“I had this fleeting hope…that everything wouldn’t turn out to be illusions, dreams and lies.” Ingmar Bergman was a director of many different talents, with his prolific career producing countless masterpieces across numerous genres, each one seeing the famed auteur venturing deeper into his own understanding of the human condition. As a result, it is…

Kelly Reichardt’s films are arguably not for everyone – they’re normally glacially-paced, quiet works of introspective analysis set to the background of more working-class, traditional America at different points, and thus may not always appeal to those attuned to more boisterous works. However, if there is a film that will convert the cynics to her…

Fabienne (Catherine Deneuve) is one of France’s finest actresses and has recently written a book about her life, where she purports to tell “the truth”, even titling it as such. The problem is, most of what she writes about are fictions and fantasies about her career and personal life, a fact that only becomes clear…

“Ladybird, ladybird fly away home, Your house is on fire and your children are gone, All except one, and her name is Ann, And she hid under the baking pan.” These words are taken from the classic nursery rhyme which served as the loose inspiration for Ladybug Ladybug, the sophomore effort of director Frank Perry…

In the seaside hamlet of Boulogne-sur-Mer stands a quaint apartment, where four individuals find themselves one ordinary evening. The residents there are Hélène Aughain (Delphine Seyrig), a former housewife who has found her passion in collecting and selling antiques, and her adult stepson, Bernard (Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée), who is a veteran of the Algerian War. Their…

Somewhere in London, an elderly homeless man, named either Davies or Jenkins (Donald Pleasance) is rescued from a pub-brawl by a quiet, stoic young man named Aston (Robert Shaw), who he takes in for the evening, allowing him to share the attic of his London house. However, they’re not alone – also in the house…

The Crawthorne State Mental Hospital is an institution that specializes in housing and treating children with mental handicaps. It’s run by the stern but dedicated Dr Clark (Burt Lancaster), a serious doctor who does his best to care for the children put under his care. He soon finds himself dealing with a new set of…

The Hirayamas are an ordinary family living in Tokyo. Wataru (Shin Saburi) is the patriarch, who has provided for his family in his capacity as a highly-respected businessman that has made many friends along the way and has positioned him as a trusted voice for numerous people seeking help with their own individual problems, whether…

Luce is a film I truly don’t care for. No matter how much effort I put into revisiting this film, mainly since it has been hailed as some modern masterpiece, can convince me that it’s anything other than plainly mediocre, and the appeal surrounding it continues to evade me. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted…

“He may be a servant, but he’s also a human” These words occur at a crucial moment in The Servant, the first of three collaborations between acclaimed playwright Harold Pinter and exiled American director Joseph Losey. They may appear to be an obvious, perhaps even painfully gauche, sentiment – but they happen almost concurrently to…