Articles de cet auteur (185)
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The Wind that Shakes the Barley (English Corner)
Ken Loach’s best film for a long time. It bears comparison with his 1995 award-winning Land of Freedom, his exploration of the Spanish Civil War. Sometimes that film was weighed down by discussion and rhetoric. This time there are strong verbal arguments but they are well worked into the drama and the action. The title comes from a 19th (...) -
Hamaca Paraguaya (English Corner)
For serious and art cinema audiences, this is a cinema essay. The setting is June 14th, 1935, during the Chaco war in Paraguay. An old couple venture out of the jungle into a clearing and set up a hammock. They wait and they talk. The director uses long takes, middle distance shots for most of the film - there are some close-ups, but few (...) -
Summer Palace (English Corner)
Despite so many good features of Summer Palace, it is, in the end, deeply unsatisfying. This may be a male point of view as the central focus is on a female character who is not only a puzzle to the men in her lives, especially those who fall in love with her, but she remains an enigma to herself. The film is based on her diary where she (...) -
The Da Vinci Code (English Corner)
The first thing to say about the movie version of The Da Vinci Code is that it is certainly superior to the book. What we have is something like ‘a Gnostic potboiler’. Does it work as a drama ? For those who have read the book and liked it, I think it will work quite well. It follows the plot outline closely even if it modifies some of the (...) -
Free Zone (English Corner)
Amos Gitai is prolific, a film every year – and finding his way into festival competition every year. In one sense this is a modest film, a brief story of three women, one American, one Israeli, one Arab. They interact over a period of twentyfour hours, clashing, moving together, clashing. Much of the action is close-ups and conversations in (...)