The Mercy [2018] – ★★1/2 There is a method in his madness. This is the way some were able to characterise Donald Crowhurst’s insane desire and, ultimately, attempt to finish a single-handed, non-stop round-the world trip or the Golden Glove (Yacht) Race sponsored by Sunday Times in 1968. Completely amateur, Crowhurst, nevertheless, entered the race,…
Tag: Drama
“The Handmaid’s Tale” Series Review
The Handmaid’s Tale [2017] “There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it.” (Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale, 1985: 34) “Humanity is so adaptable, my mother would say. Truly amazing…
“Youth” Review
Youth [2015] – ★★★★ Directed by eminent Italian director Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty (2013)), Youth is about Fred Ballinger (Michael Caine), a retired music composer who reminisces on his life while luxuriating at a health resort in the Swiss Alps. His old friend Mick Boyle (Harvey Keitel), an American film director, keeps him company,…
“The Florida Project” Review
The Florida Project [2017] – ★★★★1/2 Sean Baker (Tangerine (2015)) has produced something special – a powerful, unforgettable film about the innocence, joys, freedoms and wonders of childhood played out in the context of social and economic exclusion in Florida, US. The Florida Project has been very unjustly ignored by the Academy in the forthcoming…
The O Canada! Blogathon: Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World (2016)
It’s Only the End of the World [2016] – ★★★★ This is my second post for the amazing O Canada! Blogathon hosted by Ruth of Silver Screenings and Kristina of Speakeasy (check out some of the amazing entries here). “There I was…after twelve years of absence, and in spite of my fear, I was going to visit them. In life,…
The O Canada! Blogathon: Laurence Anyways (2012)
Ruth of Silver Screenings and Kristina of Speakeasy are hosting the O Canada! Blogathon to celebrate all things Canada in film and TV, and I thought I would contribute because Canadian cinematography is close to my heart. It has always tried to be different and often experimented. Xavier Dolan, my choice for this blogathon, is no different….
“Ingrid Goes West” Review
Ingrid Goes West [2017] – ★★★ In this film by Matt Spicer, the dangers of the social media usage are laid bare when a troubled girl Ingrid Thorburn (Aubrey Plaza) starts to stalk online a successful Los Angeles photographer Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen). With the inheritance that her mother left her, Ingrid moves to LA…
“Little Women” (1994) Review
A heart-warming and faithful adaptation of the classic novel, elevated by a parade of talented stars.
“Still Alice” Review
Still Alice [2014] – ★★★★1/2 Still Alice is a film based on Lisa Genova’s 2007 best-selling novel of the same name and starring Julianne Moore in the role which landed her an Academy Award for the best performance of the year. However, Still Alice is so much more than simply a demonstration of an interesting…
The Food in Film Blogathon: Facing Windows (2003)
Speakeasy and Silver Screenings are presenting The Food in Film Blogathon, and I thought I must participate since food in films has always fascinated me. Food can be used for sensual purposes in a film, as in Como Agua Para Chocolate (1992), I Am Love (2009) or even in The Lunchbox (2013), or can have morbid…
“The Discovery” Review
The Discovery [2017] – ★★★ The Discovery is a film which had its first premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2017, but, arguably, it deserves more attention than it eventually got. Here, Will (Jason Segel) and Isla (Rooney Mara) meet in the strangest of times. It has been scientifically proven that the afterlife does exist,…
“Wakefield” Review
Wakefield [2016] – ★★★★ Based on a short story by E.L. Doctorow (which, in turn, is a re-telling of the story by Nathaniel Hawthorne) and shot over just twenty days, Wakefield is a film about Howard Wakefield (Bryan Cranston (Drive (2011), The Infiltrator (2016)), a busy city lawyer, who is silently enduring a personal crisis….
“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 far from being a…
“Raw” Review
Raw [2016] – ★★★★ 🥩 A staggering film debut with “unflinching” gore and disturbing atmosphere, reviving the best of what became known as the New French Extremity movement. Julia Ducournau’s debut feature film Raw provoked extreme reactions from critics and audiences alike. However, despite its grim story and graphic imagery, the film still managed to…
“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…
The Jack Lemmon Blogathon: Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
Critica Retro and Wide Screen World are hosting the Jack Lemmon blogathon, and I thought I would jump in and contribute since Jack Lemmon was such a great actor, and I particularly admire his versatility and dedication to the screen. He was cast in such well-known films as Some Like It Hot (1959) and The Apartment…
“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…
“Christine” Review
Christine [2016] – ★★★★ Christine is a drama by Antonio Campos, based on the real life of Christine Chubbuck, a TV reporter in the 1970s in the US, whose troubled professional/personal life leads her to commit one of the most chilling and gruesome acts on live television. In this film, the lead character is played…
“Hacksaw Ridge” Review
Hacksaw Ridge [2016] – ★★★★1/2 An inspiring story about an unconventional hero? A graphic tale of the brutality of a war? A touching and believable love story? Mel Gibson can do it all, and brilliantly. His latest film Hacksaw Ridge tells the true story of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), a kind, deeply-religious young man who…
“Silence”: Book Comparison & Character Study
“This is not the sort of film you “like” or “don’t like”. It’s a film that you experience – and then live with” (Matt Zoller Seitz).
Spotlight on Film 