A fatal car accident leaves a businessman dead, just before he and his wife, Yumiko (Yôko Tsukasa) were set to emigrate to the United States as a result of a recent promotion. The driver of the car, Shiro Mishima (Yûzô Kayama) works for an entertainment company and may have something of an alcohol problem, which…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
Good Times (1967)
There are two ways to look at Good Times – the first is a relic of the 1960s, a time-capsule of a decade in which so much social and cultural change came about, made with the intention of simply entertaining audiences with its irreverent sense of humour and upbeat demeanour. The second is as a…
David Holzman’s Diary (1967)
A young man named David Holzman (L.M. Kit Carson) decides that he is going to make a film, he himself occupying the central role. However, instead of constructing a feasible plot and writing a script, he chooses to simply film his own life, believing that documenting his daily activities will be compelling enough, with his…
Belle de Jour (1967)
There are certain filmmakers who achieve fame through their longevity, and those that earn it through originality. Luis Buñuel did both and rose to become one of the most influential film directors of all time, and someone whose work has been embraced by generations of film-lovers, critics and individuals in the industry, who were inspired…
Wait Until Dark (1967)
The thriller genre is one that often appears to occur on something of a binary scale, much like horror, its closest generic cousin – it is either derivative and plays upon a set of preordained ideals, or it is thoroughly unique, either having a highly original premise or an audacious execution to some more common…
Clemency (2019)
Anthony Woods (Aldis Hodge) is a prisoner currently on death row, having been found guilty of the murder of a police officer fifteen years before. His parole hearings continuously result in his appeals being rejected, and his legal team, led by his dedicated friend and lawyer Marty (Richard Schiff) does whatever they can to ensure…
Bed Among the Lentils (1988)
“Geoffrey’s bad enough, but I’m glad I wasn’t married to Jesus” These words resound as the first statement made in Alan Bennett’s Bed Among the Lentils, his lengthy dramatic monologue that serves as a showcase for the incredible Dame Maggie Smith, who does what is undeniably amongst her finest work here. I genuinely believed I…
The Edge of Heaven (2007)
Yeter (Yeter Öztürk) is a middle-aged prostitute operating out of a small town in Germany, where she is constantly accosted by locals who deride her for forgetting about her heritage. She encounters Ali (Tuncel Kurtiz), a fellow Turkish immigrant who becomes a regular customer. Less a way of satiating his desires, and more of a…
High School (1968)
Frederick Wiseman revolutionized the documentary – in many ways, he essentially invented the modern form of non-fictional filmmaking, alongside the work done by other renegade auteurs such as the Maysles Brothers and Shirley Clarke, who sought to represent reality in a way that was honest, poignant and direct, with the results often being fascinating studies…
Oliver! (1968)
Like any art form, cinema tends to oscillate between trends, with new ideas replacing the old, which subsequently go out of fashion, and either resurface as loving throwbacks to the past or disappearing completely, being remnants of a past era, where the popularity of that genre or set of conventions can never be fully replicated…
The Postmodern Pelican 