Most film lovers with an interest in Hollywood ephemera are aware of the Chateau Marmont – the prestigious restaurant and hotel nestled into the heart of Sunset Boulevard, and which has seen countless figures from the world of entertainment pass through its hallowed halls over the years. However, one of its most recent occupants is…

Robert Stroud (Burt Lancaster) has been sentenced to death for the murder of two men. A young and rebellious felon, he holds very little remorse for his actions and is willing to take the punishment long before he’s going to regret his actions. However, based on a successful petition run by his mother (Thelma Ritter),…

Playwrights tend to know more about the human condition than just about anyone. This has never been more evident than through the work of Eugene O’Neill, whose status as arguably the most important American playwright of his generation (a distinction he may only be able to share with the likes of Arthur Miller and Tennessee…

Each individual filmmaker intends to do something throughout their career – some of them want to make us laugh, others want to terrify us, and there are even those that tend to try and evoke deep and meaningful thought in the viewer, to the point where we start to look at our own existence in…

Helen Keller has always been a historical figure that I’ve been profoundly fascinated by – from the early days of elementary school where we were told about her valiant efforts in overcoming both deafness and blindness, making her one of the most inspiring historical figures, to my in-depth exploration of her life at the postgraduate…

In serene suburban Los Angeles reside an ordinary family. They’re led by the rugged but well-meaning Gideon (Paul Butler) and his wife, Suzie (Mary Alice), who have two grown children (Richard Brooks and Carl Lumbly), who have offspring of their own. Their lives are, on the surface, the definition of traditional – they attend church,…

There are certain qualities embedded in the films of Arnaud Desplechin that show him as a director whose films often touch on very real issues, but the one that perhaps stands out the most is his incredible ability to look at the human condition in very different ways, focusing on the trials and tribulations of…

Émilie (Catherine Deneuve) and Antoine (Daniel Auteuil) are middle-aged siblings that live radically different lives. She is a successful lawyer who is in an unhappy marriage with her legal partner (Jean-Pierre Bouvier), who are together only for the sake of their children (Chiara Mastroianni and Anthony Prada), who are now adults in their own right…

Something that has become quite apparent as I’ve worked through the career of Frank Perry in order to shed light on him as one of the most underpraised American masters, is that as he progressed in the industry, he became a better filmmaker. His first films were slightly weaker and far less-interesting that some of…

Yuichi (Yuichi Ishii) is a mild-mannered entrepreneur whose business is gradually becoming quite a formidable force in contemporary Tokyo. His job description is simple: he pretends to be people for a living. He calls his company “Family Romance”, where he and his colleague (Takashi Nakatani) spend their days completing contractual obligations by a variety of…