Tag: Film Review
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The Piano Teacher.
Perhaps Michael Haneke’s most refined and meaningful piece of work, The Piano Teacher is far from an easy watch. In typical Haneke-style, there is unpredicted physical violence, repression and unanswered questions but all of this comes together to form a majestic yet twisted piece of contemporary European cinema. This take on the melodrama, tells the story of…
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Last Days.
I mean, talk about a yawn-fest. Last Days is one of the most dull and uninteresting films I have ever seen. I’m familiar with Van Sant’s style so I was prepared for long scenes of “not much really happening” but Last Days takes this to an unbearable level. This is Gus Van Sant’s depiction of the final days of…
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Blue Is The Warmest Colour.
I have only read a handful of negative reviews of the 2013 Palme d’Or winning Blue Is The Warmest Colour. This french film has had a glorious reception and has remained one of the most discussed and anticipated films of the year. The film tells the story of Adele, a confused and vulnerable student. When we…
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Jesus Camp.
Regardless of the highly obvious position taken by the makers of Jesus Camp, I found myself getting increasingly angry about the subject at the heart of this film. This documentary looks at a particular American Christian summer camp on which young and, most importantly, highly impressionable children learn about the importance of dying for Christ and preparing…
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Revolutionary Road.
Richard Yates’ Eleven Kinds of Loneliness is one of my favourite books. A collection of short stories that depict eleven different isolated individuals, the book captures the alienation of the late forties and fifties. From housewives trapped in their suburban prisons, to children separated in the playground by their differences, it deals with poisonous atmospheres and psychological…
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Downfall.
The story goes like this…Traudl Junge, Hitler’s personal secretary during the last two years of his life, was interviewed for the documentary Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary in 2002. After hearing of the documentary’s warm reception and critical success Junge died of cancer in the early hours of the next day. Mere hours before her death, she is…
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Captain Phillips.
Four month ago I posted an entry on this website called ‘The Magic of Tom Hanks‘. The article discussed the actor’s baffling screen diversity and applauded Hanks for his ability to remain a household name and yet never be typecast. Having played some of cinema’s most memorable characters, from Mr. Gump to Captain Miller, Hanks…
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A Woman Under The Influence.
When A Woman Under the Influence first came out in the mid seventies, many rejoiced in its honest and realistic depiction of marriage and family. Where Hollywood provided either ‘happy’ or ‘unhappy’ marriages, John Cassavetes’ masterpiece presented a much more truthful and complex image of love, madness and marriage. Mabel, first and foremost, loves her family. Mabel’s…
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Dogtooth.
Dogtooth depicts a family whose three children are completely unaware of the outside world. Told by their father that man-eating cats await them outside of the family walls, the three children remain childlike in mindset despite clearly physically venturing into adulthood. They have no understanding of sex, reality or the truth about their imprisonment. The father…
Hannah McHaffie 