For a reissue of a quiet, low-key movie that isn’t all that well-known, Criterion’s new Blu-Ray of Joyce Chopra’s feature debut Smooth Talk has to do a lot. First off, it has to contribute to correcting the gender imbalance in Criterion’s library, although it isn’t shouldering that burden alone. Over […]
Reviews
Small Slow But Steady (2023): A Tender Character Study of a Hearing-Impaired Female Boxer (Review)
The latest film from Japan’s Shô Miyake, director of 2018’s And Your Bird Can Sing and 2020’s Ju-On: Origins, is Small, Slow But Steady, released to cinemas and Curzon Home Cinema on 30th June. Miyake’s touching movie is a highly original boxing drama inspired by the autobiographical book Makenaide!, the […]
Brooklyn 45 (2023) “I’ve Got No Faith Left”: Grief, Trauma and Haunting (Review)
In Brooklyn 45, Maria, Archie and Paul regroup in the devastation of postwar America to support Clive, who is bereft following the death of his wife Susan. As they start to exorcise their metaphorical ghosts, spectres from the past begin to knock, determined to be let in, to the locked […]
Samurai Reincarnation (1981) – Theatrical bombast meets relevant messages (Review)
Adapting Futaro Yamada’s 1967 novel, Samurai Reincarnation, writer/director Kinji Fukasaku crafts a historical fantasy which begins over 350 years ago following the Shimabara Rebellion. A revolt led to thousands of Christians being slaughtered by the Tokugawa regime, as horrifically conveyed within a display of severed heads – with many split […]
The Laureate (2021) A Frustrating, Misguided and Melodramatic Biopic of a Fascinating True Story (Review)
I recently purchased Jerzy Skolimowski’s The Shout on Blu-Ray, a rather intriguing surrealist horror film based upon a short story by poet Robert Graves, who is played in a fictionalised version in that film by Tim Curry. The Laureate is a far more direct portrayal of Graves’ life, being a […]
Marcel the Shell with the Shoes on (2021) A heartfelt gem in the sometimes brutal world of A24 (Review)
After the end of his marriage, Dean takes refuge in an Airbnb. Whilst there he comes across two unlikely roommates, Marcel and his grandmother Connie. He then sets out to document and tell the story of the anthropomorphic shells in Marcel the Shell with the Shoes On. When hearing the […]
She Came from the Woods (2022) Capable, Fun and Easy retro-influenced slasher (Review)
Directed and co-written by Eric Bloomquist, She Came From The Woods is a farcical pastiche of the golden age of the American slasher film. Set in the 1980s, the film is an ode to holiday camp horrors such as The Burning (1981), Sleepaway Camp (1983) and of course Friday The […]
Enter the Video Store: Empire of Screams – The Dungeonmaster (1984) & Cellar Dweller (1988)
Empire International Pictures was a movie studio and distribution outfit founded by American B-movie mogul Charles “Charlie” Band in 1983. Even if you haven’t heard of Empire, there’s a good chance you’ll have heard of some of their genre film output, and perhaps even watched some of it – during […]
Revenge (1964) A True Masterpiece of Japanese Cinema (Review)
How does one win when the chips are stacked so very high against you? In a society where social standing and face mean everything, the slightest disagreement or misunderstanding can escalate to unfathomable levels of violence, heaping consequence upon consequence. When does it end? And just how far does it […]
Red Sun (1970): Between the Commune and the comic-book (Blu-Ray Review)
There are many things you need to check before making a movie; cast availability, contracts, and filming permits. “The consent of a Leftist commune” is not usually one of them, but then there aren’t many filming environments quite like post-war Germany. Rudolf Thome’s Red Sun, newly released on Blu-Ray by […]