A European auteur (known only here as “Herr Director”) is making his English-language debut, with a film entitled The Undesirables, an overwrought melodrama about deformed patients in a facility, who are all falsely promised the chance to have their lives improved by a sinister doctor, who hides many secrets about his institution from those under…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
Landline (2017)
The Jacobs are an ordinary Upper West Side family in the mid-1990s. They’re headed by Pat (Edie Falco), the stern matriarch, and her more lenient husband Alan (John Turturro), who have to endure the challenges posed by their two daughters – Dana (Jenny Slate) has already moved out of home, but is still regularly involved…
Misbehaviour (2020)
The world was a very different place in 1970 – the Vietnam War was raging, the Cold War tensions had risen to a grotesque peak, and the world watched on tenterhooks, waiting for some sign that there would be some kind of resolution. One institution was always reliable in bringing people together – the Miss…
The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966)
“The road begins and the journey is already over” Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Hawks and the Sparrows (Italian: Uccellacci e uccellini) is a film built from a fundamentally contradictory perspective – a comedy that is far bleaker than most films made during this time, and a neo-realist masterpiece that has frequent flights of fancy into…
Come Drink with Me (1966)
The wuxia genre is one that has flourished into one of the most beloved forms of filmmaking, albeit one that can occasionally be considered a bit overwhelming to those looking to get into this form of entertainment, as the vast wealth of entries into the martial arts genre being amongst the densest in all of…
Torn Curtain (1966)
Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman) and his fiancée Sarah Sherman (Julie Andrews) find themselves on a luxurious vacation in Northwest Europe, staying in some of the most luxurious hotels and eating at the most expensive restaurants money can buy. The caveat is that Michael is a world-renowned physicist and an expert on nuclear warfare, having been…
Django (1966)
Like its culinary counterparts, the spaghetti western is incredibly popular – safe, reliable and enjoyed by generations across all cultures. However, its also an acquired taste, and like any genre, it’s going to have its share of successes and failures. I’m certainly not someone who advocates heavily for this kind of western, despite having enjoyed…
Les Créatures (1966)
Who is the ultimate authority after a film has been made? Is it the general public, who its often intended to entertain, or the critics that make it their professional duty to determine whether it is a success or a failure, or the filmmaker, who looks back at a specific work and decides whether they…
Tigertail (2020)
“There are many things I never told you” Representation matters. It isn’t enough to just work with undervalued groups, and there has been a seismic shift away from the realm in which people of colour weren’t afforded the opportunity to play the roles they deserved. Visibility is not only about focusing on diversity in your…
Mona Lisa (1986)
George (Bob Hoskins) has just been released from prison – he was a driver for a mysterious London crime boss (Michael Caine) and took the fall for a job gone wrong, resulting in seven years of incarceration. His return to society is far from as ideal as he’d hoped it would be – his family…
The Postmodern Pelican 