The Fencer is a beautifully-produced film that is likely to please audiences with its central story. It works as what might be called a ‘national popular’ film which tells a story that resonates with local audiences who want to identify with the film’s heroes and with the overall message which supports an idea of national… Read More The Fencer (Miekkailija, Finland-Estonia-Germany 2014)
Everybody Knows opened the Cannes competition in 2018 to mixed reviews (although better than usual for the opening film) and it has taken some time to get into UK distribution. I suspect that audiences have discovered the film to be better than some of the early reviews suggested and the film opened reasonably well in the… Read More Everybody Knows (Todos lo saben Spain-France-Italy 2018)
This film by German-Turkish director Fatih Akin features a ‘powerhouse performance’ by Diane Kruger which won her the best female acting prize at Cannes in 2017. However, when the film went on release in the US and UK (it opened in UK cinemas in June 2018) it failed to do the business that a Cannes… Read More In the Fade (Aus dem Nichts, Germany-France 2017)
John Sayles has been away from UK cinema screens for a long time. I think Honeydripper was the last of his films to get a UK release back in 2008 . These days the ‘godfather of American Independent cinema’ is mostly based in Mexico it seems, or at least concerned with Spanish-language films. Casa de los… Read More Casa de los babys (US-Mexico 2003)
Ciao Ciao is the latest DVD release from Matchbox Films and a welcome surprise. Matchbox Films pick up a diverse range of films, but not usually a film like this which comes with the support of a Cannes Cinéfondation ‘Atelier’ tag and both a World Cinema Support Fund and CNC credit. Screened at the Berlinale in… Read More Ciao Ciao (France-China 2017)
I’ve been prompted by shootings of African-Americans in far too many incidents over the last few years to dig out some notes I used in 2003. The crime investigated in Four Little Girls, the Spike Lee documentary, is also alluded to in Selma, the 2014 film about Martin Luther King. I thought that Spike Lee had… Read More Spike Lee Joint 3: Four Little Girls (US 1997)
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