architect and part-time art teacher Luisa (Rebecca Woodbridge) finds … Continue reading MIFF REVIEW: Aurora (2021)
Once again, let us discuss ‘torture porn’. This is the car that I shall always be chasing. This is the hill upon which I have chosen to die. The term is, of course, an utter nonsense; referring to horror films … Continue reading REVIEW: The Farm (2018)
Among Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pantheon of 1980s action characters, Russian police detective Ivan Danko is undoubtedly one of the more obscure. Paired up with James Belushi’s jaded American cop Art Ridzik in Walter Hill’s Red Heat (1988), he did not resonate with … Continue reading REVIEW: Red Heat (1988)
Comedy hit Antoinette in the Cévennes was one of the most popular films at this year’s Alliance Française French Film Festival. Thanks to Madman Entertainment, Caroline Vignal’s wonderful misadventure of hiking with a donkey and chasing after love is now … Continue reading REVIEW: Antoinette in the Cévennes (2020)
The 1980s was a decade dominated by popular high concept action films, heavy on muscular stars who were short on refined talent but huge on screen presence. More than anything it was the decade of Sylvester Stallone versus Arnold Schwarzenegger, … Continue reading REVIEW: Commando (1985)
William Shakespeare has inspired filmmakers since the very origins of the form. Starting with Dixon and Dando’s King John in 1899, there have been in excess of 400 films produced that are either adapted from or inspired by Shakespeare’s work. While the … Continue reading REVIEW: As We Like It (2021)
It seems that, by the release of Furious Six in 2013, the Fast and the Furious saga had slipped into a rather comfortable routine: a new film every two years, pushing forward the increasingly soap opera-like narrative each time and also pushing the franchise … Continue reading REVIEW: Furious Six (2013)
