Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

[Reza]

L'immortelle / The Immortal One (Alain Robbe-Grillet, 1963) 10/10

Turkey, a land of mosques, castles, secret gardens and harems, is the backdrop for this sensual journey of obsession. Robbe-Gillet, who wrote the dense but hypnotic "Last Year at Marienbad" with Alain Resnais, creates this avant garde masterpiece in his film debut as a director. Using minimal dialogue, sharp editing and sound, he creates a film that suspends time giving it a dream-like quality. None of the characters have names - a man (Jacques Doniol-Valcroze) meets an enigmatic woman (Françoise Brion), they travel together, she disappears, he obsessively retracts their movements together, she mysteriously reappears but then he loses her once again. The film has a highly charged erotic sensibility quietly running beneath the surface. The actors are placed prop-like against stunning architecture (shades of Antonioni), in brightly lit interiors gazing out of shuttered windows or standing with their back to the camera gazing out at the Bosphorous. Who is this woman? There are decadent hints of a slave trading ring. Is the sun-glassed man she is seen with her pimp? There are no answers and the viewer is left to decipher the plot. Just sit back and let the teasing images soak in to your brain. There need not be an answer to everything in life. Sometimes it is best to let life flow and see where it takes you just as this spectacular film does.

Trans-Europ-Express (Alain Robbe-Grillet, 1966) 10/10

How to write a story (screenplay) while travelling on a train. Imagine different scenarios, add violence and use your own fetishistic fantasies - it helps when your own 50-year relationship with your wife consisted of sexual gratification of the sadomasochistic kind. A writer (the director himself), a producer and a script writer (Catherine Robbe-Grillet - the director's wife) board the Paris-Antwerp train and let their imaginations run amock while trying to create a screenplay. Using actor Jean-Louis Trintignant as their story's protagonist (he is first seen stealing a magazine with pictures of bondage) - a smuggler of cocaine in the scenario. Playful, stylish and adventurous film uses the fourth wall to great effect as Robbe-Grillet, one of the founders of the nouveau roman, creates another highly original cinematic masterpiece. There is a perfect blend of sound, editing and strikingly crisp black and white cinematography that holds together the plot which also includes a prostitute (Marie-France Pisier) consenting to rape and bondage. Sexual fantasies of erotic violence and bondage reach a fever pitch in the scene at a night club with a stripped woman in chains on a revolving table as the camera moves in slowly towards a closeup of her, making the audience just as much a voyeur as the director himself. The film is also a celebration of pop culture - the Bond films and Godard get a nod - while indulging in the director's fascination with repetitious views of moments and situations which hold different meanings. A must-see.

Orders to Kill (Anthony Asquith, 1958) 8/10

Quietly gripping WWII thriller which raises questions about carrying out orders when you suspect they might not be justified. An American flyer (Paul Massie) is sent to occupied France to assassinate a french Resistance member (Leslie French) who is suspected of being a traitor. Highly underrated film examines man's conflict in times of stress bringing to fore his conscience in deciding if his duty and courage are worth expending when in doubt. Newcomer Massie is surrounded by a wonderful cast of character actors in small roles - Eddie Albert as a fellow officer, James Robertson Justice as a trainer, Lillian Gish as his patrician mother and Lionel Jeffries as an interrogator. The entire film is shot in a British studio but Asquith manages to provide a strong french flavour to all the scenes set on french streets. Stealing the film is Irene Worth as the flyer's matter-of-fact and quietly ruthless french contact. Their scenes together are riveting as this great actress uses her superb diction and voice to great effect. Massie, Worth and the screenplay by Paul Dehn won Baftas and the film was nominated for best picture. A thought provoking film.

It Chapter Two (Andy Muschietti, 2019) 5/10

One takes the "F" word for granted and it's only when it is censored in a film that it becomes glaringly obvious. The word is used a hell of a lot in this second part of Stephen King's epic horror story about "It" the killer clown. The kids who escaped from the evil demon's clutches are now 27 years older, leading pretty fucked up lives and are asked back to their small town as the evil one returns. Endless and rambling film relies on shock scares which are not really scary and the blood, gore, creature transformations are all too familiar if one has been around for the last 30 years and waded through Hollywood's horror genre. The first half sets up the characters as each gets to confront their anguished childhood along with their encounter with the demon. The protracted ending consists of explosions, flashing lights, the spider-like creature scuttling through the sewers and the absurd mythological plotting which quickly gets tedious and repetitious. The opening scene depicting a gay bashing is not only extremely dated but needlessly unpleasant and does not ring true at all. And the film also loses major points for putting me off chinese food for life. Will always have nightmares now of chinese food crawling off my plate with gnashing teeth and gnarly legs.

Flight Angels (Lewis Seiler, 1940) 6/10

Snappy Warner Bros B-film set in the world of early commercial flights. The pilots and stewardesses make a play for each other while going about their business. The studio's stock company play the familiar parts - handsome Dennis Morgan as the pilot who has vision problems, is grounded and takes to flying in China before realising that he is endangering passengers. Virginia Bruce is the no-nonsense stewardess he loves and Wayne Morris and Jane Wyman play the battling second leads. Fast paced film with even faster dialogue - Wyman is especially adept here on her long way up to becoming a huge star. The screenplay is hilariously sexist and wouldn't pass the "censors" today but it's nevertheless an amusing relic from the past when boys were boys and all girls wanted was to grab a man and get him to the altar. Kind of like today.

Lancelot du Lac / Lancelot of the Lake (Robert Bresson, 1974) 9/10

Bresson strips bare the pomp and pageantry of the legend of Arthur, his queen Guinevere and her lover Lancelot. This is a far cry from the spectacle and romance of Robert Taylor's King Arthur in the old MGM version and its subsequent remakes, the bloated excesses of the musical "Camelot" or the brutal and kinky version of John Boorman's "Excalibur". What we have here are knights wearing heavy and noisy clunky armour as seen through the eyes of Bresson's minimalist eyes. Lancelot returns in defeat having failed to find the Holy Grail. These famous mythical characters are visited past their glory days. Everything is tightly placed or located and very bare, totally bereft of pomp - the small round table in a small room, a castle with narrow corridors with just enough room for the King and Queen while the Knights live in tents on the grounds. The famous love triangle forms the backdrop - Lancelot, having seen a religious vision in defeat, asks the Queen to release him from their illicit love affair which she cannot do. The lovers meet in a room filled with dung and hay which gives their "love scene" a touch of realism. They are betrayed to the King by the knight Mordred leading to the film's magnificent set piece of a joust which Bresson films with focus mainly on the legs of the horses and knights and flashes of the audience and a raised flag. It's a unique viewpoint and succeeds in simple terms by Bresson's "only the necessary" methodology. The opening scene of the film has knights beheading and impaling each other in battle with blood gushing from glaring wounds and is a wicked nod to Monty Python and their lunatic vision of knights at play. Bresson uses a cast of non-actors, who emote in a bland and matter-of-fact way, and still manages to create a visionary film which hits home despite his minimalist approach to the subject.

The Sellout (Gerald Mayer, 1952) 6/10

A courageous journalist (Walter Pidgeon) comes up against vicious small-town corruption - Thomas Gomez as a sleazy sheriff - and writes a series of scathing newspaper articles. When he suddenly sells out and disappears the State prosecutor (John Hodiak) and an honest cop (Karl Malden) try to get justice. Good B crime film with a slew of familiar faces - Audrey Totter, Everett Sloane, Paula Raymond, Cameron Mitchell, Frank Cady, Whit Bissell - in small but vivid roles.

[Precious Doll]

The Farewell (2019) Lulu Wang 2/10
Asher (2018) Michael Caton-Jones 2/10
The Captain (2018) Robert Schwentke 5/10
Game Over, Man (2018) Kyle Newacheck 5/10
Downton Abbey (2019) Michael Engler 9/10
Tone-Deaf (2019) Richard Bates Jr. 5/10
Alice (2019) Josephine Mackerras 5/10
The Beach Bum (2019) Harmony Korine 4/10
First Love (2019) Takashi Miike 6/10

Repeat viewings

Central Station (1998) Walter Salles 10/10
A Kid For Two Farthings (1955) Carol Reed 7/10
Bronco Billy (1980) Clint Eastwood 6/10
Ray & Liz (2019) Richard Billingham 8/10
Showgirls (1995) Paul Verhoeven 6/10

[Reza]

O Convento / The Convent (Manoel de Oliveira, 1995) 5/10

This slight film relies more on atmosphere than in it's subject which tends to get lost in far too much juxtaposition of Mephistopheles and a plethora of Christian symbolism. The effect is confusing although not without interest - the exotic Portugese locations and the stunning Ms Deneuve more than compensate. An American scholar (John Malkovich) visits a secluded convent library to research his obsession of proving that William Shakespeare was actually a Sephardic jew from the Iberian peninsula. Accompanying him on his quest is his lovely, neglected and irritated French wife (Catherine Deneuve). While she spends time roaming the grounds of the old convent her husband, in his quest to find the truth, listens to selections of Göethe's "Faust" by the librarian. The plot is confusing - is the wife making a pact with the caretaker (who may be the Devil) to keep her husband all to herself? The two stars obviously relished the chance to work with (the then) 87-year old director who would go on to make films till the age of 105 before dying at age 106. Between the silences on screen and the shrill score straight out of a horror film there is not much to recommend except notching up yet another film in which Deneuve stars.

Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (Alexis Bloom & Fisher Stevens, 2016) 7/10

The troubled yet loving relationship between a star and her daughter was lived in the bright glare of the Hollywood spotlight. Screen actress Debbie Reynolds, star of "Singin' in the Rain" and countless musicals, dramas and comedies lived a busy life but also raised a daughter (Carrie Fisher) and a son (Todd Fisher) her children by heart throb crooner Eddie Fisher. Their lives were forever changed after he left them for Elizabeth Taylor. Fisher, who later became a huge star after "Star Wars", went thorough drug addiction and was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. This documentary covers their bittersweet, sad and funny relationship with the camera following them in the present as home movies and print and screen media covers their past lives. The film culminates with Reynolds receiving the SAG lifetime achievement award which she is determined to accept in person despite old age ailments. The crux of the film is the quirky relationship of mother and daughter who by the end were both not in the best of health but lived in houses side-by-side as the daughter keeps close watch on her star mother. It's a poignant film showcasing the highs and lows of showbiz. The postscript took place a few months after the film's series of festival showings. Carrie Fisher died suddenly of sleep apnea followed a day later by the grief stricken Reynolds who had a stroke and passed away. A life full of ups and downs but lived with determination, hope and courage.

The Dead Don't Die (Jim Jarmusch, 2019) 6/10

This film is an obvious wink to George Romero and to Tarantino. The comedy is as deadpan as the look on the face of leading man Bill Murray. The set up of the story revolves around the effects of polar fraction which has moved the earth on its axis which results in day and night getting switched. It also results in the dead waking up and soon there is a zombie epidemic. Jarmusch uses familiar tropes of the genre and creates his own very funny take on it - the zombies are just as "dead" as the living. Using small town America - Centerville, "a real nice place" - as the fictional backdrop he peppers the characters with a bunch of eccentric tics. The police sheriff (Bill Murray), his partner (Adam Driver), another cop (Chloë Sevigny), a racist redneck farmer (Steve Buscemi wearing a hat that says "Keep America White Again), the hardware store worker (Danny Glover), a grizzled hermit (Tom Waits), a deliveryman (RZA) and the coroner (a sword wielding Tilda Swinton who pays homage to Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill" and is hilarious). Outsiders in town is a hipster (Selena Gomez) and her friends. When blood and gore hits the fan the only person who screams, as if in a horror film, is Sevigny. Everyone takes the mayhem in their stride including the wry and craggy Murray who does his usual straight schtick. Laid back to the extreme the film still has many memorable moments along with outstanding cinematography by Frederick Elmes. There are sharp cameos by Iggy Pop (as a zombie), Carol Kane and Rosie Perez making this quite an eclectic all-star cast for a Jarmusch film.

27 Dresses (Anne Fletcher, 2008) 7/10

Cute comedy which is an offshoot of the Bridget Jones films. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride is Jane (Katherine Heigl) as she has 27 dresses in her closet to prove her sorry life. When her younger sister falls in love with the man (Edward Burns) she is secretly in love with - her boss - she has to force herself to arrange the marriage and feel happy for her sister. Waiting in the wings is the creepy journalist (James Marsden) who not only makes fun of her but is secretly in love with her. Who does she get in the end is the trope we need to wade through to find out. Delightful rom-com is predictable as hell but wonderful Heigl makes it easy to sit through. Enjoyed the film because of her or maybe because I was drunk while watching the film. Gotta figure that out!

Always at the Carlyle (Matthew Miele, 2018) 5/10

A celebration of Hotel Carlyle in New York with celebrities putting their two cents in. It's really not that great a place ....... or is it?

Reserved For Ladies (Alexander Korda, 1932) 6/10

Class distinctions come in the way of a couple. A head waiter (Leslie Howard) at a posh London hotel falls in love with an aristocratic girl (Elizabeth Allan) and follows her to Austria. She mistakes him for royalty after seeing him dine with a King. Realising their class differences will come in the way he leaves and later they meet up again in London where she dines at the hotel and he waits on her. Dated but stylish film is a remake of a silent film. Howard and Allan are both charming as the lovers and Benita Hume is funny as a countess also in love with the waiter. Korda brings a touch of class to this little film with its smart sets and costume design.

Vulcano (William Dieterle, 1950) 9/10

Italian director Roberto Rossellini cast his mistress Anna Magnani in the film "Stromboli" to be shot on the volcanic Aeolian island off the coast of Sicily. However, he dumped her and replaced her with Ingrid Bergman who had become his new mistress, making her pregnant which caused a huge scandal. Magnani did not take it lying down as she (along with the production company) shot this superb melodrama on the neighbouring island of Salina filmed by William Dieterle, the German emigrée Hollywood director, who brought his own vision and style to the neo-realism backdrop. A prostitute (Anna Magnani) is taken by the cops from Naples and exiled back to her native village on the island of Vulcano. She is treated like a pariah by the women in the village although she is looked at with desire by the loutish men. Only her younger sister (Geraldine Brooks) welcomes her with love. When the young girl is smitten with a seedy man (Rosanno Brazzi) who is a deep sea diver and slave trader her sister sleeps with him to prove he is unworthy of her. That does not change the girl's feelings so the older woman takes the law into her own hands leading to the highly melodramatic and prepostrous finale. Dieterle's camera is also a fascinating travelogue as we see the villagers harvesting the volcanic ash on the bleak desolate island with the superb score by Enzo Masetti playing in the background. However, front and center is the magnificent Magnani who gives a no holds barred performance whether facing upto the village women who won't let her into the church, amused by the lusty men, confronting the man who is going to ruin her sister's life and her ultimate sacrifice as she walks up towards the volcano which is dramatically about to erupt. Magnani was truly a volcano herself and always a memorable presence in all her films.

La mano dello straniero / The Stranger's Hand (Mario Soldati, 1954) 7/10

Extremely rare British-Italian co-production based on a story by Graham Greene with a child as the story's main protagonist not unlike Carol Reed's "The Fallen Idol" also a story by Greene. A young boy (Richard O'Sullivan, a child actor who became famous much later on tv in the British sitcom "Man About the House") arrives in Venice to meet his father (Trevor Howard), a British diplomat / spy, after three years but discovers he is nowhere to be found. Kidnapped by Eastern Bloc agents he is kept drugged and hidden by a shady doctor (Eduardo Cannelli). On his own the boy wanders the streets of Venice looking for his father as the police and the British Consulate are no help. Aiding him in his quest are a secretary (Alida Valli) at the hotel and her American boyfriend (Richard Basehart). Atmospheric film is shot completely on location in Venice and is almost a travelogue as the actors wander all over the lovely city. This film is not as good as the Carol Reed classic but the wonderful cast, the appealing child and the views of the exotic city make it quite memorable in its own way. There is also a good score by Nino Rota.

[Precious Doll]

Downton Abbey - Seasons 5 & 6 (2014-2015) Various 10/10
Amazing Grace (2018) Alan Elliott & Sydney Pollack 6/10
Dragged Across Concrete (2019) S. Craig Zahler 2/10
Lek and the Dogs (2018) Andrew Kotting 4/10
Charlie Says (2019) Mary Harron 1/10
Jane (2017) Brett Morgen 6/10
The Haunting of Sharon Tate (2019) Daniel Farrands 1/10
In Fabric (2019) Peter Strickland 8/10
Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000) Joon-ho Bong 6/10
Oh...Rosalinda!! (1955) Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger 4/10

Repeat viewings

The Missionary (1982) Richard Loncraine 6/10
Klute (1971) Alan J. Pakula 8/10

[Reza]

Så som i himmelen / As it Is in Heaven (Kay Pollak, 2004) 4/10

After a breakdown a world famous conductor (Michael Nyqvist) returns to the small town in Sweden where he was born. His interactions with the townfolk form the basis of this slight and slow story as he falls in love with a young woman while taking part in the local choir. Excellent music cannot compensate for the hysterically loud characters and the emotional manipulation of the screenplay which quickly becomes overbearing. The film was a smash hit in Sweden and was nominated for an Oscar.

Mamma Roma (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1962) 8/10

The first thing you notice about Anna Magnani is her sharp aquiline nose, her lived in face with heavy bags under her kohl rimmed eyes and her uproarious laugh. Nobody could laugh with as much joy on screen - her mouth open in full she is the affirmation of life. She is a true force of nature which comes off glaringly on screen. When this film was shown at the Venice film festival her open-mouthed laugh was deemed obscene by the police and five minutes were excised from this film. A middle-aged prostitute (Anna Magnani) is released from her "servitude" when her pimp gets married so she goes in search of her teenage son who has grown up illiterate in the countryside. She brings him to Rome smothering the resentful boy with love hoping to give him a better life. Away from the quiet countryside he feels like a fish out of water and he soon gets mixed up in petty crime and is attracted to a girl of easy virtue - scenes of the boy running around the city with other street boys mirror Pasolini's own sexual taste which eventually proved to be his doom. With ferocious intensity she comes to her son's rescue. Adding to her problems is the return of her pimp who wants to continue where they left off. Pasolini's film about this semi-incestuous relationship has the director's typical erotic undertones mixed with Catholic guilt. Magnani is an aquired taste - you either love her or hate her. I think she is quite magnificent. Watching her emote is like experiencing grand opera. She is larger than life just like the city in which she has lived on and off its streets. The film is shot in a derelict part of Rome with shabby apartment buildings and ruins resembling closed in high walls like a prison which becomes a metaphor for the lives of both mother and son.

Article 15 (Anubhav Sinha, 2019) 7/10

Seventy percent of the population in India today is mired in a vicious cycle of caste segregation. The lowest caste, the Dalits, have faced the worse prejudices and atrocities. “Article 15” of the Indian constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. However, this has not stopped the centuries old custom of caste apartheid in India as corrupt but powerful government officials, landlords and businessmen belonging to the high caste Hindu communities often work in unison to deny basic rights to the Dalits. Anubhav Sinha's hardhitting film uses the alleged gruesome gang rape and murder of two young girls in Uttar Pradesh in 2014 as a backdrop. The story is reworked as a police procedural centered on a newly appointed police officer (Ayushmaan Khuranna) in a small backwoods town. Two young girls are found hanging from a tree. A third girl is missing. The cops try to cover up the hangings by calling it an honour killing and want to close the case but the officer, brought up in the West with his modern and liberal outlook, relentlessly pursues the truth. The film is a biting indictment of what's happening in India and is a plea for tolerance and equality. Stunningly shot by Ewan Mulligan the film is filled with many haunting images of which the most serene yet horrific is the one of a small crowd gathered at dawn next to a large tree from which hang the two minor girls as dew drips off their bodies. Bollywood star Khurrana is superb as the cop who cannot believe the cruel and vicious "traditions" people in his country still blindly follow with no regard for their fellow human beings. It is a worthy addition to the young actor's list of highly original and often diverse films all of which have scored big with critics and at the boxoffice.

[Reza]

Mortelle Randonnée (Claude Miller, 1981) 8/10

Miller dips into Claude Chabrol territory with this neo-noir murder thriller. An eccentric private detective (Michel Serrault) is obsessively in search of his daughter taken away from him by his wife years before. He also has a strange habit of talking aloud to himself. His boss (Geneviève Page) assigns him a case of looking for a young girl (Isabelle Adjani) who has seduced the young heir to a shoe fortune. He finds her but is fascinated when he sees her dispose the young man's body in a lake. Instead of turning her in to the police he follows her all over Europe as she, under a different disguise, seduces and murders assorted rich men and women and steals their money and jewellery. With each murder the detective becomes more and more obsessed and a stage comes when he even starts covering her tracks so she doesn't get caught. Serrault is superb as he plays a game of cat and mouse with the deadly serial killer who kills without remourse. The character of Adjani has a dreamy far-off quality, almost a cipher, as this femme fatale goes about her life in clinical fashion although she provides each of her personas a distinct and vivid personality. Is she the detective's long-lost daughter? And why is he protecting her? The film is a riveting and intriguing study in obsession that leads up to a haunting finalé. There is also a sharp cameo by an unrecognizable Stéphane Audran as an old matron also following Adjani. Both Serrault and Audran were nominated for Césars.

Parey Hut Love (Asim Raza, 2019) 7/10

Charming desi adaptation of "Four Weddings and a Funeral" takes on the opulence found in the films of Karan Johar and Sanjay Leela Bhansali although the funny screenplay manages to keep things grounded with a strong sense of Pakistani sensibility. And what great timing with Kashmir in the news. Why in the world do we want "their" Kashmir when we have a spectacular part of it in our neck of the woods just waiting to be discovered and made so vividly clear in the film? Yes, yes Indian atrocities, muslims suffering and politicians and the establishment from both sides using innocent suffering people for their own selfish means.....but that's for another discussion. Sheheryar (Sheheryar Munawar Siddiqui), a commitment-phobic aspiring actor, and Saniya (the exquisite Maya Ali), an ex-pat from Turkey and the daughter of a once famous scriptwriter (Nadeem), meet cute at one of those unbelievably over-the-top desi shaadis (found only in our part of the world....although Singapore is guilty of it too as witnessed in "Crazy Rich Asians") and fall in love. But circumstances (a lost phone) keep them apart although they keep bumping into each other during four weddings and a funeral. The set-up allows us to enter the world of exhuberant song and dance as colourful characters - friends and hilariously eccentric family members - gyrate to the music dressed in splendor (the costumes, both ethnic and western, by Umar Sayeed are truly outstanding). Many stars appear in cameos or in small but vivid parts - Frieha Altaf, Marina Khan, Lollywood superstar Meera (who makes a grand entrance and leads the "Ik Pal" dance sequence), Fawad Khan (as a snarky film producer), Sonya Jahan dancing during the Parsee wedding number "Haye Dil Bechara" and Mahira Khan who plays a bitchy diva-actress and gets to do a "Devdas" type mujrah â la Madhuri Dixit in the elaborate "Morey Saiyan". The film also scores points for its outstanding production design, cinematography, a marvelous song score by Azaan Sami Khan, a delightful sequence set during a Nawruz celebration ("Haft-Sheen" - "this glass used to hold sharaab but now we have sharbat") in the Parsee milieu (a minority sect lamentably neglected in our films but here shown with great love and humour), the stunning scenery of "our" Kashmir in and around Muzaffarabad during a song montage sequence and last but certainly not least for making me cry at least five times during the emotional moments. Both leads not only look stunning on screen as lovers but the actors have wonderful chemistry together. They are surrounded by a strong group of character actors with superb comic timing - special kudos to the delightful Hina Dilpazeer who plays the hero's hilariously garrulous mother who steals every scene. An entertaining addition to the revival of cinema in Pakistan.

Next of Kin (Justin Chadwick & Jamie Childs, 2018) 5/10

When a British-Pakistani doctor is shot in the head by a Muslim Jihadi group in Lahore it transpires that his son, who under the influence of shady clerics, may have triggered the murder. Coming to his rescue with the help of MI5 is his family back in London - his aunt (Archie Panjab), her husband (Jack Davenport) and the boy's grandmother (Shabana Azmi) - who have to race against time not only to save his life but also foil two terrorist attacks in London. Well acted 6-part mini-series has suspense but there are far too many unlikely plot twists and coincidences although it is interesting to see the number of dangerous blunders the anti-terrorist security forces make under the leadership of their head (Claire Skinner). The fake Pakistani locations are quite an eyesore.

Operation Crossbow (Michael Anderson, 1965) 5/10

Anderson's action packed WWII film is part documentary and part spy thriller with a strong whiff of James Bond. The Allies send covert agents (George Peppard, Tom Courtenay, Jeremy Kemp, Anthony Quayle) into Germany to destroy a factory where Hitler's death bombs are being created to be launched on London and New York. The film is over stuffed with stars in small but telling parts - the officious pipe smoking British superior officers (Trevor Howard, John Mills, Richard Johnson, Richard Todd, Maurice Denham) who plan the operation at the behest of Churchill (Patrick Wymark), the Nazi High Command (Paul Henreid, Helmut Dantine, Anton Diffring), real-life test pilot Hannah Reitsch (Barbara Rütting) who actually flew on the rocket and a couple of women who aid the agents (Lilli Palmer who gives the film's best performance and Sophia Loren who gets top billing courtesy of her husband Carlo Ponti the film's producer). Many familiar character actors (Sylvia Syms, John Fraser, Richard Wattis, Alan Cuthbertson, Gordon Jackson, John LeMesurier, Robert Brown, John Alderton) appear in bit parts as assorted British officers. The ending, set in an underground factory, appears to be the same fake volcano set used later in the Bond film "You Only Live Twice". The film ends with shoddy fiery explosions. The screenplay's only saving grace is the unexpected and shocking deaths of two characters (both played by big stars) very early on in the film.

Kitty Foyle (Sam Wood, 1940) 6/10

Soap opera set within the confines of class differences as Kitty Foyle (Ginger Rogers) flits between two men but gives her heart to the wrong one. Warned by her dad that she will not find contentment with a rich man she falls hard for a Boston blue-blood (Dennis Morgan) who comes in and out of her life leading to marriage and a divorce after his family - an imperious Gladys Cooper plays his mother which should give an idea about the union - makes it clear she is not suitable material. Finding herself pregnant and single she chooses to have the child which dies although censors of the time did not allow her to have an abortion which she did in the bestseller (by Christopher Morley) on which the film is based. Waiting in the wings is the sensitive and patient doctor (James Craig) from her own background who has loved her all along. This rather dated film won Ginger Rogers an Oscar. It was a popular if rather surprising win considering the strong competition that year from Bette Davis (The Letter), Joan Fontaine (Rebecca) and Katharine Hepburn (The Philadelphia Story), performances which are much more highly regarded today. Rogers was lauded for her immense popularity graduating from playing acerbic second leads to being the romantic dance partner of Fred Astaire in a string of hit musicals followed by leads in hit comedies. This dramatic departure surprised Hollywood and clinched her the award.

Una breve vacanza / A Brief Vacation (Vittorio De Sica, 1973) 9/10

De Sica returns to his roots at the end of his long career exploring the plight of the working class. The screenplay by De Sica's longtime collaborator, Cesare Zavattini (a proponent of the Neorealist movement in Italian cinema), was inspired by the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire's adage - "Sickness is the vacation of the poor". A factory worker (Florinda Bolkan) is sick and tired of her hard life working long hours to support her three children, a crass injured husband (Renato Salvatori) and thankless in-laws. When she develops tuberculosis she is sent via the government's National Health scheme to a sanatorium in the Italian Alps to heal and recuperate. This "vacation" opens up her eyes to a world outside her drab existence as she interacts with fellow patients from a different class than her own. She also finds brief happiness in a romance with a younger man. Elegiac, bittersweet film examines Italian class and sex attitudes but is never depressing despite the subject and benefits from an outstanding performance by Florinda Bolkan and a strong supporting turn by Adriana Asti as a flamboyant, foul mouthed singer who is nearing the end of her terminal illness. A must-see.

Shadow of the Law (Louis J. Gasnier, 1930) 6/10

One of many early talkies that were a transition for William Powell from bit parts as hoods to full fledged leading man. An amorous young man (William Powell) comes to the rescue of a woman (Natalie Moorhead) who is being attacked by her jealous lover and in the skirmish the man falls to his death. When the woman disappears he has no alibi and gets life imprisonment. Years later he escapes from jail and makes a fresh start but is confronted by his alibi who appears and blackmails him about his past. Powell is his usual dapper self and Moorhead is superbly slimy as the femme fatale. The screenplay has many twists and for an early talkie is surprisingly not static but moves along at a swift pace

Once a Lady (Guthrie McClintic, 1931) 4/10

A flamboyant Russian emigrée (Ruth Chatterton), the toast of Paris, impulsively marries a stuffy Englishman and lives to regret it. When his political career is threatened by her offbeat ways his family turns him against her so she finds solace with another man (Ivor Novello). She is forced to leave the house and her daughter taken away. Years later in Paris, while running a high class brothel, she is approached by her daughter (Jill Esmond) for help. Static melodrama was British matinée idol Novello's attempt at stardom in Hollywood which failed miserably. Chatterton is hilariously hammy speaking with a ridiculous Russian accent but looks lovely suffering throughout this turgid plot dressed in outlandish gowns.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Michael Dougherty, 2019) 5/10

A potpourri of ancient monster Titans - Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan and the three-headed dragon-like Ghidorah - awaken to wreak havoc on earth in this direct sequel to "Godzilla" which came out in 2014. A scientist (Vera Farmiga), who lost her son in the havoc created by Godzilla in the previous film, has invented a device that emitts frequencies that can attract or alter Titan behaviour. And since most of the "white world" (ok let's face it, only the United States) has been caught up in a frenzy of "political correctness" for the last many years the scientist here believes that these monsters should be allowed to live as they will allow the eco-system to work in balance and recreate life that has died. For over 80 years the world (via Hollywood) made sure every rampaging monster was killed and now in 2019 we are told that we gotta keep some of them alive. This noisy film is replete with shoddy effects as various combinations of monsters do battle with the three-headed one emerging as the nasty villain. Trying their best to avoid getting stomped on are the scientist's ex-husband (Kyle Chandler), her daughter (Millie Bobby Brown), assorted scientists of diverse nationalities (Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, Ziyi Zhang, Bradley Whitford) and the eco-terrorist human villain of this saga (Charles Dance). All the survivors converge in Boston and the final battle is between Godzilla and Ghidorah as the city is decimated and one big human sacrifice takes place. The end credits reveal that the surviving Titans are making a beeline for Skull Island thus paving the way for yet another sequel which will add King Kong into the mix as well. Too many monsters does indeed spoil the broth as after the 90 minute mark all the battles between the monsters and the shootouts from planes and helicopters just blur into a frenzy of light and noisy explosions. Hope the sequel keeps it simple with not too many cooks jumping into the frey.

Asher (Michael Caton-Jones, 2018) 7/10

Asher (Ron Perlman), a former Mossad agent turned hitman, is getting old and worn out but goes through the motions every day. He likes to cook gourmet meals, enjoys fine wine, and kills people for his paycheck received from the steely but twinkly-eyed jewish mob boss (Richard Dreyfuss). When he meets a woman (Famke Janssen) during a hit gone wrong he tries to re-evaluate his life. Leisurely paced film is a quiet delight with a wonderful central performance by Perlman. The film is filled with sad people - Jacqueline Bisset plays Janssen's feisty cockney mother who is suffering from dementia. The main plot runs through familiar territory but has a few twists to keep the audience occupied.

Angel Has Fallen (Ric Roman Waugh, 2019) 4/10

The President of the United States has a nasty habit of getting into scrapes in this trilogy of films but if he didn't than Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) wouldn't have much to do. This sequel tries to give Butler a different arc - he is battle weary, suffering from blinding headaches after a concussion and popping pain killers. Just as he is trying to decide to take a desk job - the wife wants him to - there is an assassination attempt on the President (Morgan Freeman) and Banning finds himself on the run with the Agency, the FBI and an Organization, which has framed him, all in pursuit. The formulaic plot goes through the usual tropes with the pursuer trying to prove his innocence as he is chased and shot at. The film comes alive during the sequences between Banning and his estranged grizzled old father (Nick Nolte), a Vietnam vet, who has a few surprises in store as he comes to his son's help in the nick of time. In fact the old man turns up out of the blue another time as well which makes no sense in terms of continuity - the screenplay has huge potholes. Many of the earlier scenes are shot at night which makes it hard to see what is happening on the screen. The annoying shaky camera also does not help. The film's best set piece is the assassination attempt on a secluded lake as deadly drones are directed at the President's boat which kill off all the security forces. The film is just as dumb as the other two in the franchise but those films scored extra points for being campy and over-the-top. The film's second half, which leads upto the action packed finale, is totally run of the mill and has nothing new to offer except the usual shoot out and a final confrontation with the main villain. The film is just as listless as the deadpan Butler who grimaces his way through the entire film with a scowl on his face. Freeman has a thankless part mostly spent in a coma on a hospital bed. Hopefully this series will now come to a close.

[Precious Doll]

The Wedding Guest (2019) Michael Winterbottom 2/10
Weathering with You (2019) Maketo Shinkai 4/10
Hotel by the River (2019) Sang-soo Hong 4/10
The Little Stranger (2018) Lenny Abrahamson 3/10
Mindhunter Season 2 (2019) Various 9/10
Downton Abbey Seasons 1 to 4 (2010 - 2013) Various 10/10

Repeat viewings

The War of the Roses (1989) Danny DeVito 7/10
The Tree of Life (2011) Terrence Malick 2/10
Bride of Frankenstein (1935) James Whale 6/10
Vice Squad (1982) Gary Sherman 4/10
Heavenly Creatures (1994) Peter Jackson 10/10
La Ronde (1950) Max Ophuls 7/10
Cruising (1980) William Friedkin 7/10
Gone to Earth (1950) Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger 7/10
The Wild Heart (1952) Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger & Rouben Mamoulian 5/10

[Precious Doll]

Palm Beach (2019) Rachel Ward 4/10
Booksmart (2019) Olivia Wild 5/10
Midsommar (2019) Ari Aster 3/10
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019) Chiwetel Ejiofor 4/10
Once Upon a Time in London (2019) Simon Rumley 4/10
Domino (2019) Brian De Palma 3/10
Once Upon a Time...in America (2019) Quentin Tarantino 7/10

Repeat viewings

Away We Go (2009) Sam Mendes 7/10
Tomboy (2011) Celine Sciamma 8/10
The Birth of a Nation (1915) D.W.Griffith 5/10
The Silent Partner (1978) Daryl Duke 7/10
Missing (1982) Costa-Gavras 10/10
Every Man For Himself (1980) Jean-Luc Godard 9/10
Don't Look Now (1973) Nicolas Roeg 9/10
12 Monkeys (1995) Terry Gilliam 8/10

[Big Magilla]

Steel Country / A Dark Place (Simon Fellows, 2019) 6/10

Irish Andrew Scott, who plays Moriarty in "Sherlock", does quite an about-turn here playing an obsessive compulsive small-town American garbage collector. When a child goes missing and is found drowned in a creek he starts an investigation on his own opening up a can of worms with devastating results. The derivative mystery-thriller aspects are merely a means for Scott to show his acting chops. The director creates a foreboding atmosphere of decay and despair in this forgotten corner of America where his "weird" main character functions as the sole voice of reason.

This film takes place deep in Trump country as the 2016 campaign signs clearly indicate. Although it's set in southwest Pennsylvania, it was actually filmed in Georgia. The area of the country where it takes place was not so much "forgotten' as taken for granted by the democrats. The characters in the film, aide from Scott's autistic garbageman, are the types most likely to show up at Trump rallies and intone "lock her up" or whatever mindless, loathsome phrase his cheerleaders are espousing for the day.

It's a surprisingly good film both on and under the surface. The U.S. release title of A Dark Place suits it better than the original title of Streel Country under which it was released in the U.K. and elsewhere before it showed up briefly in U.S. theatres. It's called A Dark Palce in its DVD / Bluray release.

[Reza]

Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, 2019) 7/10

Time and place - 1969 Los Angeles - is brought vividly to life in Quentin Tarantino's often bloated but delightfully
kitschy paean to Hollywood. The film is bursting at the seams with movie memorabilia and pop culture artifacts which are sure to bring every fanboy to the brink of a massive orgasm. And if it doesn't we all know for sure that Tarantino certainly experienced it while writing and shooting this film. Actual Hollywood personalities interact with the lead fictional characters - a has-been Western tv actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime buddy and stunt double (Brad Pitt). An agent (Al Pacino) tries to keep the actor's career going by getting him a role as a villain in a studio western followed by lead roles in four Italian spaghetti westerns. Just on the fringe of this main plot we catch glimpses of actress Sharon Tate (a charming Margot Robbie) cruising around in a car with her husband Roman Polanski, watching one of her own films at the cinema and spending time with her former lover Jay Sebring and close friend Abigail Folger. A brief appearance by Charles Manson and an extended tense sequence set at the ranch where Manson and his gang live sets the dreaded tone for the entire film. With Tarantino at the helm expectations run sky high and the director delivers a spectacularly violent finalè but with a gleefully ironic twist. The film is far too long and drags mercilessly during all of DiCaprio's scenes. Fortunately the laconic Pitt is around to bring the movie to life in every scene he appears - providing loving support to his cranky and spoilt buddy, trading insults and fists with Bruce Lee, interacting with his dog and showing his mettle during the showdown at the end. This should at last put the actor into serious consideration for an Oscar. The film also scores major points for the outstanding production design, costumes and Robert Richardson's cinematography which makes L.A. glow. Too bad about the excessive running time which, if nothing else, at least allowed Tarantino to indulge in all his movie fantasies.

Four Weddings and a Funeral (Mike Newell, 1994) 10/10

Hugh Grant's finest moment on screen - where he first bumbled about in witty style - as the commitment-phobic bachelor who has a hard time getting to the altar although he keeps attending weddings (and one funeral). He is given superb support by a group of delightful actors playing assorted eccentric friends - Simon Callow, Kristin Scott Thomas (superb as the friend who secretly loves him), Charlotte Coleman, John Hannah, Anna Chancellor and James Fleet. His object of desire is the lovely Andie MacDowell who is truly a vision in white. The hilarious screenplay ensures that even the smallest part on screen - played by the likes of Corin Redgrave, Jeremy Kemp, Kenneth Griffith, Elspet Gray, Rowan Atkinson, Rosalie Cruthchly, Sophie Thompson - makes a strong mark. A memorable song score on the soundtrack adds to the fun on screen.

Storm Warning (Stuart Heisler, 1951) 8/10

Hard-hitting Warner Brothers melodrama is one of the rare films from that studio that carries it's bleak mood from start to finish. The screenplay by Richard Brooks is a bitter indictment of the notorious Ku Klux Klan ("hoodlums dressed up in sheets") and even though it does not touch on issues of race - the murdered victim is a white reporter who was about to expose the Klan - the message is rammed home with full force. The small town atmosphere - not the South - is superbly captured. The town remains nameless but reeks of the Mid-West - the film was shot in 1949 and having lived in Indiana (where I once saw a KKK procession) and Ohio during the 1980s I saw no change at all in the look and feel of such little towns with their sensibilities which probably exist even today. A New York model (Ginger Rogers), en-route to a convention, stops to visit her younger married sister (Doris Day) in a small town. She immediately encounters an air of menace with hostile townfolk. Walking down a deserted street she comes upon hooded figures who are beating up a man who is then shot dead. She hides and later discovers that one of the hooded men (Steve Cochran), who shot the man, is married to her pregnant sister. When the D.A. (Ronald Reagan) indicts her to testify in court she pretends she saw nothing. The film goes on to rip-off "A Streetcar Named Desire" with a scene of an attempted rape (Cochran has a strong whiff of Brando) and an over-the-top ending with Ginger Rogers undergoing a frenzied whipping during a massive Klan gathering complete with a burning cross and a tragic shooting. The "message" gets over hammered but this is a potent (and deliciously overheated) little drama with superb dramatic performances by both Ginger Rogers and Doris Day. This film was my first introduction to both actresses when I first saw it 43 years ago and it was only later I caught both in the genre for which they are both remembered so fondly today.

Steel Country / A Dark Place (Simon Fellows, 2019) 6/10

Irish Andrew Scott, who plays Moriarty in "Sherlock", does quite an about-turn here playing an obsessive compulsive small-town American garbage collector. When a child goes missing and is found drowned in a creek he starts an investigation on his own opening up a can of worms with devastating results. The derivative mystery-thriller aspects are merely a means for Scott to show his acting chops. The director creates a foreboding atmosphere of decay and despair in this forgotten corner of America where his "weird" main character functions as the sole voice of reason.

[Reza]

La fortuna di essere donna / What a Woman! (Alessandro Blasetti, 1956) 8/10

Charming fluff coasts along on the incredible chemistry between Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni as they spar relentlessly. A photographer (Marcello Matroianni) snaps a photo of a Rome beauty who happened to be fixing her skirt exposing her legs. To her surprise she finds the photo on the cover of a magazine and threatens to sue. The enormous publicity attracts the attention of a lecherous old married lothario (Charles Boyer), an agent, who wants to sign her as a client so he can sleep with her under the pretext of launching her movie career. But he and other old men clamouring for her attention don't realise that under her simple facade she is a shrewd and tough cookie. Loren, never more beautiful and dressed in stunning outfits, is at her statuesque best - very slim and curvy - as she manoeuvres with sly stealth and ends up getting her man. Elisa Cegani, a favourite of Blasetti, is hilarious as Boyer's sophisticated wife who puts a spanner up her husband just as he is proposing to Loren in a crowded restaurant. The film is Italy's answer to Hollywood's screwball comedies as the rapidfire dialogue between the two stars works itself into a fever pitch. Great fun.

The Americanization of Emily (Arthur Hiller, 1964) 8/10

Sandwiched in between "Mary Poppins" and "The Sound of Music" was this small black romantic comedy in which Julie Andrews briefly laid bare her Goody Two-shoes image - which later got revived again as the years moved along. Paddy Chayefsky's witty and acerbic screenplay (based on the book by Wilfred Bradford Huie) is a scathing critique of the military establishment, war, and its pervasive glorification. A cynical Naval officer (James Garner) works as a "dog robber" which involves pimping for his hypocritical superior officers and providing them booze and other delicacies while stationed in London just before D-Day during WWII. A self proclaimed coward he hopes to keep away from battle enjoying life to the fullest. Life takes a turn when he falls in love with a prim British war widow (Julie Andrews) with whom he clashes over his radical views. On top of that he suddenly finds himself in the thick of battle when a cracked Admiral (Melvyn Douglas) comes up with the crazy idea of one of his men being the first to die on Omaha beach during the Allied landing at Normandy. This hilarious and often poignant anti-war film moves at a fast pace with both Garner and Andrews (whose performance is tinged with adult maturity in contrast to her family-friendly image) creating sexual sparks in this the first of their three popular screen teamings. Joyce Grenfell has a delightful bit as Andrews' dotty mother who is charmed to tears by Garner's unfliching comments about her dead soldier husband and the fake glory of heroism which people have believed through the centuries. Phillip Lathrop's gorgeous Oscar nominated widescreen cinematography is seen to great advantage in particular during a scene at an airport tarmac where the lovers bitterly part as rain pours down on them. Smart intelligent film with humour.

The Lion King (Jon Favreau, 2019) 4/10

The 1994 classic animated film (which I must have seen [and really enjoyed] a 100 times courtesy of my two kids) gets a retread courtesy of CGI which makes all the animals look real. Did this story need a remake? Not really and certainly not with the additional 30 minutes of screen time which really makes the film drag. Otherwise the familiarity of the story and the songs made it a pleasant enough experience. Simba (voiced by Donald Glover), a young lion cub, flees his kingdom after the murder of his father, Mufasa (James Earl Jones returns with his memorable boom-box voice), at the hands of his devious and jealous uncle Scar (voiced blandly by Chiwetel Ejiofor - sadly Jeremy Irons and his deliciously evil voice from the original are sorely missed). After assorted life lessons Simba returns to reclaim his land and confronts his evil uncle who has taken over the kingdom with the help of an army of hyenas. Elton John's memorable song score is still intact but lacks the magic sound of the original performers. The songs just sit here instead of soaring like in the original. Even the Oscar winning "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" sung so memorably by Elton John sounds bland in comparison even though both Donald Glover and Beyoncé give it a go here. Just stick to the original film which still retains its magic.

Torn Curtain (Alfred Hitchcock, 1966) 5/10

This is not one of Hitchcock's good films although he takes a memorably fetishistic delight in presenting in extreme closeup a scene in bed as his two stars, Paul Newman and Julie Andrews, kiss furiously. The last time the director shot an almost similar sequence was between Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in the classic "Notorious" to much greater success. The rather odd casting of the two stars in this thriller (they have absolutely no chemistry together), the derivative plot and a loud music score all add to the film's failure. An American physicist (Paul Newman) on a lecture tour in Copenhagen ditches his fiancé (Julie Andrews), jumps on a plane to East Berlin and defects. She manages to board the plane and is shocked by her lover's actions. It turns out he is a spy and is on a mission to extract a formula related to a new rocket system from an unsuspecting german scientist. Hitchcock dismissed this film and blamed the studio for saddling him with two expensive stars and a screenplay that had to be constantly worked on during filming. On top of that Newman consistently annoyed the director with his relentless questions about his character's motivations to which Hitchcock famously retorted that the actor's motivation should be the huge salary he was getting and nothing else. Despite all the chaos the director still manages to put his stamp on the film especially in a fight sequence where Newman and a woman struggle to kill a man who is beaten, throttled, stabbed and finally gassed to death in the oven of a kitchen stove as he kicks and twitches in an endless death throe. The irony of the german man's death is horrifying but also a typically wicked Hitchcock touch bordering on the macabre. With this scene he wanted to show just how difficult it was to kill a man unlike how most films made it look easy. The two stars are put through their paces by the "Master of Suspence" as he continuously locks them into dangerous situations, gets them out only to put them back right in to the thick of things. Lila Kedrova, fresh off an Oscar win, has a bizzare cameo - her role seems to have been written in on the spur of the moment as a Polish countess who appears from nowhere just to help the leads in their escape as she gibberishly mutters her lines. Newman goes through the entire film with a glum expression on his face while Andrews, who has a thankless and underwritten part, plays it with a persistent smile. One almost expects her to suddenly start singing. She knew it was a thankless part but took it on just to work with the great director. Overall this is a dull film with a couple of exciting set pieces.

Star of Midnight (Stephen Roberts, 1935) 7/10

Boozing and sleuthing proved very profitable for MGM with "The Thin Man" and before the studio could start churning out sequels the other studios jumped onto the bandwagon too. Thus William Powell got to play variations of his Nick Charles character involved with a murder mystery and cast opposite each studio's leading lady. Here it was RKO studio and Ginger Rogers plays his daffy fiancé trying her best to get him to the altar but the disappearance of a stage actress and a murder interrupt her plans. Both Powell and Rogers sparkle while bickering and Gene Lockhart is droll as their butler. The mystery is finally resolved and the killer found after a convoluted explanation which is really not of importance because the screenplay takes more delight in celebrating the two main eccentric characters.

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (Stephen Roberts, 1936) 5/10

Stephen Roberts' last film at RKO studio - he died at age 40 - is a rehash of "Star of Midnight" which he made the previous year. Cashing on to the success of MGM's "The Thin Man" the star of that film, William Powell, was regurgitated over and over again by the studios playing a variation of "Nick Charles". Only the character's profession changed - here he is a doctor - and a different leading lady was provided. Myrna Loy's "Nora Charles" got a facelift courtesy of Ginger Rogers followed by Jean Arthur here who here plays the title role. The murder mystery revolves around a dead jockey, a deadly spider, assorted corpses and a denouement that is an almost exact replay of the one in "Star of Midnight". Powell rises above this stock material and is his usual droll self and bickers delightfully with daffy Jean Arthur as his annoying and interfering ex-wife. Providing added comic support are Eric Blore as their butler and James Gleason as a cop. Stale material livened up by the two leads.

L'année sainte / Holy Year (Jean Girault, 1976) 6/10

Jean Gabin's last film is a light hearted, delightful comedy with the star fittingly cast as a convict. Most of his memorable films had him playing theives and gangsters but with a strong code of honour. An old convict (Jean Gabin) and his cell-mate (Jean-Claude Brialy) plan an escape from prison with the old geezer planning to collect a hidden stache of gold buried under a lemon tree next to a church in Rome. Successfully escaping from prison they don the guise of priests and board a flight for Rome. As luck would have it the flight is hijacked by a group of terrorists demanding a ransom of a million dollars and take the flight to Tangiers instead. What they don't realize is the resourceful gruff priest on board who has quite a few tricks up his sleeve. Adding a sense of deja vu to the proceedings is another passenger, an elderly duchess (Danielle Darrieux), who happens to recognise the old priest as her former lover 40 years before. The two stars shine during their brief scenes together. Gabin, who died soon after the film was shot is fabulous as usual and the only reason to watch this very minor film.

[Precious Doll]

Young Ahmed (2019) Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne 2/10

Is your problem with this on a dramatic/filmmaking level? Or is it more in line with some of the reservations that some expressed when the concept was announced--that two older white men are telling a story that they don't and can't quite understand?

I like the Dardenne brothers a lot in general, and I'll definitely see this, but this definitely felt like an unusual choice for them. Unless I'm mistaken, this somewhat surprisingly doesn't have distribution in the US yet. IFC has distributed their last several films, but I haven't seen anything about them picking it up.

Dramatic/filmmaking level was my problem. I'm a great believer than anyone can make a film about anything and full credit to the Dardenne brothers for tackling a difficult subject but it simply didn't work. Their neo-realist style wasn't so much the problem as they didn't appear to have an outline or screenplay that tackled the issues the film raises. I don't know how they work screenplay wise but the subject manner needed deeper probing than their usual arm's length approach. The end pay off that is part of their trade mark was simply 'so what'.

I can't recall any film that has dealt with 're-educating' Islamic extremists and I sense the Dardennes were careful not to ruffle any feathers and in the end delivered a very dull, though thankfully very short (84 minutes) film.

Back in the early 1980s there was a Canadian film Ticket to Heaven (1981) and a Canadian/US co-production Split Image (1982) that both dealt with deprogramming members of religious cults. Both films were highly regarded but couldn't get bums on seats if you paid people and have over the decades slipped into obscurity. Both these films were far superior to Young Ahmed but religious cults don't inflame the masses the way that jihad's or right wing extremists are doing around the world now. Which brings me to The Believer (2001) that despite winning the top prize at Sundance had a hard time being seen anywhere for its controversial take on extremists (another film that has slipped into obscurity).

Anyway, prior to Young Ahmed I could count the Dardenne brothers in the small list of filmmakers that had never made a bad film. Flawed ones sure but nothing that I thought was outride bad until now.

I'm not surprised the film is having trouble picking up distribution in some markets - its pretty unmarketable and the mixed/negative response won't help it find an audience. It should receive a DVD release in Oz within about 12 months - the Australian distributor Madman release most of their films on physical media, even the ones that they don't give a general cinema release to, which I doubt this will recieve beyond the French Film Festival next March.

[dws1982]

Young Ahmed (2019) Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne 2/10

Is your problem with this on a dramatic/filmmaking level? Or is it more in line with some of the reservations that some expressed when the concept was announced--that two older white men are telling a story that they don't and can't quite understand?

I like the Dardenne brothers a lot in general, and I'll definitely see this, but this definitely felt like an unusual choice for them. Unless I'm mistaken, this somewhat surprisingly doesn't have distribution in the US yet. IFC has distributed their last several films, but I haven't seen anything about them picking it up.

[Precious Doll]

Each and Every Moment (2018) Nicholas Philbert 6/10
A Brother's Love (2019) Monia Chokri 6/10
The Wild Goose Lake (2019) Yi'nan Diao 4/10
The Trial (2018) Sergey Loznitsa 6/10
We Are Little Zombies (2019) Makoto Nagashisa 4/10
The Unknown Saint (2019) Alaa Eddine Aljem 5/10
Young Ahmed (2019) Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne 2/10
Queen of Hearts (2019) May el-Toukhy 9/10
Mr. Jones (2019) Agnieska Holland 2/10
The Cordillera of Dreams (2019) Patricio Guzman 4/10
It Must Be Heaven (2019) Elia Suleiman 6/10
Fire Will Come (2019) Oliver Laxe 4/10
Ghost Town Anthology (2019) Denis Cote 4/10
Abou Leila (2019) Amin Sidi Boumedine 1/10

[Reza]

Journey Into Fear (Norman Foster & Orson Welles, 1943) 5/10

Orson Welles' third film as director (although he insisted on giving Foster sole credit) is an uninspired spy thriller based on a crackling Eric Ambler novel. Joseph Cotten (in his third consecutive Welles film) stars and also wrote the convoluted screenplay (with Cotten's distracting narration tacked onto the film as an after thought by Welles). The film relies on atmosphere (set in Turkey during the war but shot on claustrophobic sets) created by the great Karl Struss on camera as he bathes the actors with lights and shadows using unusual camera placements. It does not compensate for a lack in suspense involving an American engineer (Joseph Cotten) visiting Turkey with his wife (Ruth Warrick) for a conference and attracting Nazi agents who put a hit on him. Cotten flounders around dodging the assassin and meets an assortment of colourful characters - an exotic nightclub dancer (Delores Del Rio) wearing a cat suit, the monstrous Turkish secret police chief (Orson Welles surprisingly underplaying) who forces him onto a tramp steamer to get away from the killer, a sinister businessman (Everett Sloane), the silent assassin (Jack Moss) and assorted grotesque characters on the ship including a nagging woman (an annoying and disheveled Agnes Moorehead speaking with a french accent). The dialogue throughout is a running commentary on god, war, marriage, death and politics. The film ends with a spectacular set piece in the rain but overall the film comes up short - the studio hacked up the film's running time without Welles' permission while he was away shooting a film in Brazil. The project clearly has Welles' stamp all over it and is worth watching for his familiar flourishes but it sadly disappoints in the end.

Adventure in Diamonds (George Fitzmaurice, 1940) 6/10

Silly fluff is one of Isa Miranda's extremely rare forays into Hollywood. Familiar plot was churned out numerous times with Hollywood changing the leading actors and the location in an attempt to make it seem fresh. It never was of course but the stars usually carried it along. A jewel thief (Isa Miranda) arrives in South Africa and on the plane attracts the attention of an army pilot (George Brent) who tries to make a play for her. She leads him on in an attempt to get a special pass into a diamond mine. She and her lover (John Loder) plan to steal a cache of diamonds. When she is caught and sentenced to prison the Police Commissioner (Nigel Bruce) agrees to release her under the condition that the pilot and she pretend to be a couple to try and entrap another gang of theives. Sparks fly and love rears its head. Miranda is dressed (by Edith Head) and packaged (superbly photographed by Charles Lang getting numerous dramatic closeups) to look like Marlene Dietrich's clone and even sounds like her. The studio publicized her as "the Italian Dietrich". She gives a witty, knowing performance while an aging Brent added one more great leading lady to his exceptional resume of female co-stars. Shot on the Paramount studio lot there is an interesting and detailed sequence explaining how diamonds are mined, sorted and cleaned in a South African factory. Well worth seeing for a glimpse of the exotic Miranda who had become a star during the early 1930s in a film by Max Ophüls but after two movies at Paramount moved to Europe and a more distinguished career in films with such diverse directors as Alfredo Guarini (her husband), Renato Castellani, Réne Clément, Eduardo De Filippo, Luigi Zampa, Max Ophüls, David Lean ("Summertime"), Henri Verneuil, Damiano Damiani, Mauro Bolognini, Anthony Asquith, Vittorio De Sica and Liliana Cavani.