Diana @ Spotlight on Film, film & literature critic, explorer, traveller

Spotlight on Film

“…[film critics] always overstress the value of images. You judge films in the first place by their visual impact instead of looking for content. This is a great disservice to the cinema. It is like judging a novel only by the quality of its prose. I was guilty of the same sin when I first started writing for the cinema. . . Now I feel that only the literary mind can help the movies out of that cul de sac into which they have been driven by mere technicians and artificers.” (Orson Welles)

Dear Reader,

Welcome! I’m Diana! Let’s Connect!

🎥 Spotlight on Film (previously dbmoviesblog) is a film site with a difference – it aims to inspire and empower film audience one post at a time. I write critical reviews of films of different kind: old and new, in English and in foreign language, covering various genres (see my film archive). I strive for complete objectivity in my reviews, and generally prefer films with deep psychological or existential-philosophical character studies, or with the theme of society vs. the individual. Due to my interest in world cultures, as well as my native Russian and advanced Spanish language skills, I also love exploring world cinema, and am currently exploring films from France and Japan.

I am a freelance Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic and the founder of the Spotlight on Film website (est. 2011). Previously, my work also appeared in such publications as In Review Online, Loud & Clear Reviews, Film Inquiry, and Film Obsessive. My memberships are the Online Association of Female Film Critics and the CherryPicks film community. My background is law (I possess Bachelor and Master’s degrees from the London School of Economics, and University College London respectively), and my other interests are literature, travel, art, music, anthropology, consciousness, history of psychiatry, and yoga.

On this site, I use a 5-star rating on my website, with ★★★★★ – being a truly great film, and ★ – being a rather bad “film” effort. Most films will fall somewhere in between.

🎥 My work elsewhere:

Reviews

Lists

🎥 My favourite directors include: Andrei Tarkovsky, Yasujirō Ozu, Akira Kurosawa, Robert Bresson, Billy Wilder, Luis Buñuel, Jean Renoir, & Alfred Hitchcock.

🎥 I love films with a soul. A good story is important, but not a necessity, as long as there is an intriguing or clear thematic vision, or a fascinating character, a psychological portrayal full of nuances worth considering, subtleties to uncover, and, even more essentially – a pulse, a beating heart. Thus, my favourite films include (excluding shorts, documentaries and animations):

Pre-1970s:

Safety Last! (1923), Metropolis (1927), The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), M (1931), Trouble in Paradise (1932), Modern Times (1936), The Only Son (1936), Grand Illusion (1937), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), Double Indemnity (1944), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), Late Spring (1949), Los Olvidados (1950), Dairy of a Country Priest (1951), Strangers on a Train (1951), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Ikiru (1952), Europe ’51 (1952), Limelight (1952), Tokyo Story (1953), La Strada (1954), On the Waterfront (1954), Twenty-Four Eyes (1954), An Inn at Osaka (1954)

The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955), Les Diaboliques (1955), Spring on Zarechnaya Street (1956), Il Grido (1957), The Cranes Are Flying (1957), 3:10 to Yuma (1957), The Magician (1958), The Ballad of Narayama (1958), The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959), Le Trou (1960), The Apartment (1960), The Bad Sleep Well (1960), Eyes Without a Face (1960), Ivan’s Childhood (1962), Nine Days of the Same Year (1962), The Exterminating Angel (1962), The Birds (1963), The Pawnbroker (1964), Repulsion (1965), Andrei Rublev (1966), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), & Kes (1969).

Post-1970s:

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), Solaris (1972), Sleuth (1972), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), The Tenant (1976), The Ascent (1977), Blade Runner (1982), Jean de Florette (1986), Betty Blue (1986), Heathers (1988), Dead Ringers (1988), Miller’s Crossing (1990), Jacob’s Ladder (1990), Barton Fink (1991), Raise the Red Lantern (1991), Thelma & Louise (1991), Schindler’s List (1993), The Piano (1993), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Safe (1995), The English Patient (1996), Beau Travail (1999), The Virgin Suicides (1999)

In the Mood for Love (2000), Requiem for a Dream (2000), Mulholland Drive (2001), The Pianist (2002), 25th Hour (2002), Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), Revolutionary Road (2008), The Secret in Their Eyes (2009), The Skin I Live In (2011), Melancholia (2011), Laurence Anyways (2012), Blue Jasmine (2013), The Handmaiden (2016), Arrival (2016), First Reformed (2017), Phantom Thread (2017), Parasite (2019), & Midsommar (2019).

🎥 Favourite animations (excluding shorts) include:

Snow White & The Seven Dwarves (1937), Alice in Wonderland (1951), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Beauty & The Beast (1991), Only Yesterday (1991), FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992), Whisper of the Heart (1995), Toy Story Trilogy (1995-2010), Anastasia (1997), Perfect Blue (1997), Mulan (1998), Prince of Egypt (1998)

Spirited Away (2001), Millennium Actress (2001), Shrek 1, 2 (2001-2004), Tokyo Godfathers (2003), Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), Paprika (2006), Tekkonkinkreet (2006), The Illusionist (2010), Inside Out (2015), Your Name (2016), & The Boy and the Heron (2023).

🎥 Favourite documentaries include:

Man with a Movie Camera (1929), Night and Fog (1956), The Magic Beam (1963), The House Is Black (1963), Salesman (1969), Welfare (1975), Harlan County U.S.A. (1976), Minamata: The Victims and Their World (1971), Shoah (1985), Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993), Bread Day (1998)

Être et avoir (2002), Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2002), Man on Wire (2008), Samsara (2011), The Act of Killing (2012), The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz (2014), Three Identical Strangers (2018), Love, Antosha (2019), & Life of Crime: 1984-2020 (2021).

🎥 For my opinion of the world’s greatest films, check out my list here: 10 Greatest Films. It is inspired by the S&S Magazine poll that takes place every 10 years, with hundreds of film critics and directors participating.