The art of provocation is one that not many filmmakers have been able to successfully achieve without coming across as overly forced. Some filmmakers court controversy as a means for artistic expression, whereas others do it because they are genuinely fascinated by the reaction from the audience and how they observe particularly unsettling stories. There…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
We Used to Know Each Other (2019)
Being in love is a wonderful experience, but maintaining it is another matter entirely, which is something that the protagonists of We Used to Know Each Other have to learn for themselves. A very simple independent comedy directed by Robert G. Putka, who wrote the screenplay in conjunction with Hugo de Sousa, who also happens…
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Whenever I travel, my father undoubtedly (and mostly as a joke) states “stay out of the woods”, a warning to steer clear of those untrodden parts of any country in which evil normally tends to lurk, whether it is of our world or supernatural. Art has always been fascinated with the unknown, and I’ve often…
Mickey 17 (2025)
The question of what happens after death has plagued and fascinated the human race since we became sentient, and there are as many interpretations as there are individual stories to be told, with absolutely none of us having a more accurate opinion than anyone else. Yet, it hasn’t stopped some truly fascinating conversations around the…
The Skin of Sorrow (2010)
More than half a century before Oscar Wilde committed pen to paper in order to write The Picture of Dorian Gray, we had a similarly-themed story on behalf of the equally important literary genius Honoré de Balzac in the form of La Peau de chagrin (commonly translated as “The Magic Skin”), which is also focused…
In God We Tru$t (1980)
Nothing has been simultaneously more beneficial and harmful to the growth of humanity than money – our voyage from bartering systems in the early days of civilization to the present day has been fascinating, and we have seen many revolutions emerge, both literal and figurative, over the way money is used within society, and it…
Coup de Chance (2023)
There was a time when life had a few certainties – the sun would rise in the morning, the tide would flow in and out, and Woody Allen would release a film almost every year, like clockwork. For reasons that are quite obvious surrounding his personal life, the latter has essentially ceased, and in the…
Old Guy (2025)
No matter how much of an expert you become in a particular field, there will come a point where you are seen as “the old guy”, someone who was previously at the top of their game, but the march of time and the inevitability of the younger generation taking over means that we will all…
The Monkey (2025)
It seems like everyone has their own unique encounter with the work of Osgood Perkins, whose directorial career has been the very definition of a slow-burn, gradual rise to acclaim. Most filmmakers working in the proverbial field of “elevated horror” (a vulgar term if there ever was one) tend to emerge as major voices right…
Slap Shot (1977)
Violence is never the answer – unless you’re a member of a minor league hockey team hailing from some small town in the heartlands of America, in which case it isn’t only allowed, but actively encouraged. They say hockey without violence is only half the experience – or at least this is what we’re led…
The Postmodern Pelican 