Your correspondent first heard of the Chinese legend of the jiangshi as a child, and found it the most frightening thing he had ever heard in his young life. As an adult, I’m not sure why. Yes, the jianghsi is a reanimated corpse that drains the life of the living, […]
Reviews
Three Outlaw Samurai (1964) Satire and Chaos in Feudal Japan (Review)
For many, the samurai movie is the domain of Akira Kurosawa, with both the legendary director and chanbara (sword fighting movies) tied at the hip. Naturally, that isn’t true. That said, perception is reality by anything beyond Kurosawa being difficult to find; it’s getting better, but still – it’s not […]
Czechmate – In Search of Jiri Menzel (2018) a love letter to Czech New Wave (Review)
Britannia Hospital (1982) Testing the Nation’s Health (Review)
The Mick Travis trilogy of films which began with if…. in 1968 and continued with O Lucky Man! in 1973 concluded in 1982 with Britannia Hospital. It was a film that also effectively ended the career of the director, Lindsay Anderson, as near-universal critical condemnation saw its release amputated by […]
Force 10 From Navarone (1978) Star-Studded and Surprisingly Good Sequel to WWII Classic (Review)
Was there anyone out there clamouring for a sequel to the David Niven and Gregory Peck led The Guns of Navarone? I ask this mainly because its sequel, Force 10 From Navarone, released almost twenty years after the original, and featured no cast members of the original. The Guns of Navarone hits the spot when it […]
Scorsese Shorts (1963-74) supremely confident first steps of a master (Review)
The Vanishing (1988): Performance-driven 1980’s Psychodrama hits hard (Review)
Not only a stark reminder of why I don’t like going on holiday, but The Vanishing also provides a tightly wound adaptation of a book I haven’t read. My aversion to reading Tim Krabbé’s apparently excellent The Golden Egg and holiday making aside, The Vanishing is arguably the most popular directed piece from one George Sluizer, who you […]
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) The Sexual or the Spiritual? (Review)
Released to Blu-ray by Arrow Academy this last week, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is the renowned Japanese new wave filmmaker Nagisa Ōshima’s 1983 adaptation of Sir Laurens van der Post’s semi-autobiographical works, The Seed and the Sower from 1963 and The Night of the New Moon from 1970, each inspired […]