Greek cinema can sometimes be dependent on telling heavy stories about social injustice or overwhelming problems. In fact, a lot of European cinema can be like that. So when a sweet and quirky little film like Xenia comes along, we have to stop and just appreciate the brilliance. It may be a film with as…
Category: Drama
Listen Up Philip (2014)
Give me an independent comedy starring Jason Schwartzman and you will encounter a very happy film lover. I seriously have nothing but admiration for the chap, and I think he is one of the most flawlessly entertaining comedic actors currently working today. I will not venture into all the reasons why Schwartzman is brilliant, but…
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
In the great legions of Hollywood legends, one person I have never seen the appeal for is Robert Mitchum. Sure, his performance in The Night of the Hunter is brilliant, but I just never saw what was so excellent about him. Despite years of great film noir in his heyday, it was a performance he…
Song for Marion (2012)
Every year, without a doubt, comes a few films that are a rare combination of comedy and drama. They may address subject matter inherently saddening, but the film in itself, through story and intention, is the epitome of that taut phrase “feel-good”. Whether they are good or bad is irrelevant, as a film’s true worth…
Starred Up (2014)
Prison films are a horrid, but very popular, subgenre of films these days. One of the most iconic films of all time, The Shawshank Redemption, is a prison film. The hottest show on TV at the moment, Orange is the New Black, is centered around a prison. There are many prison films, including the overlooked…
Detachment (2011)
Damn, I wish more people liked this film. I am a sucker for ensemble casts of diverse, interesting characters, and there are very few groups of people that fit this description more than those of teachers. Each a very distinct, different person, all forming one bigger group of people who work day in and day…
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
As I previously mentioned in my review of White Dog, racism and bigotry is not taboo for filmmakers, and while some films made these days addressing the issue can be suitably heavy and almost controversial, they are nothing compared to older films that tackled the subject decades ago. Perhaps one of the most influential films…
The Merry Gentleman (2009)
I’ve made it no secret that I am a massive fan of Michael Keaton. I find him to be one of the more underrated actors of all time, and mostly because he went from a massive star in the 1980s and 1990s to more of a character actor. That is the beauty in his career…
White Dog (1982)
Addressing racism is not at all foreign territory for the film industry, especially not in the present day, where film has been used to spread awareness towards the racism all around the world, and to present the history of some parts of society. It is of course obvious how any film addressing racism needs to…
The Judge (2014)
In a world where great films are usually intense, intellectual films that require a lot of thought and concentration, it is refreshing to get a more mature film that actually allows you to see a captivating, original story in a very easy-going manner. The Judge, which isn’t a great film, is certainly an interesting one…
