Jean-Luc Godard began his career in the 1950s with the inspired idea of bringing French cinema into a new era; in the direction of becoming a higher art form. He was born in Switzerland but grew up in Paris where he developed a major interest in the films of his adopted country. The early years … Continue reading Godard et La Nouvelle Vague: A Collision of American and European Cultures
When examining the history of cinema and its road to where it is now, it can sometimes be illuminated by focusing on the huge role that Italy has played in it. Since the astonishingly filmed epic, Cabiria by Giovanni Pastrone from 1914, which Scorsese cites as one of the most important early films of cinema, … Continue reading The European Masterpieces Part 2: L’Avventura, La Notte and L’Eclisse
In an increasingly bewildering modern world, where any means of engagement with it likely leads to further bewilderment and short-term depression (possibly long-term too), the populist fervor for escape could not be greater. Whether that escape may be to sit by a babbling brook and read Fifty Shades of Grey, or to climb to the … Continue reading Escaping This World Through Film
Down under, there has been a growing voice towards the basic request to change the date of Australia/Invasion/Survival Day (which happens every January 26th) so as to not associate it with the arrival of the first fleet of white supremacists to the east coast - the same white supremacists who were intent on pushing out … Continue reading Survival Day: Reflections on Aboriginal Australia in Film
Burden of Dreams (1982 Les Blank) 'If I abandon this project, I would be a man without dreams and I don't want to live like that' - Werner Herzog I did speak at length about Herzog and his films last week but regardless, a list of documentaries concerning the making of films could not conscientiously … Continue reading Dreams and Madness: 6 Great Documentaries about Making Film
In 1980, Munich-born filmmaker Werner Herzog ate parts of his own shoe. Why then, you may ask, may one proclaim this man as a visionary genius? Surely he is crazy in the coconut!! Well, see the shoe thing was actually part of a promise he made to the documentarian Errol Morris a few years earlier … Continue reading Werner Herzog: The Mind of a Visionary Genius
It was in the wee hours of St Stephen’s Day (the day after Christmas) about 12 years ago that I first watched Claude Berri’s 1986 film Jean de Florette. I remember it was really flipping cold outside and some snow, I think, may have fallen that day. So suffice to say that watching a sun-drenched … Continue reading The European Masterpieces Part 1: Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources
So 2016 was not such a good year for the vastly superior form of human being we call ‘the celebrity’ – a lot of them died. And to be honest, from what I have seen, there has been better years for the world of film too. Not that I have seen a huge body of … Continue reading The Time Has Come: A Review of Some Films From 2016
If you haven't heard it already, I would heartily recommend the You Must Remember This podcast series on The Blacklist and in particular the episode on Kirk Douglas and Dalton Trumbo. Indeed, if that isn't enough, you could watch the film Trumbo from last year, which is in the same class and context as Good … Continue reading Kirk Douglas at 100: Spartacus (1959 Stanley Kubrick)
Although Douglas had been on the Hollywood scene for a few years in the late 40s, it wasn't until he did Ace in the Hole with Billy Wilder that he solidified his place as an A-Lister. Here, he personifies a character that is equally repulsive as he is watchable. The role of Chuck Tatum, a … Continue reading Kirk Douglas at 100: Ace in the Hole (1951 Billy Wilder)
Momentary Cinema 