Spare a thought for the horror pseuds, folks like me who live to make strained sociopolitical interpretations of horror trends. The 21st century started off well for us, with the zombie revival and the torture wave mapping neatly onto post-9/11 anxieties. Why, though, is everything about exorcisms and possession all […]
India
The Circus Tent (1978) – A documentary-esque look at the drifting lifestyle of the marginalised [Review]
Known as Thamp̄, a title which translates into The Circus Tent, the acclaimed third film of Indian writer/director Govindan Aravindan was once thought to be lost. The Film Heritage Foundation spent nearly eight painstaking months restoring the film from a duplicate negative taken from a 35mm print and managed to […]
The Underbug & Starring Jerry as Himself (Slamdance 2023) (Review)
Mississippi Masala (1991): cross-culture romance with a young Denzel Washington (Review)
Two New Criterions: Devi (1960) and The Thin Red Line (1998)(Review)
After early November’s Blu-Ray of Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox, Criterion UK release a pair of movies unconnected save for their very different approaches to making a film about faith. And that’s “a film about faith” rather than a “faith-based film”. The latter is generally used as a synonym for […]
After Midnight – Cinema Eclectica Podcast 257
Shakespeare Wallah: Merchant Ivory Opulence missing a certain something (Review)
Made in 1965, Shakespeare Wallah was the second collaboration from Merchant Ivory and the first to really garner some international attention. Written by regular Merchant Ivory scribe Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, the film was one of the earliest English-language speaking roles for acclaimed Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor and marked the screen […]
Heat and Dust: A dual narrative of sexual and imperial politics (Review)
The Blood Of Hussain (1980) a mesmerising piece of cinema (Review)
Jamil Dehlavi’s The Blood of Hussain is an allegorical tale of revolt against tyranny and oppression in 1970s Pakistan. It takes place during the annual mourning procession for Hussain, grandson of the prophet Muhammad, who was slain for his refusal to recognise Yazid ibn Muawiya, the Umayyad Caliph, as his leader […]