There are many reasons I (like many people) enjoy going to the movies – great performances, beautiful filmmaking and strong stories are a difficult combination to beat, especially when they’re done well. They make every trip to the cinema an immersive, powerful experience that certainly lingers on with the viewer when they’re done right. Without…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
Gloria (1980)
When John Cassavetes stepped behind a camera, pure magic was born. There are few filmmakers that I admired for the sheer gall and dedication to their craft more than him, especially since he produced some of the greatest films of their respective eras. I don’t want to become too invested in explaining why Cassavetes was…
The Air of Paris (1954)
There are two films embedded in The Air of Paris (French: L’air de Paris), the powerful drama by Marcel Carné. The first is the heartbreaking story of a former boxer, played by Jean Gabin, who hopes to recapture the spirit of his glory days through training a promising young athlete, played by Roland Lesaffre. The…
Last Night in Soho (2021)
One of the qualities I have most admired in Edgar Wright is that he positions himself as a film fan long before he does a director, with each one of his productions feeling like they are authentically crafted by someone who has a genuine fondness for the medium. It has allowed Wright to make films…
It Should Happen to You (1954)
Do you know the name “Gladys Glover”? Unfortunately, no one did – which is wildly different from the ambitions held by the young Gladys (Judy Holliday), who wanted nothing more than to be famous. Her move from Upstate New York to the Big Apple was supposed to bring her fame and fortune, and launch her…
House of Gucci (2021)
There are two ways to view House of Gucci, the biographical drama directed by Ridley Scott, who depicts the circumstances leading up to the murder of Maurizio Gucci, heir to arguably the most prestigious fashion brand in history. The first is to look at it as a darkly comical voyage into the past, one where…
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
No one writes women quite like Pedro Almodóvar, at least not anyone who has been working in the medium of film in the last forty years. From his earliest days of subversive, darkly comical morality tales that took him to the furthest corners of society, to the present moment where he has engaged with many…
The Power of the Dog (2021)
As a cinematic population, we know better than to question Jane Campion or the decisions she makes when he endeavours to produce a film, even if this a surprisingly rare event (which only adds to the mythology surrounding the director, who is often regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of her generation, her name…
I Killed My Mother (2009)
When it comes to cinematic wunderkinder, few have had a career as impressive as Xavier Dolan, whose initial success came from the fact that he directed his first feature film at the young age of only twenty, an achievement that is all the more impressive considering his directorial debut wasn’t an amateur production, but rather…
The Mass Is Ended (1985)
We have a seemingly endless supply of films that focus on the intimate lives of priests, ranging from the stark realism of Robert Bresson’s Diary of a Country Priest, to the politically-charged complexities of Paul Schrader’s First Reformed, to the outright terrifying brutalism of Maurice Pialat’s Under the Sun of Satan. We’ve seen many stories…
The Postmodern Pelican 