The fictional detective is a rational creature. As soon as detective stories were invented, Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle were using their sleuths to reveal the mundane truth behind apparently supernatural events; the latter’s maxim that when you have eliminated the impossible, what remains – however improbable – […]
Graham Williamson
Senior Contributor
Boat People (1982): Ann Hui’s controversial snapshot of post-war Vietnam (Review)
There’s an extra on Criterion UK’s Blu-Ray of Ann Hui’s 1982 film Boat People that’s so good, I’d like to beg your indulgence to deal with it before we get to the main feature. Keep Rolling is a two-hour documentary about Hui’s life and career by Man Lim-Chung. Made in […]
Europa (2022): gripping outsider’s view of Fortress Europe (Review)
A tough, stripped-back refugee story, it’s tempting to say that Europa (released in cinemas and on-demand by Bulldog Distribution) is a timely release. Except that would imply it wouldn’t have been timely if it was released, say, three months ago. The Ukrainian crisis is the one that’s currently in the […]
Bartleby (1970): literature’s greatest enigma gets a fine, clever modernisation (Review)
Herman Melville is most famous for writing one of the American novel’s greatest epics in Moby-Dick, but his second most fascinating work couldn’t be more different in terms of scale. A modest, compact short story about a Wall Street clerk who sends his office into turmoil by politely refusing all […]
Lies and Deceit: Madame Bovary (1991), Betty (1992), Torment (1994) (Review)
After the Inspector Lavardin films, the second half of Arrow’s box set Lies and Deceit: Five Films by Claude Chabrol takes the duplicity promised in the title from the criminal to the domestic sphere. These three films also show Chabrol working with one of the key themes of the French […]
A Bread Factory Parts One and Two (2018) Epic art-world comedy (Review)
You wait ages for a two-part independent film about making art, and then – aptly enough – two come at once. Following on from Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir Parts I and II, Bulldog distribution are releasing Patrick Wang’s A Bread Factory Parts One and Two. These films were originally released […]
Seance (2021): standard slasher with one killer extra (Review)
It won’t be my favourite film of the year, but Acorn media’s Blu-Ray release of Simon Barrett’s directorial debut Seance contains an early contender for extra of the year. Barrett begins the director’s commentary with disarming enthusiasm, saying he’s always loved director’s commentaries and is excited to be providing his […]
Jakob’s Wife (2021) Eternally left-turning Modern Vampire Movie (Review)
Acorn Media’s new Blu-Ray of Jakob’s Wife is their latest physical media release of a title that premiered on the streaming service Shudder, a platform which is probably too new to generalise about but I’m a critic and I’m at a loose end, so here we go. One way of […]
In the Realm of the Senses (1976): legendary arthouse shocker returns, its power undimmed (Review)
2022’s home releases get off to a dynamite start with Criterion UK’s Blu-Ray of this legendary arthouse shocker by Nagisa Oshima, alternatively known as Ai no Corrida but not – despite the persistent mistake – known as In the Realm of the Senses. (The misunderstanding stems from the opening credits, […]
2021 Blow Out: Giants & Toys, Running Against the Wind, Menace II Society, The Millionaires’ Express (REVIEW)
Here at Geek Show Towers we don’t always get the time to cover everything we’re sent. In the interests of greeting the new year with a clear desk, here’s a round-up of some of the most noteworthy discs we didn’t get round to. Each of them is from a different […]