Johnnie To’s first – and, to date, only – international co-production does not quite scale the levels of inventiveness found in his Hong Kong-specific works, but Vengeance remains a beautifully staged and operatic action thriller. French chef Francis Costello (Johnny Hallyday) arrives … Continue reading REVIEW: Vengeance (2009)
An unemployed, nameless horse butcher (Philippe Nahon) living in northern France violently assaults his wife, steals a gun, and makes his way home to Paris – where he plans his revenge against a society that has left him feel alone … Continue reading REVIEW: I Stand Alone (1998)
Ben (David Ralwe) lives on a lighthouse with his father Colin (Brendan Gleeson) and little sister Saoirse. His mother vanished the night she gave birth to Saoirse, who is non-verbal. Ben blames his sister for his mother’s disappearance, while Colin … Continue reading REVIEW: Song of the Sea (2014)
On a flight from Tokyo to Paris, one first-class passenger surreptitiously drugs the water of another. When that drugged business executive begins to pass out at the airport, she is picked up by two men who throw her into the … Continue reading REVIEW: Demonlover (2002)
In 1979 Paris, Anne (Vanessa Paradis) runs an independent film studio making gay pornography. When a masked assailant begins stalking the city’s gay community, violently murdering Anne’s actors one by one, she is drawn into tracking the killer down before … Continue reading REVIEW: Knife + Heart (2018)
A note that this reviews spoils a little more of the film’s plot than I usually would. Short version of this review is that it is a profoundly excellent film and you should see it. Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) is … Continue reading REVIEW: The Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)
A man named Georges (Jean Dujardin) pays more than €7,000 for a garish fringed leather jacket made from deer skin, before booking himself into a nearby hotel. His obsession with his purchase then spirals out of control, in this absurd … Continue reading REVIEW: Deerskin (2019)
A man named Fred (Bill Pullman) is approached at a party by a stranger in a black suit and eerie white make-up (Robert Blake). The stranger insists they have met before, in Fred’s house – something that Fred denies. ‘As … Continue reading REVIEW: Lost Highway (1997)
Natalia (Marie Matheron) is heavily pregnant to her boyfriend of six years, Stéphane (Michel Feller). He has grown distant and disinterested – in both his girlfriend and his child – and is more focused on an affair with the intense … Continue reading REVIEW: Winter’s Child (1989)
Three youths – Henri (Lucas Belvaux), Anne (Ann-Gisel Glass), and Yvan (Wadeck Stanczak) – attempt to burgle a music shop, only to accidentally kill its owner in a panic. Their theft was to find musical instruments to sustain their struggling … Continue reading REVIEW: Disorder (1986)
