There is nothing like Hollywood turning the camera on itself. The depiction of screenwriters or scriptwriters on film (usually, Hollywood prefers just writers, and, often, alcoholic writers) is not a big theme, but it is still illuminating. From satire to thriller, below are five films that spotlight the profession of writing for film that emerged…
Category: Lists
5 Intriguing Films Set in Post-War Japan
Below are five films that showed Japan after the war, capturing a curious zeitgeist as the country tried to make sense of its new situation and environment.
5 Intriguing Films Set in Samurai-Era Japan
Nothing quite stirs the imagination when it comes to Japanese history and culture like the time and life of samurai (Japanese “aristocratic” warriors – 侍) in Japan (12th century to early 17th century). Their code, techniques and lifestyle continue to fascinate us, but, though there have been many film lists made that explore stories about…
7 Best Documentaries I Watched In 2024
I think 2024 was a very good year for documentaries (though not my favourite year for feature films), and many of them, like Daughters, Sugarcane and Dahomey, deal with injustice or seeking justice in some way, so I thought I would do the list of my documentary highlights for this year. Below are 7 best…
10 Awe-Inspiring Films Set in Tokyo
Originating as the fishing village of Edo on the Sumida river in Japan, the city of Tokyo is currently one of the world’s most magnificent capitals. The metropolis, boasting more than thirty-six million inhabitants in its widest reach, fuses and lets coexist modern and traditional cultures like no other city on the planet does, capturing…
5 Feature Films About Rwandan Genocide
“What kind of world is this that can send machines to Mars and does nothing to stop the killing of a human being?” (Jose Saramago). “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” (Albert Einstein) This year marks 30 years since the Rwandan genocide, whereby some 500.000-800.000 people lost their lives, with the perpetrators being armed…
10 Films About Corrupt Law Enforcement
When it comes to police corruption, you cannot get better films than those made in the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s, when cinema finally became free from certain traditional constraints and confident and bold to finally focus on topics that question authority.
Shelved: 5 Great, But Never Produced Animations
Have you ever wondered about animation ideas or projects that were in existence at some point (or even near-completion!), but, unfortunately, never saw the light of day? There are apparently many such cases, and, no wonder, as it is not just creativity and ideas that need to be considered, but also talent on offer, financing,…
7 Films About the World of Miniature People
From Hans Christian Andersen’s Thumbelina to Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and beyond, the public fascination with “little people” has transformed into the multitude of stories, which often juxtaposed the wider, often harsher world with these people’s smallness and vulnerability. Equally, many films followed suit, and below are seven films, from thought-provoking animations to experimental oldies,…
10 Great Films Set in the Middle Ages
The Middle Ages – what other historical period excites our imagination as much? This is deemed to be a period of great uncertainty, religious mania, chivalry, and omnipresent death, a period of darkness and a period of sporadic light, depending what century you consider. Many film directors fell under its haunting spell, too, and some…
15 American Road Movies: A Genre of Its Own
An unparalleled sense of freedom. The vastness of a landscape. The romance of a road – no wonder America fell in love with a road movie. Apart from criminals on the run, road travellers in films are also often on a journey of some sort of “self-discovery”, and one’s physical journey often occurs in tandem…
10 Great Films Set in Small-Town America
Summer is often associated with countryside-living and now may be a perfect time to think about those films that tell of the lives lived outside big towns and cities. When one thinks about the hot season, one may conjure up long, lazy afternoons with a book, lawn picnics in the shade of trees, or maybe…
5 Great Speeches in Film
You may forget any film’s plot or characters, but you may never forget how that film made you feel. The power/memorability of speeches in film can be immense if handled right and in the hands of capable actors. Below are 5 memorable speeches found in films, coming from such great actors as Al Pacino, Mel…
San Francisco: 7 Films Showcasing the City
“San Francisco has only one drawback – it is hard to leave“, once said Rudyard Kipling, and it is very easy to see the city’s glorious appeal: situated on hills and surrounded by a vast bay, it looks almost like some fairy-tale land with its jaw-dropping landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island,…
7 Most Brutal & Violent Historical Dramas
I. The Proposition [2005] Centering around three very different brothers embroiled in the life of crime in 1880s Australia, John Hillcoat’s brutal western is bound to leave an impression. The scriptwriter of this under-seen gem is musician Nick Cave, and the story tells of a lawman (Winstone) who makes the proposition to an outlaw (Pierce):…
“A Blast from the Past”: 7 Italian Cinema Recommendations
I. The Tree of Wooden Clogs [1978] This Palme d’Or winner shows “[l]ife on a farm in Italy at the end of the 19th century. Many poor country families live there, and the owner pays them by their productivity. One of the families has a very clever child, and they decide to send him to…
Top 10 “Mary Poppins” Songs: Ranked
I. Chim Chim Cheree This is the catchiest tune in the whole film. It is so simple and yet so inexplicably endearing. Bert nearly steals the whole film from Mary Poppins with this song, showing his cheery disposition, but also hinting at the underlying injustice – “the social ladder has been strung”. Pavement Artist is the…
7 Films Based on Graphic Novels/Comics
In no particular order and excluding “superhero” comics, including Batman, Superman, Spiderman, and the Marvel Universe. I. Alan Moore is a force to be reckoned with. He is the creator of so many epic graphic novels, from Watchmen and Batman: The Killing Joke to Jerusalem and V for Vendetta. His graphic novel From Hell (1999)…
7 Films Based on Japanese Manga
I. Edge of Tomorrow is a great sci-fi film about one Major who wakes up with each day being repeated, but the catch is that this day is the day of the invasion battle with aliens. This Groundhog Day-concept works brilliantly in the story, and Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt’s chemistry is unbelievably good. However,…
10 Great Films Based on Plays (Part II)
As Part I, this list is in no particular order and excludes adaptations of Shakespearean plays.
Spotlight on Film 