“You’re still a bit small to know all about life” Youthful innocence and childhood mischief are the two fundamental concepts that blend together in Aniki-Bóbó, the incredible and highly-influential directorial debut for Manoel de Oliveira, undeniably his country’s most important filmmaker, and someone whose name evokes the very idea of both cultural fortitude and artistic…
Farewell My Concubine (1993)
Farewell My Concubine (Chinese: 霸王別姬) is one of those films that has been consolidated as such a masterpiece of arthouse cinema, it’s almost a rite of passage to eventually watch it. Chen Kaige’s exploration of Chinese culture in the early 20th century has received its fair share of acclaim and adulation throughout the years, and…
On a Magical Night (2020)
Maria (Chiara Mastroianni) lives a tumultuous life – she’s a well-regarded academic and university professor who has a penchant for starting relationships with younger men, with many of them being her students, who doubtlessly relish in having a chance at a relationship with such a fascinating woman. However, she has been married for twenty years,…
Devchata (1961)
Tosya Kislitsyna (Nadezhda Rumyantseva) is a young woman sent to a logging camp somewhere in the Russian countryside, where she’ll be working as the cook for the employees. A feisty and strong-willed individual Tosya is not one to settle for what she doesn’t believe she deserves, so she naturally begins to make quite an impression,…
A Woman Is a Woman (1961)
It’s always something of an experience when you discover a new side of an artist you’re normally agnostic towards. I’ve often expressed my troubled feelings towards Jean-Luc Godard, a director whose importance is undeniable, but often tends to be eclipsed by his self-referential style that can often be analogous to some deeply-embedded arrogance that gave…
Mother Joan of the Angels (1961)
What is there to say about Mother Joan of the Angels (Polish: Matka Joanna od Aniołów), other than perhaps the fact that this is one of the few works that could legitimately lay claim to being the scariest films ever made? Jerzy Kawalerowicz somehow managed to construct an unhinged religious drama that dives deep into…
Splendor in the Grass (1961)
Times could not be better in Kansas, with so many people thriving as a result of the Roaring Twenties being at their peak in 1928. Two wayward teenagers, Bud Stamper (Warren Beatty) and Deanie Loomis (Natalie Wood) are so deeply in love, but are frequently told that their love isn’t all that valid. Bud is…
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1961)
If you knew your death was only a moment away, what would your final thoughts be in that brief space between life and demise? This is the fundamental concept explored in Ambrose Bierce’s classic short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, which was adapted into an incredible film by Robert Enrico, who captured the…
The Personal History of David Copperfield (2020)
Charles Dickens and Armando Iannucci are two names I never thought I’d read in the same sentence, which is only made more curious by the fact that they’re both fascinating writers who are voices of their generation, observers of the human condition that used their craft to create varied tapestries of the world they saw…
Zerograd (1988)
Absurdity can take many different forms, particularly when it comes to artistic expression, with many individuals over the past century making their living from subverting the central tenets of reality. One such artist was Karen Shakhnazarov, whose ambition film Zerograd (Russian: Gorod Zero) holds the distinction of being one of the most bizarre works of…
The Postmodern Pelican 