★★★★☆ Screening at this year’s 6th Russian Film Festival in London, Living (Zhit, 2012) is Vasily Sigarev’s challenging and provocative follow-up to his acclaimed 2009 debut Wolfy. An existential and deeply philosophical insight into the psychological damage and various manifestations death can have on the mind, Living is a mesmerising Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Setting a narrative during the final days of civilisation is a premise which has been utilised on countless occasions in films. However, instead of focusing on a last ditch attempt to save the planet, Lorene Scafaria’s romantic comedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012) paints Continue Reading
★★★★☆ An unmitigated, bloody spectacle from start to finish, Chilean-French director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s cult classic Santa Sangre (Holy Blood, 1989) recaptured the imagination of many upon its limited UK theatrical earlier this year, courtesy of avant-garde connoisseurs Mr Bongo Films. Reissued this week on both DVD and Blu-ray, Jodorowsky’s heady Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ César and Rosalie (1972) is a piece of fanciful French whimsy by director Claude Sautet. An obscure little drama starring Yves Montand, Romy Schneider and Sami Frey, this film, though never really going anywhere, strangely manages to hold your attention with its languid, laid back approach. Rosalie (Schneider) is Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Jacques Becker’s 1952 French melodrama Casque d’Or celebrates its 60th anniversary this week with a deserved Blu-ray rerelease, courtesy of UK distributor StudioCanal. Often overlooked in discussions of genuinely groundbreaking French cinema – and perhaps understandably so – Becker’s well-shot and well-acted Belle Époque romance is nevertheless an enticing Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Harold Ramis’ prolific career is one that boasts numerous memorable comedic titles including Caddyshack (1980), Analyze This (1999) and, of course, Groundhog Day (1993), now released on Blu-ray for the very first time. February 2nd comes but once a year, unless you’re weatherman Phil Connors, played by the dry Continue Reading
★★★★★ The visionary potential of today’s cinema is infinite. Yet the antediluvian truism of having a greater understanding of the future by looking to the past remains paramount in film history. The techniques of yesterday, such as those demonstrated in Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925), have been digitised and refashioned Continue Reading
