The first thing to note about Hou Hsaio-hsien’s dreamlike and vague period drama, Flowers of Shanghai, is just how unhurried it is with plot and pacing. If you are not a fan of slow cinema or don’t like films that are dense and are stray observations on character and mood, […]
Aidan Fatkin
Distant Journey (1949) a nihilistic vision of Nazi persecution (Review)
The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On: A visceral indictment of war (Review)
Werewolf (2019): Grimmer than the average WWII holocaust drama (Review)
Double Face: A Crime Drama in Giallo Clothing (Review)
I haven’t come across any Gialli films that have bored or frustrated me. Whether it is The Red Queen Kills Seven Times or Blood and Black Lace, they have strong qualities that make each film absorbing. Whether that’s eye-popping colour cinematography, a strong mixture of pulp crime and a central […]
The Woman In The Window: A great Noir that puts one foot wrong (Review)
Dragged Across Concrete: a tense thriller, a hard pill to swallow (Review)
One, Two, Three (1961): Billy Wilder’s Satirical Greatest Hits
The Prisoner (1955) Alec Guinness’s War of the Words (Review)
For my money, Alec Guinness is one of the greatest British character actors of all time. No matter if he was playing the buck-toothed Professor Marcus in The Ladykillers, or the wise and mysterious Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, Guinness always brought elegance, wit, and charm to his performances. Rewind […]
Possum (2018) a bleakness from beyond the dark place (Review)
Part [The] Babadook and part David Lynch fuelled nightmare, Matthew Holness’s directorial debut, Possum, is as bleak and oppressive as psychological horror gets. Unfortunately, I get the impression that Holness would’ve been better suited turning Possum into a portmanteau film rather than a feature of its own. And that’s fine, […]