Films Discussed in 2023

These introductions were all written by the person who recommended the film to the group, from their memory of watching it before and liking it, plus some cursory research, but before watching it again or discussing it in the group. The recommender is usually myself. If it’s someone else I will nearly always have done some editing of what they wrote.

After each intro there are two ratings out of five stars. These are based on what we thought of the film after watching it for the discussion.

My rating is on the left. This closely corresponds to the film’s place in my constantly updated list of favourite films, as follows: 5 stars = position 1-100; 4.5 stars = 101-300; 4 stars = 301-700. Lower ratings = not amongst my favourites.

The other members’ aggregate rating is on the right. 5 stars means everyone liked or loved it. If everyone loved it except one strong dissenter that would be 4.5 stars. This could also be everyone liking it but only one or two praising it strongly. 4 stars is still preponderantly favourable opinion but somewhat more indifference or dislike balanced against the praise. 3.5 is just on the positive side overall, while 3 is middling and lower scores represent a negative balance of opinion. These ratings are all of course based on my interpretation of the discussion and any other feedback.

A Late Quartet – 21/12/23

It’s a surprise that director Yaron Zilberman has had no comparable success before or after the polished and eminently watchable A Late Quartet (2012). The title refers to Beethoven’s opus number 131 in C minor, completed in the year before his death, but perhaps also signals mortality for the world renowned four-piece ensemble who choose it as the headline of their next concert tour. The long-standing incumbents on first and second violin, viola and cello are also the major players in an unfolding drama that threatens to bring a premature end to their professional collaboration while wreaking equal havoc in the personal domain. And what a great quartet of charismatic Hollywood professionals give it their all in front of the camera – Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Mark Ivanir. The sumptuous score includes several other jewels in the classical string player’s repertoire.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226240/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_late_quartet

Taste of Cherry – 21/12/23

I think of the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami as the ultimate maverick auteur, seeming to gain inspiration from the constraints of working as an independent film-maker in post 1979 Iran. Close-Up (Nema-ye Nazdik) (1990) is possibly the most original film I’ve ever seen. His best-known work Taste of Cherry (Ta’m e Guilass) (1997) starts from a bleak premise and eschews all fancy camerawork and editing, yet somehow the scenario of a man searching for a paid assistant in his perverse objective becomes so compelling that the film won the Palme D’Or at Cannes and continues to attract critical acclaim. Most viewers report that it profoundly touches the emotions as well as the intellect, not to mention the funny bone judging by one particular excerpt I’ve sampled. This is a classic marmite movie that everyone must taste for themselves.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120265/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/taste_of_cherry

Hannah and Her Sisters – 30/11/23

The Guardian’s list of ten greatest screen performances by Michael Caine, published last month when he announced his retirement from acting, has Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) in the top spot. Portraying the apparently placid husband of eldest sister Hannah, played by Mia Farrow, he conceives a crush on the youngest, played by Barbara Hershey. The thrills and the agonies that beset the fiftyish re-awakened male are almost unbearably authentic. Writer/director Woody Allen assembled perhaps his most delectable cast to play the titular trio plus their friends, partners and lovers in this exquisite comedy-drama of inter-related romantic intrigues. I find that Allen’s most inspired works are set firmly in the real world and address the ever fascinating topic of love and its fragility amongst competing concerns with serious insight, leavened with his inimitable humour. This is one of those top-drawer delights.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091167/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hannah_and_her_sisters

Hilary and Jackie – 30/11/23

The life story of a prodigiously talented female cellist who died tragically young, as told by her sister – an intimate confidant and bitter rival – has such dramatic potential that the film script was written concurrently with the memoir A Genius in the Family by Hilary du Pré on which it was ostensibly based. With Emily Watson playing a blinder as the mercurial, tormented, sometimes monstrously misbehaving Jaqueline du Pré, director Anand Tucker can hardly go wrong in his second feature film, Hilary and Jackie (1998). The supporting cast, with Rachel Griffiths as the elder sister, and Charles Dance and Celia Imrie as the parents, is also excellent. I particularly remember the intrusion onto the scene and into Jackie’s heart of the equally gifted musician and uncompromising personality Daniel Barenboim, played by James Frain. This is a classy biopic with more than its fair share of fireworks, not to mention the painfully evocative recordings of du Pré’s performances on the soundtrack.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0150915/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hilary_and_jackie

The Souvenir: Part II – 19/10/23

In The Souvenir: Part II (2021), writer/director Joanna Hogg picks up from where she left her proxy Julie, played by Honor Swinton, at the end of Part I, trying to get over the death of her controlling, needy boyfriend and make a fresh start in her chosen career. The two films seamlessly combine to chart the rocky journey of a naïve, innocent wannabe film director towards the threshold of success. Here again are the supportive family, the exuberant student colleagues and the mentors, good and bad. While still beset by personal anxieties and embarrassing mishaps Julie’s burgeoning creative style begins to figure more prominently. The extended sequences of her vision being realised on set make this a more “arty” film than its predecessor, in a good way. The juxtaposition between real life events and those staged for the camera is beautifully handled. Roll on part three!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6992978/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_souvenir_part_ii

Silver Linings Playbook – 19/10/23

Silver Linings Playbook (2012) is not just another movie about grown-ups with mental health issues; it’s all about keeping one’s eyes open for the occasional “silver linings” that can miraculously be found inside the clouds that overshadow us in life. It’s also a sparkling vehicle showcasing the acting talents of Jennifer Lawrence as the troubled Tiffany, and Bradley Cooper as her equally disturbed neighbour, Pat who moves back in with his parents after a stint in a mental institution. Robert de Niro stars adds further star quality as the disgruntled father, Pat senior. Director David O. Russell was drawn to tackle this difficult topic as his own son was bipolar and had OCD. More surprisingly, a film with two sufferers as the principal characters succeeds as a romantic comedy as well as drama, which perhaps would not even be attempted today. It garnered eight Academy Award nominations, of which Jennifer Lawrence deservedly won the Oscar for Best Actress. Her portrayal of a feisty young woman trying to overcome her internal struggles by expressing herself through the medium of dance is spell-binding, inspirational and sometimes laugh-out-loud hilarious.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1045658/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/silver_linings_playbook

An Angel at My Table – 05/10/23

Eight years after winning the Palme D’Or in the short film category at Cannes the New Zealand director Jane Campion came to attention in the UK with the art-house hit An Angel at My Table (1990). This thoroughly engrossing adaptation of the heartfelt autobiography by compatriot Janet Frame, a misfit who became a renowned author, swept the board at the New Zealand Film Awards and won the Special Jury Prize at Venice but missed out on mainstream recognition. I can’t think of a life story more compellingly presented on screen. The two and a half hours’ running time is well used to evoke period and place as well as sympathetic insight into a traumatic young adulthood. Kerry Fox in a remarkable big-screen debut was one of three unknowns who poignantly portrayed Janet as child, teenager and adult from the 1930s to the 60s. The interludes of happiness and success, with the occasional dash of comedy as I recall, are as well earned by the film as they were by this fragile yet tenacious personality in real life.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099040/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/angel_at_my_table

Bicycle Thieves – 05/10/23

Directed by Vittorio De Sica in 1948 and lovingly shot on location only, Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di Biciclette) tells a simple story about ordinary working-class people whose lives seem to be impossibly hard, reflecting the reality of the struggle to survive in impoverished, bomb-damaged post-WWII Italy. In this context a bicycle is a precious object, a lifeline that must be guarded from theft at all cost, or it could spell catastrophe for the family. Such is the premise that inspired this classic of early neorealist Italian cinema. It was nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay was voted by the Academy as the most outstanding foreign language film released in the United States in 1949. It won numerous other awards around the world, including a BAFTA for Best Film from any source in 1950.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040522/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bicycle_thieves

Pride and Prejudice – 21/09/23

Witty dialogue that can be lifted in chunks from page to screen, along with intriguing twists and dramatic revelations of character that take place amid opulent settings, make the Jane Austen novels an enduring sure-fire bet for cinematic treatment. Casting of the lead roles is of paramount importance. In Pride and Prejudice (1940), directed by Robert Z. Leonard, Laurence Olivier revels in the role of Darcy that he was born to play, amongst others. He has the perfect sparring partner in Greer Garson, who exudes the sprightly vitality of Elizabeth Bennet despite being ostensibly too old for the part. The fun-poking at human foibles in the minor characters might miss the mark for today’s audience, but all in all this is a smart, engrossing, entertaining and reasonably faithful adaptation, which I feel sure would get the author’s posthumous stamp of approval.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090563/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1016698-pride_and_prejudice

The Wackness – 21/09/23

I discovered The Wackness (2008) when I worked at Revolver entertainment, which distributed this Sundance Festival award winning film. “Woody Allen meets Spike Lee” could have been my tagline if I’d been in charge of marketing. High School graduate Luke Shapiro spends the summer before college peddling dope on the mean streets of New York, attending psychoanalysis, nurturing a crush on the analyst’s stepdaughter, and indulging a passion for hip-hop, which reverberates on the soundtrack with contributions from The Notorious B.I.G., Wu-Tang Clan and my own favourite band in the genre A Tribe Called Quest. Otherwise I’m not such a big fan, but the 50^th anniversary of hip-hop this year is a good excuse to listen again to the sounds that remind me of my own times in the 70s and 80s in the City that Never Sleeps, and watch the engaging performances of Josh Peck, Ben Kingsley and Olivia Thirlby in this little-known coming of age gem written and directed by Jonathan Levine.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1082886/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_wackness

Betty Blue – 02/09/23

Those of us of a certain age remember queuing up regularly in the 1980s to see the latest stylish movie from across the Channel, and our eager expectations were more than amply fulfilled in the case of Betty Blue (37°2 le Matin) (1986). Who can forget the crockery-smashing histrionics of newcomer Béatrice Dalle as the volatile Betty, dominating the screen from the first moment of her long and active film career? Jean-Hugues Anglade, also still going strong today, was equally watchable as the put-upon lover and would-be writer Zorg, condemned to a succession of menial jobs while the rejection slips piled up. I’ve only just found out that Jean-Jacques Beineix premiered a three-hour director’s cut in 2000, adding depth to the later years of the troubled relationship set in the sleepy town of Marvejols. Now I’m full of eagerness once again at the prospect of an extra hour of humour and heartbreak played with verve and passion by the iconic screen couple thirty-seven years ago and salvaged from the cutting room floor.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090563/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/betty_blue

Punch-Drunk Love – 02/09/23

Life is not exactly a barrel of laughs for hard-pressed small businessman Barry Egan, whom we first meet in the middle of a stressful phone call in the corner of an empty warehouse/office. Seemingly stitched irrevocably into a bright blue suit that does nothing for either his commercial or social fortunes, Adam Sandler is a revelation in this more serious than usual role. Punch-Drunk Love (2002) is a quirky and sometimes harsh character study blended with the charm of a romantic comedy, in which Emily Watson and Philip Seymour Hoffman also display their considerable talents to great effect. I can’t exactly say how, since I remember nothing of the plot, only that this modest gem written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson engaged my sympathies and excited my interest throughout.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0272338/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/punchdrunk_love

Ghost World – 12/08/23

The poker-faced Thora Birch brings to vivid life the subversive comic strip character Enid, an artsy High School graduate with an uncompromising intellect and too much free time on her hands, in Ghost World (2001). Scarlett Johansson is her faithful accomplice Rebecca in escapades that lead to an ill-defined liaison with a reclusive man in perhaps his late thirties, played by Steve Buscemi. The interplay between the three leads is a delight to watch. Together with Enid’s pointed encounters with peers, parents and sundry representatives of mainstream attitudes and culture, it places the film firmly in the top drawer of those portraits of unconventional young people struggling to find a meaningful place in the modern world that was a particularly rich vein for American independent cinema at this time. Hats off to director Terry Zwigoff for tapping into it with such skill in his first fictional feature.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162346/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ghost_world

The Search – 12/08/23

The Search (1948) is a serious film about a serious subject – the mass displacement of civilian populations in the aftermath of the Second World War, focusing here on the children separated from parents who are seemingly untraceable, probably dead. The documentary style scene-setting narrows down to the story of one traumatised child and the adults working for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and the United States Army who try to help him. What could have been a sentimental tale is directed with gritty realism by Fred Zinnemann, while the intense sincerity of Montgomery Clift in his first big-screen performance is ideally suited to his role. This adventurous choice of material for Hollywood drama turned out to be an unusually moving experience for this viewer.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040765/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1037787-search

The Father of My Children – 29/07/23

The brilliance of The Father of My Children (Le Père de Mes Enfants) (2009) creeps up on you unawares, not unlike the hot water that film producer Grégoire Canvel, the ‘Father’ of the title, realises too late that he’s up to his neck in. Until this dose of unwelcome reality kicks in we’ve been vicariously living the dream life of a cool Parisian creative entrepreneur, equally fulfilled by his work and his happy domestic life. With a shock the focus changes and it’s down to Sylvia Canvel, the implicit ‘Me’, the mother, to deal with the aftermath and keep the show on the road for the family and firm. Directing her second feature film from her own script Mia Hansen-Løve has done an impeccable job of translating a true life tragic story into this subtle yet powerful drama.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1356928/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/father_of_my_children

To Catch a Thief – 29/07/23

To Catch a Thief (1955) is a heady mix of romance, thriller and high-speed drama set on the French Riviera and directed by the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock. Cary Grant is the dashing John Robie, an American retired ‘cat burglar’ whose fingerprints seem to be all over a spate of recent copycat crimes. When he bumps into a glamorous and sassy young woman played by the alluring Grace Kelly they’re soon locking horns in a series of delicious and heated encounters amid stunning shots of the Côte d’Azur as Robie attempts to prove his innocence by the means that gives the film its title. An Oscar win for best cinematography along with five other Academy Award nominations testify to the all-round class and craft of this unmissable treat.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048728/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/to_catch_a_thief

Women in Love – 13/07/23

Oscar winner Glenda Jackson, who died last month, and Jennie Linden in practically her only feature film role, play the sprightly Brangwen sisters in Women in Love (1969) based on the 1920 novel by D.H. Lawrence. I found it a feast for the eyes as well as the ears, full of intriguing discussions and experimentations on the eternal theme of the title. The heroines’ male counterparts, played by the dashing Alan Bates and Oliver Reed, compete verbally over the picnic repast, and physically in the famous nude wrestling scene that provides a frisson of the lurid flamboyance associated with the director Ken Russell in his other works. The mix of artful cinematography, intellectual debate and romantic yearning was right up my street when I previously caught it on a late-night TV transmission. With Eleanor Bron in a supporting role a more glittering quintet is hard to imagine. I’m looking forward to becoming absorbed once again in the divergent destinies of Gudrun and Ursula Brangwen as they seek fulfilment amid the constraints of Midlands society in the 1910s.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066579/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/women_in_love

Purple Haze – 13/07/23

I thoroughly enjoyed Purple Haze (1982) for its evocation of American youth culture in the late sixties at the height of the war in Vietnam and the corresponding domestic conflict between the generations. Against this backdrop two friends under threat of the draft, exemplifying between them apathy and rebellion, turn from work and study to hedonistic indulgence, annoying elders and contemporaries alike as they lurch towards a probable fall. That’s about all I can hazily recall from my viewing forty years ago of a film that won the Grand Jury Prize at the Utah/US film festival, the precursor of Sundance, only to disappear without trace after a brief general release. It seemed to me that writer/director David Burton Morris painted a vivid portrait of the time, partly based on his experiences, while the leading actors got well stuck in to their first film roles. It’s an exciting, perhaps risky prospect to lift the lid on this long-lost drama and be taken back to my own early twenties when I saw it at the Screen on Baker Street and identified so warmly with the protagonists.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084553/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/purple-haze

The Browning Version – 29/06/23

There is no body of work I’ve enjoyed or admire more than the plays of Terence Rattigan. I’ve got to know most of them through a number of excellent film adaptations, and perhaps my favourite of all is The Browning Version (1951). Michael Redgrave is the crusty old classics master Crocker-Harris, for whom the imminent end-of-year prize-giving ceremony looms as a humiliating send-off. Fine performances all round under the sure direction of Anthony Asquith bring out all the subtlety, humour, intrigue and heartbreak in the awkward scenes that the once feared, now ridiculed “Croc” must endure with his pupils, colleagues, headmaster and most bitterly his wife. The title refers to a translation of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon by Robert Browning that stirs a fragile hope of inner revival as the professional and domestic crisis escalates.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043362/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1043923-browning_version

Shall We Dance? – 29/06/23

Shall We Dance? (Shall we Dansu?) (1996) is the story of a strait-laced Japanese businessman irresistibly pulled out of his comfort zone by the exotic allure of ballroom dancing. Suffice it to say, things do not go smoothly. The “Japanization” of a Western cultural tradition adds an almost baffling quirkiness to the comic situations and incidents in director Masayuki Suô’s affectionate portrait of a dancing school and its motley crew of customers. Before long I was seduced myself by the bright bubble of make-believe in which the aspirant dance champions seek refuge from their mundane urban lives. Their awkward progress won the hearts and minds of audiences in Japan and across the world. After twenty-five years I’m curious to rediscover the qualities that made this film such a surprising delight.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117615/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1078942-shall_we_dance

Reservoir Dogs – 08/06/23

Five years after a forgettable first feature the writer/director Quentin Tarantino arrived as a fully formed outrageous talent with the ground-breaking heist movie Reservoir Dogs (1992). Everything about it was original and intensely effective – the formal colour code names that protect the gangsters’ identities from each other – Mr. White, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Orange – the quirky conversational digressions, unprecedented in a tough crime drama, the artful use of flashbacks and time-shifts to hike up the suspense. And then there is the violence. Squeamish viewers will have to turn away from the notorious torture incident, otherwise it is the escalating menace more than the actual spatterings of blood that will test your resilience. Harvey Keitel is towering as the mature hoodlum with heart, sharing the screen and the prospective loot with a new wave of anti-hero types in Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Chris Penn and Michael Madsen. “Wow, that blew me away!” I announced on leaving the cinema, and my viewing companion agreed. Thirty years later it may do so again, or I could find it unbearable or anything in between.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105236/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/reservoir_dogs

Tea with Mussolini – 08/06/23

Tea With Mussolini (Un Tè con Mussolini) (1999) is a charming, comic, feel-good film although it is set in a dark era, in Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Italy in the years preceding and during World War II. In contrast to the sinister backdrop, the story is essentially about a cosy little group of expatriate English ladies, known as the ‘Scorpioni’, living in Florence, who take an orphan boy, Luca, under their wing in 1935. They even get to meet the dictator himself, hence the event of the title, but they still find themselves in danger when Italy declares war on Britain. Further complications arise with the re-appearance of the now grown-up Luca and the unorthodox behaviour of two brash American woman. This semi-autobiographical drama directed by Franco Zeffirelli has a star-studded cast, with Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, who won a BAFTA for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Joan Plowright, Cher and Lily Tomlin. It also won awards for Best Costume Design and Best Drama. Adding to the allure of the film, many of the scenes are shot in the Tuscan town of San Gimignano with its distinctive medieval towers.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120857/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tea_with_mussolini

Annie Hall – 25/05/23

Annie Hall (1977) is generally hailed as the big leap forward in Woody Allen’s directorial career, combining the wit and playfulness of his “early funny” period with a stab at a more serious insight into this amazing and upsetting thing called love. The resulting heady brew went down a treat with the public as well as the Hollywood community, garnering four of the top Oscars in a surprising coup for the strictly New York based auteur. The magic ingredient is Diane Keaton’s performance in the title role opposite Allen’s self-portrait as divorced Jewish comedian Alvy Singer. Her funky apparel and self-deprecation during their first conversation not only wins Singer’s heart but sparked international trends in fashion and verbal behaviour. The rocky course of their subsequent relationship includes hilarious mishaps such as an unplanned lobster chase and a botched attempt to snort cocaine. That’s about all I can remember from my two viewings long ago, so the decks are cleared for me to savour the romance and sparkle of Allen and Keaton in full flow afresh.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075686/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/annie_hall

The American Friend – 25/05/23

Just as the notorious Tom Ripley leaves his calling card at the close of the murder and mayhem he has instigated and moves on to the next episode in his depraved criminal career so does German New Wave director Wim Wenders unequivocally announce his penchant for the dark side in The American Friend (1977), an intoxicating blend of arthouse sensibility and hard-boiled film noir. Bruno Ganz is the unassuming picture framer Jonathan Zimmermann whose urgent need of money draws him into Ripley’s Game in this adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s fiendish novel, with Dennis Hopper as the eponymous villain swaggering his way through the international art market in a cowboy hat amongst a posse of other film directors in supporting roles. In common with some critics I eventually lost the plot amid a succession of stylish, gripping scenes, but it hardly mattered. I remember in particular a juddering train ride in which Zimmerman tries to fulfil his assignment. Highsmith praised that unbearably tense scene, as well as Hopper’s incarnation of Ripley after initially disliking the result delivered by Wenders her admiring fan.

Here is the All 4 link.

Here is the MUBI link.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075675/

Garden State – 11/05/23

The polished assurance of Garden State (2004) is a tribute to the talents of Zach Braff, directing his first feature film from his own script and playing the central character Andrew Largeman, one of three young friends who feel somewhat alienated in the bland New Jersey terrain of their upbringing. Braff, Natalie Portman and Peter Sarsgaard form an endearing if troubled trio, counterpointed by the dour, authoritarian presence of Ian Holm as Mr. Largeman senior, mourning his wife’s death, which is the reason for his son’s return home. This is one of several quirky, independent American movies I enjoyed in the early noughties, with witty repartee between well-drawn characters and a pleasing balance between light and shade. The plot, if any, I’ve completely forgotten. It is the authentic evocation of the twenty-something experience that many reviewers remark on. I’m looking forward to savouring it again from my now even more distant vantage point.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0333766/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/garden_state

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – 11/05/23

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983) is a moving and faithful adaptation of the novel The Seed and the Sower based on the wartime experiences of the South African writer and explorer Sir Laurens van der Post as a prisoner of the Japanese in Java. The ground-breaking composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died of cancer on 28th March, won a BAFTA for the memorable score and also plays Yonoi, the commander of the prison camp. David Bowie stars as the fearless Major Jack Celliers, with Tom Conti as Lieutenant Colonel John Lawrence, Jack Thompson as the PoWs’ spokesman Group Captain Hicksley and Takeshi Kitano as Sergeant Gengo Hara, whom the Japanese-speaking Lawrence befriends. Director Nagisa Ôshima conjures up an almost mystical atmosphere in which the Allied officers conduct a battle of wills with their captors amid the brutal prison camp régime, ungoverned by the Geneva Convention.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the MUBI link.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085933/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/merry_christmas_mr_lawrence

Pain and Glory – 13/04/23

For his most explicitly autobiographical film the prolific auteur Pedro Almodóvar calls on a handsome star of his provocative work in the 80s and 90s, the now sixtyish Antonio Banderas, to play the film director Salvador Mallo, who relives key episodes from his past while trying to pull through a health crisis. A more recent stalwart, the glamorous Penélope Cruz, plays young Salvador’s mother in the nostalgic and traumatic childhood scenes set in a primitive whitewashed village. I remember little more about Pain and Glory (Dolor y Gloria) (2019) except the sensation of being in the hands of a maestro at the peak of his powers, the decades of technique knowingly applied to enhance your interest in the characters and their troubles. This is definitely one that you don’t have to be an Almodóvar fan to relish.

Here is the YouTube link.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8291806/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pain_and_glory

Wild Rose – 13/04/23

Wild Rose (2018) was directed by Tom Harper (War and Peace) and written by Nicole Taylor (Three Girls). On the face of it, it is another ‘Star is Born’ story. But the quality of the performances and the writing ensure it packs a memorable punch. The film is very much dominated by Jessie Buckley who plays an abrasive, selfish, charming and talented ex-con Glaswegian Country and Western singer. Her performance in this film did not come out of nowhere as she had already attracted a lot of attention, mainly as an actor. But she is also a great singer and has done a lot of recording and performing since. She is ably assisted by Sophie Okonedo and Julie Walters and, delightfully, Whispering Bob Harris. A little sentimental, a little feelgood, but with enough grit to balance it. And anyway, we all need a bit of sentimentality every now and then.

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5117428/

Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wild_rose_2019

Lawless Heart – 16/03/23

Lawless Heart (2001), written and directed by Tom Hunsinger and Neil Hunter, is one of those inspired low-budget comedy dramas that I was lucky enough to catch during a brief run on release before its undeserved consignment to obscurity. It was also my introduction to the now familiar and much-loved face and mannerisms of Bill Nighy on his belated rise to semi-stardom. He plays the husband who digs himself into a hilarious predicament in the first of three connected stories, set in a coastal Essex community. The mood becomes more serious but remains equally engrossing in the episodes starring Tom Hollander and Douglas Henshall. I’m particularly relishing seeing Nighy and Hollander doing their stuff again with the years rolled back. The female supporting roles are equally well written and acted in this authentic and entertaining slice of life from an unfashionable corner of the sceptred isle.