The “genre-reversal” gangster drama is still Ferrara at his most quintessential.
Category: Crime Thriller
“The Mauritanian” Review
The Mauritanian [2020] – ★★★★ Based on a memoir Guantamano Diary (2015), this film tells the true story of Mohamedou Ould Salahi (played by Tahar Rahim), a man from Mauritania who was arrested on heresy some time after the 9/11 terrorist attack and then spent 14 years (from 2002 to 2016) in the notorious Guantanamo…
“Joker” Review
Joker [2019] – ★★★1/2 Directed by Todd Phillips (The Hangover (2011)), Joker is a latest, much-hyped film starring Joaquin Phoenix (The Master (2012)) in the titular role of Arthur Fleck or Joker, a stand-up comedian fallen on hard times, who resorts to violence in Gotham City to avenge wrongs allegedly committed against him. Being supported…
“The Third Murder” Review
A strangely compelling murder-mystery, which, together with a peculiar Japanese understatement and an insight into the Japanese criminal justice, delightfully subverts expectations.
“Thoroughbreds” Review
Thoroughbreds [2017] – ★★★1/2 What happens when a street-smart, completely unemotional teen girl rekindles her childhood friendship with a doubtful, book-smart girl who has emotions, but who wants to get rid of one pressing problem in her life? This situation lies at the core of Thoroughbreds. Rising stars Olivia Cooke (The Limehouse Golem (2017)) and…
“The Limehouse Golem” Review
The Limehouse Golem [2017] – ★★★★ This film, based on a novel by Peter Ackroyd Dan Leno and The Limehouse Golem, starts with Victorian London being shaken by a series of gruesome murders deemed to be perpetuated by an individual so mythical he is called Golem. Eccentric Inspector John Kildare (Bill Nighy) is assigned to…
Agatha Christie Adaptations: Murder on the Orient Express (1974), & (2017)
Murder on the Orient Express [1974] – ★★★★ It is no wonder that Agatha Christie chose the Orient Express, once the most luxurious train in the world, as the setting for one of her fictitious crime scenes. From Paris to Istanbul, a journey of some 1,920 miles, will take passengers around 1883 (the date of…
“The Killing of a Sacred Deer” Review
The Killing of a Sacred Deer [2017] – ★★★★ This film proved to be the most divisive at the Cannes Film Festival 2017, and there was a good reason for the audience and critics to feel so confused and uncertain. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a product of Yorgos Lanthimos, the director who is…
“Match Point” Review
Match Point [2005] – ★★1/2 In this film, Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), an ex-tennis pro, comes from humble background, but slowly makes his way to the society’s upper class by dating and then marrying a sister of one of his students at a posh tennis club in London. However, this is all far from being…
“Personal Shopper” Review
Personal Shopper [2016] – ★★1/2 In Personal Shopper, a film by Olivier Assayas (Paris, je t’aime (2006)), Kristen Stewart plays a young woman Maureen, who mourns the loss of her twin brother Lewis. Maureen visits the house where Lewis lived with his girlfriend, and believes that his ghost will try to communicate with her. In…
“Nocturnal Animals” Review
Nocturnal Animals [2016] – ★★★★ After directing critically-acclaimed A Single Man back in 2009, Tom Ford has decided to try his hand in directing something darker and more complicated, an adaptation of the novel by Austin Wright Tony and Susan. Nocturnal Animals is a drama/thriller having two stories running in parallel: one in which Susan…
“The Infiltrator” Review
The Infiltrator [2016] – ★★★★ The 1980s. A federal agent Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston) works as an undercover in a notorious drug trafficking ring established by Pablo Escobar. Robert Mazur is now influential and charismatic Bob Musella who operates alongside two other undercover agents: his “fiancée” Kathy Ertz (Diane Kruger) and best friend Emir Abreu…
“Dead Ringers” Review
Dead Ringers [1988] – ★★★★ David Cronenberg’s 1988 feature Dead Ringers is the director’s “trademark” film starring Jeremy Irons, and loosely based on a real-life story of identical twin brothers working as gynaecologists in New York. The story closely follows Elliot and Beverly Mantle (both played by Jeremy Irons), who share their lives so closely…
“Eastern Promises” Review
Eastern Promises [2007] – ★★★★ Eastern Promises is David Cronenerg’s film starring Viggo Mortensen, Vincent Cassel and Naomi Watts. The script is written by Steven Knight, better known for Amazing Grace (2006) and Locke (2013), and the film starts with a young Eastern European girl dying during childbirth, leaving her baby girl and a diary behind,…
“Kalifornia” Review
Kalifornia [1993] – ★★★1/2 Directed by Dominic Sena, Kalifornia centres on two couples and takes place on the road. On the one hand, we have an intelligent pair of up-and-coming journalists: Brian Kessler and Carrie Laughlin, played by David Duchovny and Michelle Forbes, who are in the midst of an important Serial Killers book project and who…
“The Departed” Review
The Departed [2006] – ★★★★★ “When I was your age, they would say we can become cops, or criminals. Today, what I’m saying to you is this: when you’re facing a loaded gun, what’s the difference?” (Frank Costello) Martin Scorsese’s crime thriller The Departed, winner of an Academy Award…
“Skyfall” Review
Skyfall [2012] – ★★★★1/2 For those who are unfamiliar with Sam Mendes’s work and its quality, Skyfall may appear like another action flick of some dubious quality, just another James Bond film full of the same old, recycled “tricks”. However, this is the film of Sam Mendes, which means that this first impression would be false. Skyfall…
“Miller’s Crossing” Review
Miller’s Crossing [1990] – ★★★★1/2 Loosely based on Dashiell Hamett’s Red Harvest, Miller’s Crossing is an intelligent gangster film shot in the style of a film-noir. Directed by Joel Coen, and produced by Ethan Coen and Mark Silverman, the film centres on Tom Regan (Gabriel Byrne), who is the “right hand” of Leo O’Bannon (Albert…
“Drive” Review
Drive [2011] – ★★★★★ Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and starring Ryan Gosling, Drive is about a stunt and getaway driver and car mechanic man (Gosling), who gets entangled in a complicated criminal affair. With an amazing soundtrack, cast, performances, script and, above all, that nostalgic and unforgettable 1980s feel to it, Drive is an impressive…
Spotlight on Film 