Dark Waters [2019] – ★★★1/2 Directed by Todd Haynes (Far from Heaven (2002), Carol (2015)) and based on a magazine article that tells of a true story of one corporate lawyer who challenged a multi-billion chemical empire, Dark Waters focuses on Rob Bilott (Mark Ruffalo) who travels to his home-town in West Virginia to discover evidence…
Author: Spotlight on Film
Providing in-depth reviews of films since 2011.
David Lynch: “Rabbits” (2002)
Rabbits is a series of short surreal films with the overall running time of forty minutes. It features three humanoid rabbits (two female and one male) in one single room. They sit on a sofa, enter and go out of the room, talk to each other and recite poetry. Through eerie music, rabbits’ nonsensical dialogue…
“Out to Sea”: Kramer’s Ship of Fools (1965), & Hitchcock’s Lifeboat (1944)
I. Ship of Fools [1965] – ★★★★ “When I think of the things I have seen on this ship. The stupid cruelties. The vanities. We talk about values? There’re no values. The dung we base our lives on…We are the intelligent, civilized people who carry out orders we are given. No matter what they may…
10 Great Films Based on Plays (Part I)
Did you know that classic film Casablanca [1942] was based on an unproduced play titled Everybody Comes to Rick’s? by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison?; or that film Moonlight [2016] was based on another unproduced play titled Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney? Many a great film first originated in a play, and…
The “Home Sweet Home” Blogathon: Nowhere in Africa (2001)
Nowhere in Africa [2001] – ★★★★1/2 When I heard about The Home Sweet Home Blogathon, I knew I had to participate. Homes and families have always been such an important theme in films, and it is one of my favourite topics. I previously talked about the meaning of homes in my post “Housing Films: 99…
Short Reviews: The Servant, A Kiss Before Dying, & Isle of the Dead
The Servant…one of Britain’s most memorable cinematic creations.
“Soul” Review: Fun & Touching, Even If a Tad Random
Soul [2020] – ★★★★ 🎹 A hectic, but wonderful celebration of life, and a moving animated ode to New York City’s jazz scene. This new animation comes from the creators of Inside Out (2015), and is about a music teacher and aspiring jazz pianist Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) who dies by falling into New York…
“Death of a Cyclist” Review
This film by Juan Antonio Bardem presents a fascinating psychological situation, showing sensibilities of one particular group of people who struggle to regain control of their careless and self-absorbed lives.
Alternative Film Posters
Below I am presenting some of my favourite alternative film posters, which also includes a poster to Home Alone, a quintessential Christmas film. Do you like “film art”? What are your favourite alternative film posters? I. The “House Architecture” Posters These are some of my favourite alternative film posters and they often get quite intricate….
3 Underappreciated Songs in Animation
I. “You Know Better Than I” from Joseph: King of Dreams [2000] This song, written by John Bucchino and performed by David Campbell, is from the straight-to-video animated film Joseph: King of Dreams. The song is inspirational and feels very personal. It is sung by Joseph when he finds himself near to despair and at…
“I, Daniel Blake” Review
I, Daniel Blake [2016] – ★★★★★ Winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake is a kind of film whose theme of the individual vs. the system, brutal honesty and underlying power make it a compulsory watch for everyone. The story centres on Daniel Blake (Dave Johns), a…
Short Reviews: Raise the Red Lantern, Quiz Show, & Close-Up
With an exquisitely beautiful cinematography (by Zgao Fei), Raise the Red Lantern is one of the most important films of the 1990s and a true cinematic masterpiece.
“Tekkonkinkreet” (“Treasure Town”) Review: Wondrous & Hard-Hitting
Tekkonkinkreet [2006] – ★★★★1/2 🛒Grim realism collides with childhood innocence in a striking, kaleidoscopic artwork. Based on a manga Tekkon kinkurito (1993) by Taiyo Matsumoto, Treasure Town is a well-made animation about two orphaned boys: street-wise and brave Kuro (Black), and lovable and innocent Shiro (White). Street-raised “Yin and Yang” of the cruel world around…
7 Great Films About Pianists
My last review focused on a cellist who was forced to abandon his chosen profession and resort to a more undesirable one. This got me thinking about musicians in films, and I am presenting below seven great films that focus on pianists, their lives and struggles. While some pianists below are completely fictional, such as Ada in The Piano or Tom in The Talented Mr. Ripley, others are based on real-life people, including David Helfgott in Shine and Mozart in Amadeus.
“Departures” Review
Departures [2008] – ★★★★1/2 Departures is the Japanese winner of the 2009 Academy Award in the category of the Best Foreign Language Picture. Loosely based on a memoir by Shinmon Aoki titled Coffinman: The Journal of a Buddhist Mortician, it tells the story of Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), an ex-cellist who comes to his home…
Sean Connery (1930 – 2020)
It was with great sadness that I heard yesterday of the passing of Sean Connery, a Scottish actor and one of the film legends. He was a man of incomparable charisma, whose acting and screen presence were always distinguishable and memorable. Possessing innate smoothness, gentleness and his very own recognisable sense of masculinity and vigour,…
5 Films That Centre Around Film-Making
Last week we saw the release of a tease trailer for the new film by David Fincher Mank (2020). This film is written by Fincher’s father Jack Fincher and is about “screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his battles with director Orson Welles over screenplay credit for Citizen Kane (1941)”. In the list below, I am focusing on 5 similarly-themed films that usually escape this categorisation on the Internet.
“Tell Me Who I Am” Review
Tell Me Who I Am (2019) Any film or documentary that centres on identical twins and their relationship is fascinating in its own right, but if that film or documentary also involves the case of complete amnesia, dark secrets and buried past, then it becomes one of the most interesting ever (at least for me)….
“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” Review
I’m Thinking of Ending Things [2020] – ★★1/2 Charlie Kaufman’s newest film is a psychological drama with elements of “magical realism”. In the story, one young woman (Jessie Buckley) travels in a snowstorm with her boyfriend Jake (Jesse Plemons) to meet his parents in their farmhouse. She is one eccentric and “artsy” person who is unsure…
Spotlight on Film 