See cinema differently
A series of essays on my personal pick of favourite films
Year: 1998 Director: John McNaughton Stars: Denise Richards, Kevin Bacon, Matt Dillon It'd be easy to besmirch the latter day career of Denise Richards, whose reality TV persona often feels like a warped mirror image of the kinds of roles she was nabbing in her late '90s heyday. But while she's never been the greatest …
Year: 2007 Director: Céline Sciamma Stars: Adèle Haenel, Pauline Acquart, Louise Blachère The film 'canon' of the recent past is already being cemented. Award winners and blockbusters cementing themselves as the fenceposts along which cinema history will be strung. In the case of 2007, the shoe-in titles - as with most years - tell a …
Year: 1933 Director: Alfred E. Green Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Theresa Harris I don't know about you, but I go through phases with movies, especially when it comes to discovering the past. '70s regional American horrors. Silent movies. '50s westerns and melodramas. Japanese kaiju, Italian giallo or Iranian New Wave pictures. I'll dip in …
Year: 2015 Director: Hong Sang-soo Stars: Kim Min-hee, Jung Jae-young, Youn Yuh-jung Here's a thing. While I voraciously devour new movie experiences, I love to re-watch ones I've seen, too. To have those experiences again, or to be surprised by how memory shaped or changed them. To discover anew. There's comfort in the re-watch. Security. …
Year: 2016 Director: Akihito Shiota Stars: Yuki Mamiya, Tasuku Nagaoka, Ryushin Tei Few characters make an entrance in modern cinema quite like Shiori (Yuki Mamiya) in Wet Woman in the Wind. As our nomadic male lead Kosuke (Tasuku Nagaoka) stands passively on a dock, the young, beautiful and sexually precocious Shiori gleefully rides a bicycle down …
Year: 1973 Director: Shunya Ito Stars: Meiko Kaji, Yayoi Watanabe, Reisen Lee A while back I covered my myriad reasons for loving the second entry in the Female Prisoner Scorpion series (a film that, if anything, I've grown to love even more - it's presently in my personal all-time top 10). But a recent re-watch …
Continue reading "Why I Love… #144: Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable"
Year: 1973 Directors: Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz Stars: Marianna Hill, Anitra Ford, Michael Greer Everyone has their favourite era for horror movies. For a lot of people, the 1980s are unbeatable, pumped up on the stylistic tics of MTV and the outré hair and fashion styles of the decade. For others, the 1930s offer all …
Year: 1973 Director: Eiichi Yamamoto Voice Stars: Aiko Nagayama, Tatsuya Nakadai, Katsuyuki Itô The death of Eiichi Yamamoto earlier this week barely registered as news here in the UK. That's something of a shame. A pioneer in Japanese animation, his work through the decades innovated and inspired a generation of his fellows to put pen …
Year: 2006 Director: Maria Saakyan Stars: Anna Kapaleva, Olga Yakovleva, Sos Sargsyan Many filmmakers have become enamoured with the cyclical wiring and foibles of memory. Like Jeffrey Eugenides' source novel, Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides framed a '70s suburban tragedy through the unreliable remembrances of the local boys who witnessed it. Christopher Nolan went further, …
Year: 1997 Director: David Mirkin Stars: Lisa Kudrow, Mira Sorvino, Janeane Garofalo Seemingly destined to become a cult title from its very release, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion remains a kooky delight nearly 25 years later, and high-key one of the best (and funniest) movies about friendship to come out of the '90s. Trapped in …
Continue reading "Why I Love… #140: Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion"
Year: 1954 Director: Nicholas Ray Stars: Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge Everything is explosive in Johnny Guitar. Miners shout. Waterfalls roar. Emotions over-boil. Guns fire. The movie starts with a detonation as developers encroach on the land in the vicinity of Vienna's saloon, setting the tone for the remainder of the picture. In his archival …
Year: 1995 Director: Wong Kar Wai Stars: Leon Lai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Michelle Reis Literally sensational, the cinema of Wong Kar Wai is presently receiving a welcome shot of exposure here in the UK. In part thanks to the Criterion Collection release of eight of his films (I'm including The Hand) in a lavish, pricey, but essential …
Year: 1960 Director: Michelangelo Antonioni Stars: Monica Vitti, Lea Massari, Gabriele Ferzetti The first and possibly most notorious of Michelangelo Antonioni's landmark four-film cycle with Monica Vitti, L'Avventura (The Adventure) might just be the most radical movie of the 1960s. This considering stiff competition from the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Andy Warhol and many besides. The film …
Year: 1959 Director: André de Toth Stars: Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, Tina Louise The Western is a vast country to travel, and I'll freely admit I've only seen a small part of it. But from what I have seen I'd happily call Day of the Outlaw the meanest. Even before the central threat of the …
Year: 1999 Director: Jamie Babbit Stars: Natasha Lyonne, Clea Duvall, Melanie Lynskey When I first saw and enthusiastically responded to Desiree Akhavan's fervent take-down of queer conversion therapy The Miseducation of Cameron Post, I had neither seen nor heard of Jamie Babbit's 1999 satirical masterclass But I'm A Cheerleader. Which is not to say I …
The Lost Highway Hotel 