There’s something quite wonderful about Operation Y and Shurik’s Other Adventures (Russian: Операция „Ы“ и другие приключения Шурика), a quality that appeals to my interests a lot more than I thought it would. I’ve been gradually exploring the depths of Soviet comedy over the past few years, finding a balance between the many defining masterpieces…
Lord Jim (1965)
Lord Jim is a strange specimen of a film, as it was composed of a wide range of very promising aspects – it featured Peter O’Toole’s first epic after his star-making turn in Lawrence of Arabia and a clear attempt to capitalize on the cultural zeitgeist his revolutionary performance inspired in both the industry and…
The Knack…and How to Get It (1965)
Not too many people speak about Richard Lester, which is surprising considering he is one of cinema’s most interesting directors, but unfortunately fell victim to the fact that, despite making numerous terrific films, never quite had an authorial voice in the same way many of his contemporaries tended to throughout their own careers. The result…
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965)
There’s something so ethereal about the films of Sergei Parajanov, a filmmaker whose work defined a particular era of Soviet storytelling, one that was both celebratory of the history of the culture, but critical of the socio-political zeitgeist, even if it wasn’t very clear in the films themselves. His most celebrated work is The Color…
Driveways (2020)
Kathy (Hong Chau) is a young woman from Michigan who has recently lost her older sister to a heart attack and has to make the journey to a small town in suburban New York to pack up her house, with her son, Cody (Lucas Jaye) accompanying on the trip. She had grown apart from his…
When Were You Born (1938)
Phillip Corey (James Stephenson) is a wealthy tradesman who conducts his business between his home in San Francisco and China, amassing an immense fortune and acquiring many enemies along the way. This manifests in his murder, which the police initially attribute to suicide until it becomes clear that there was some foul play involved. In…
Capone (2020)
There’s a moment early in Capone where the titular character stands on a small boat in a body of water somewhere in Florida, curses at an alligator for stealing the fish he was trying to reel in, and subsequently shoots it, resulting in the water turning a bright shade of red, accompanied by a bevvy…
Another Woman (1988)
Woody Allen’s career has always fascinated me – over the course of over fifty years, he’s made dozens of films, demonstrating a longevity and versatility very few filmmakers have been able to match, at least in terms of quantity. His career can also be segmented into different periods, with the 1980s seeing Allen slightly step…
Greed (2020)
In an era where the world’s wealthiest people are given far too much power and influence over the lives of ordinary people, there are few films that embody the spirit of the rousing call to “eat the rich” than Michael Winterbottom’s Greed, a film that progresses from an outrageous comedy to one of the darkest…
A Well for the Thirsty (1965)
In a secluded home, somewhere distantly in the desert of Ukraine, resides an elderly man (Dmitri Milyutenko). He has lived a long, challenging life, experiencing enormous social and cultural unease, coupled with the violence wrought from a flawed political system and the poverty that comes as a result. Over the course of what appears to…
The Postmodern Pelican 