The human brain is a universe of its own. It encloses such unfathomable mysteries that modern science is only at the very initial stages of attempting to grasp its infinite complexity. So the idea that a straight-forward lobotomy might help a patient get rid of their psychological issues by simply removing a bit of grey … Continue reading »
Isn’t it great when one of your favourite directors of the moment delivers a film that’s even more brilliant and enjoyable than the previous ones? Well I felt exactly that way when I saw ‘Moonrise Kingdom’, Wes Anderson’s latest production. This follows his string of excellent comedies from ‘Rushmore’ (1998) to ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ (2001), … Continue reading »
Currently enjoying the German capital city’s wonders and its odd mix of vibrant and gruesome – wunderschön! If you go there don’t miss the excellent Kinemathek. Bis bald!
As Connecticut just became the 17th US State to ban death penalty (http://goo.gl/12gpk) and Norway is judging Anders Breivik for his atrocious mass-murder in Oslo last year, Werner Herzog’s “Into the Abyss: A Tale of Life, a Tale of Death” (2011) offers a timely and complex perspective on capital punishment. This is not your dogmatic, … Continue reading »
In France where the run-up to the presidential election is the excuse for the right-wing parties to fuel once again the scare of illegal immigration and harping on how it steals work from the “bons Français” or is a burden to the welfare state, it’s a real delight to discover “Le Havre” (2011) and Aki … Continue reading »
When I recently saw Andrew Haigh’s ‘Weekend’, it immediately made me think of Richard Linklater’s ‘Before Sunrise’ (1995). It would be unfair to reduce it to the gay remake of the European auteur chick-flick, but both film bear a few resemblances. Starring Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, ‘Before Sunrise’ tells the story of a once-in-a-lifetime … Continue reading »
‘Elena’ by Andrei Zvyagintsev – who also directed the beautiful and sombre ‘The Banishment’ in 2007 – is a slow- paced, subtle drama, emblematic of modern Russia. Long gone are the days of the Soviets and successful business men can aspire to a very comfortable life of delicate interiors, flat screen TVs, Audi’s and Nespresso. … Continue reading »
After her promising, widely-acclaimed second feature “Fish Tank” in 2009 (see review here) Andrea Arnold returns with an adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic “Wuthering Heights”. If you expected girlish reverie and romantic contemplation of the green English pastures, you might be slightly upset by this nerve-racking 19th-century rock’n’roll romance. Arnold’s take on what is the first … Continue reading »
As with other independent (or better said, “branded-as-independent”) movies mixing comedy and drama, “The Descendants” (2011) by Alexander Payne has left a bitter taste in my mouth. Not that its main topic – the rougher-than-average midlife crisis of Hawaiian notable Matt King as his wife goes into a coma after a boating accident – affected … Continue reading »
Call me stupid but since I generally refuse to watch film trailers or read detailed film reviews before seeing a film I still rely a lot on the poster of a film to decide whether I want to see it – a bit like buying a novel at the bookshop only because the cover’s nice … Continue reading »
