Throughout the 60s and 70s American cinema underwent a tonal shift; gone were the days of the sweet sentimentalism of directors like Frank Capra and here was the growing cynicism from people like William Friedkin and Don Siegel. The latter two directors released two highly influential films in the world […]
Autumn Parker
Nottingham based writer focusing on film. Very much a fan of Classic Hollywood, French cinema, Italian exploitation and Fiona Apple.
Execution in Autumn (1972) Melodrama, Sadness and the Taiwanese Experience (Review)
Before directors like Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Edward Yang reinvented Taiwanese cinema with their new wave films in the 80s (such as Dust in the Wind and Terrorizers respectively) the Taiwan film industry was much more closed off to the Western world. Despite directors like King Hu gaining a lot of […]
Dead Man (1995) A wholly unique surrealist Western (Review)
For an extended period of time, the Western was the United States’ most beloved genre of film. Despite its popularity briefly dying as film transitioned between silent films and talkies, it was kicked back into the spotlight with John Ford’s Stagecoach; from that point onwards many directors such as Ford, […]
Rhino (2022) A sombre if well-travelled Ukrainian crime drama (Review)
Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov intended to make his second feature film, following his 2011 debut Gamer, in 2014. However, due to the Maidan uprising protests that swept across Ukraine the filming was put on hold. This was further impacted by Russia’s annexation of Crimea (Sentsov’s birthplace) which actually resulted in […]
The Great Movement (2022) An idiosyncratic portrait of Bolivia (Review)
The Great Movement is the most recent film by Bolivian filmmaker Kiro Russo. During its relatively short run time, we follow three miners who are in the city of La Paz protesting against their redundancy and looking for a stable job in the process. However, one of them named Elder […]
Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) A deeply unnerving character study (Review)
Disturbing films were in abundance throughout the late 70s and early 80s. With films such as Driller Killer, Cannibal Holocaust, The Last House on the Left and many more being branded “Video Nasties” and essentially blacklisted by the BBFC. Most of the shocking value of these films comes from grotesque […]
Mad Dog Morgan (1976) A nonchalantly average & confused Australian Western (Review)
For a brief period of time, it seemed as if Dennis Hopper was going to be one of the brightest stars of Hollywood. After appearing in a string of mostly low budget films in the 60s (The Trip, Night Tide, Cool Hand Luke etc) his popularity culminated in Easy Rider, […]
Written on the Wind (1956) Sirk’s most chaotically lush melodrama (Review)
After having a long career in a variety of genres, ranging from Westerns to Comedies, Douglas Sirk came into the peak of his career with a string of vastly influential melodramas in the 50s. These would go on to influence directors such as Pedro Almovador, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Todd […]
Love Affair (1939) A scandalous Hollywood tale wrought by the Hays Code (Review)
After a great run of films in the 1930s with hits like widely acclaimed Duck Soup (featuring the Marx brothers) and The Awful Truth (noted as being a defining film of Cary Grant’s early career), director Leo McCarey decided to end the decade with 1939’s Love Affair. Due to McCarey […]