cinémathèque

paul thomas anderson · the coen brothers · richard linklater · ang lee · guillermo del toro · michel gondry · ray lawrence · susanne bier · frederico fellini · wes anderson · krzysztof kieslowski · jean cocteau · jean-luc goddard · giuseppe tornatore · todd haynes · wong kar wai · takeshi kitano · hayao miyazaki · steven soderbergh · spike jonze· stephen daldry · françois truffaut · agnès varda, jean-pierre melville.

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• the kids are all right (dir. lisa chodolenko, 2010, usa)
• le cercle rouge (dir. jean-pierre melville, 1970, france)
• nouvelle vague (dir. jean-luc goddard, 1990, france)
• blood diamond (dir. edward zwick, 2006, usa)
• monsieur klein (dir. joseph losey, france, 1976)
• le père de mes enfants (dir. mia hansen-løve, france, 2010)
• chéri (dir. stephen frears, uk, 2009)
• le samouraï (dir. jean pierre melville, france, 1967)
• sunshine cleaning (dir. christine jeffs, usa, 2008)
• up in the air (dir. jason reitman, usa, 2009)
• where the wild things are (dir. spike jonze, usa, 2009)
• i capture the castle (uk, 2003)
• thank you for smoking (dir. jason reitman, usa, 2005)
• in the loop (dir. armando ianucci, uk, 2009)
• (500) days of summer (dir. marc webb, usa, 2009)
• alice in wonderland (dir. tim burton, uk, 2010)
• a serious man (dir. the coen brothers, usa, 2009)
• the last station (dir. michael hoffman, uk, 2009)
• pride & prejudice (dir. joe wright, uk, 2008)
• up (dir. pete doctor, usa, 2009)
• les fragments d’antonin (dir. gabriel le bomin, france, 2006)
• welcome (dir. philippe lioret, france, 2009)
• i’m reed fish (dir. zackary adler, usa, 2006)
• the jane austen book club (dir. robin swicord, usa, 2007)
• transamerica (dir. duncan tucker, usa, 2005)
• mona lisa smile (dir. mike newell, usa, 2003)
• the young victoria (dir. jean-marc vallée, uk, 2008)
• wall-e (dir. andrew stanton, usa, 2008)
• ponyo (dir. hayao miyazaki, japan, 2008)
• the flower drum song (dir. henry kkoster, usa, 1961)
• in bruges (dir. martin mcdonagh, uk, 2008)
• the last tango in paris (dir. bernardo bertolucci, france, 1972)
• hiroshima mon amour (dir. alain resnais, france, 1959)
• la jetée (dir. chris marker, france, 1962)
• cléo de 5 à 7 (dir. agnès varda, france, 1962)
• muriel’s wedding (dir. pj hogan, australia, 1994)
• les quatres cents coups (dir. françois truffaut, france, 1959)
• the castle (dir. rob sitch, australia, 1997)
• the watchmen (dir. zack snyder, usa, 2009)
• his girl friday (dir. howard hawkes, usa, 1940)
• revolutionary road (dir. sam mendes, usa, 2009)
• the curious case of benjamin button (dir. david fincher, usa, 2009)
• slumdog millionarie (dir. danny boyle, uk, 2009) a cheesey premise made into a wholly believable, unpatronising fairytale by danny boyle.  visually stunning – perhaps there is a touch christopher doyle’s chaotic colours in many of the scenes – and just plain fun.
• il y a longtemps que je t’aime (dir. phillipe claudel, france, 2008 ) pleasant enough movie centred around the rehabilitation of a woman who has been in prison for 15 years.  features a luminous, fabulous kristin scott thomas.  but when it’s all over and the dust has settled, it all seems rather silly.
• vicky cristina barcelona (dir. woody allen, 2008, usa) oh woody, my partner-in-film fell asleep and snored his way through most of this fluffier than fluffy piece of wispy pink fairy floss.  you wasted javier, la cruz and the stunning patricia clarkson… and you don’t understand europeans, so please give up and stop cluttering celluloid with painful reminders of how prescient you used to be.
• the reader (dir. stephen daldry, 2008, usa) unabashedly manipulates your emotions with its soaring music and tragic plot until you’re helplessly sobbing for all of germany, and the characters’ accented english, which we are meant to understand is ‘german’. kate winslet’s seduction of a 15 year old boy is horrifyingly comic and ralph fiennes plays a man who can’t get over his first passion – yet again.  the hours, this is not.
• indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull (dir. steven spielberg, 2007, usa)  pretty dire for an indy flick but who remembers that the temple of doom outing was fairly dire too?  oh, and the curse (boon?) of jim robinson strikes again.  alan dale phones in his usual appearance as an american army officer of some standing.
• australia (dir. baz luhrman, 2008, australia) a good-old fashioned rollicking romp of a movie, not a comment on the politics or the social injustices of australia, as some critics would have you believe.  suspend your disbelief and enjoy. luhrman at his panto, sentimental, gorgeous best.
• waltz with bashir (dir. ari folman, 2008, israel)
• patti smith dream of life (dir. steven sebring, 2008, usa) an extraordinary spirit and indirectly, a paean to those great cities of the world, those vast labyrinths seething with humanity, which can make or break you (as well as Patti Smith’s work)… and simpler things, like a hearth, home, family and love.
• hellboy (dir. guillermo del toro, 2004)
• i’m not there (dir. todd haynes, 2007, usa)
• enchanted (dir. kevin lima, 2007, usa)
• quantum of solace (dir. marc foster, 2008, uk)
• two days in paris (dir. julie delpy, 2007, usa)
• dubya (dir. oliver stone, 2008, usa)
• burn before reading (dir. the coen brothers, 2008, usa)
• the fall (dir. tarsem, 2008, usa)
• stardust (dir. matthew vaughn, 2007, uk)
• kungfu panda (dir. matthew osborne, 2008, uk)
• before sunset (dir. richard linklater, 2004, usa)
• hellboy II: the golden army (dir. guillermo del toro, 2008, usa)
• the dark knight (dir. christopher nolan, 2008, usa)
• the science of sleep (dir. michel gondry, 2006, france)
• paris je t’aime (dir. olivier assayas, the cohen brothers, walter salles et al, 2006, france)
• dazed and confused (dir. richard linklater, 1994, usa)
• there will be blood (dir. paul thomas anderson, 2007, usa)
• dans paris (dir. christophe honoré, 2006, france)
• juno (dir. jason reitman, 2007, usa)
• the zero effect (dir. jake kasdan, 1998, usa) bill pullman is darryl zero, the greatest detective in the world and ben stiller, his put-upon associate steve arlo. the two are on the trail of a blackmailer in a pleasant, if not slightly dated tale of skullduggery.
• lars and the real girl (dir. craig gillespie, 2007, usa)
• becoming jane (dir. julian jarrold, 2007, uk) nice enough tale attempting to fill in the romantic flesh of the relationship between the author, who never married, and tom lefroy, who went on to become a lord chief justice of ireland. enlivened by great performances from the incandescent james mcavoy (swoon!), a lively anne hathaway, julie walters and a snobbish dame maggie smith.
• lust caution (dir. ang lee, 2007, taiwan) stunning adaptation of eileen chang’s novella where a young female spy, in seeking to entrap and kill the japanese- appointed chinese head of security during japan’s occupation of china, falls for him and ultimately, has to choose between love and duty to her country. tony leung is, as ever, smoulderingly charismatic as the menacing head of security but the real find is tang wei, chosen after ten thousand auditions, feisty yet demure, a young woman struggling with the twin burdens of love and honour. ang lee again proves himself as one of the most accomplished and subtle yet accessible directors out there.
• the darjeeling ltd (dir. wes anderson, 2007, usa) three brothers travel across india in search of friendship, truth, love blah blah blah. stylish and visually stunning, in the vein of anderson’s movies, it lacks the controlled whimsy of his previous efforts. a snorefest until angelica huston hits the screen. the preceding ten minute short hotel chevalier with jason schwartzmann and natalie portman is, however, pretty damn cool.
• three times (dir. hou hsiao-hsien, 2005, taiwan) an army cadet and a pool hall girl during 1966; a campaigner for tawainese independence and his prostitute during the 1911; a photographer and an epileptic singer during 2005 – the nature of love and communication is explored in these three stories where all three sets of lovers are played by chang chen and shu qi. at times lyrical, sweet and beautiful, at other times, ugly and wretched. a lovely, moving film.
• elizabeth: the golden age (dir. shekhar kapur, 2007, uk) Overblown, insubstantial piece of fluff. History-lite featuring *gasp* ‘gericault’ cgi. cate blanchette and geoffrey rush save the script but otherwise, don’t waste your hard earned dosh.
• harry potter and the order of the phoenix (dir. david yates, 2007, uk) jk rowling revealed that albus dumbledore was gay at a recent booksigning. i was more concerned with the number of fabulous british actors squeezed into this rollicking (but hardly memorable) instalment of the boy wizard’s adventures; michael gambon, imelda staunton, maggie smith, alan rickman, david thewlis, emma thompson, helena bonham-carter et al. the mind truly boggles…
• knocked up (dir. judd apatow, 2007, usa)
• shrek the third (2007, usa)
• control (dir. anton corbijn, 2007, uk)
• atonement (dir. joe wright, 2007, uk)
• infernal affairs III (2003, hong kong) a (even more) confusing prequel to infernal affairs. features the luscious tony leung chiu-wai, the ageing-rather-nicely andy lau and croonster leon lai. i almost keeled over in shock at the wattage of one scene featuring all three hong kong megastars.
• simpsons movie (dir. david silverman, 2007, usa)
• transformers (dir. michael bay, 2007, usa)
• waitress (dir. adrienne shelley, 2007, usa)
• the golden door (dir. emanuele crialese, 2006, italy)
• half nelson (dir. ryan fleck, 2006, usa) ryan gosling is, like, sooo totally hot right now. Possibly the hottest thing on the planet. Even with a crack habit. Gosling does messy, vulnerable crack chic to a ‘t’ in this tale of a inner city school teacher with a nasty penchant for smoking the hard stuff and his friendship with a young student whose life is permeated with the effects of drug dealing. Shareeka Epps as the young student is also a revelation.
• jindabyne (dir. ray lawrence, 2007, australia) four friends find the body of a murdered aboriginal girl while on a fishing expedition. Instead of returning to town immediately and reporting the crime, they continue with their trip. great performances from laura linney, gabriel byrne and mrs hugh jackman, deborah lee-furness. Also, yann tiersen, all electricy and live in concert. Gallic types can rock, so it seems, sans fromage.
• the curse of the golden flower (dir. zhang yimou, 2006, china) Sumptuous bloody tale of an Empress being poisoned by her husband, and her revenge, which completes zhang’s wuxia trilogy (parts one and two being Hero and House of Flying Daggers. Gong Li is simply ravishing and Jay Chou, Taiwanese new kid on the block, is quite oddly charismatic despite his mtv-generation appeal.
• les amants du pont neuf (dir. leos carax, 1991, France) somewhat irritating tale of two vagrants, one a circus performer (aka carney folk) addicted to alcohol and downers, the other a painter with deteriorating eyesight, fall in love against the backdrop of paris’ pont neuf. beautifully shot but did i mention the characters motives were transparent, incomprehensible and irritating.
• days of glory (aka. indigenes, dir. rachid bouchareb, 2006, france) another sentimental war movie, telling of wwii from point of north african soldiers fighting for a france which view(s/ed) them as inferior. apparently, after a private viewing, jacques chirac ordered that the pensions for the algerian soldiers be paid immediately. great last battle scene.
• the prestige (dir. christopher noyce, 2006, USA) interesting (fictional) account of two turn-of-the-century magicians attempting to outdo each other. Features the welcome unexpected appearance of arguably the coolest man who ever lived.
• love and death (dir. woody allen, 1975, USA) Piss take of the great Russian novels and erm… New York Jews. The source of many a great line, but it has dated.
• de battre mon coeur s’est arrete (dir. jacques audiard, 2005, France) Another French new millenia stunner where difficult issues bubbling beneath the surface showcase a society in disarray.
• after the wedding (dir. susanne bier, 2006, Denmark) a metaphor for the west’s dealings with the developing east? a subtle indictment of the media’s over-zealous portrayal of paedophilia? Or simply a demonstration of blood being thicker than water? Whatever the interpretation, bier’s movie is powerful, stunningly shot and incredibly moving. Keeps you thinking about it even a few days later.
• letters from iwo jima (dir. clint eastwood, 2006, USA) the japanese were not all savages; they had feelings too… clint eastwood’s companion piece to flags of our father’s showcases the japanese side of the invasion of iwo jima and is heavy handed on the sentiment and the schmaltz. Another anti-war film which may have been more powerful from a japanese director.
• pan’s labyrinth (dir. guillermo del toro, 2005, Spain) visually arresting, dark and horrific tale which leaves one convinced there is no good in the world. strangely, it does not offer any more profound insight.
• the last king of scotland (dir. kevin mcdonald, 2006, UK)
• eden (dir. michael hoffman, 2006, Germany)
• no direction home (dir. martin scorsese, 2005) moody dense documentary – a bit like the man himself – which sheds (a little) light on dylan’s life between 1961 to 1965.
• coyote ugly (dir. david mcnally, 2000, USA) slight,simplistic but nevertheless feel-good movie about a girl who goes to big bad noo yawk to make it big as a song-writer. Character development is sparse, morality is dubious (female empowerment is equated as wearing leather trousers, a tight midriff-baring t-shirt and dancing on a bar for drunken punters; a scene where a barmaid is mauled by drunken sailors is quickly glossed over) but it does feature an extremely scrumptious (and Aussie – yay!) Adam Garcia. Jerry Bruckheimer does chick flick.
• the princess bride (dir. rob reiner, 1987, usa) prince humperdinck: “tyrone, you know how much I love watching you work. But i’ve got my country’s five hundredth anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder, and gilda to frame for it. I’m swamped.” one of hundreds of classic lines. still fabulous almost… *gulp* twenty years later.
• don’t look now (dir. Nicholas Roeg, 1973, UK) Interesting camera work and still chilling. However, one cannot escape the 1970’s’ness of it all.
• secretary (dir. steven shainberg, 2002, usa) maggie gyllenhaal always lights up the screen and james spader is his usual creepily attractive self. not a terribly exciting movie though, despite the premise
• cache (dir. michael haneke, 2005, france) taut, sparse, claustrophobic and shocking study of guilt, deception and france’s relationship with algeria (mebbe). Virtually stripped to its bare bones, the suspense nevertheless had me teetering on the edge of my seat (or rather had my hands half covering my eyes for most of the second half)
• rushmore (dir. wes anderson, 1998, usa)
• the opposite of sex (dir. don roos, 1998, usa)
• closer (dir. mike nichols, 2004) you would think indecision and general all round vacillation and disregard for people would dissipate the older and supposedly more adult you got. Apparently not.
• central station (dir. walter salles, 1998, brazil)
• city of god (dir. fernando meireilles, 2002, brazil)
• dirty dancing (dir. emile ardolino, 1987, usa) still as hideous as it was when I first saw it fifteen years ago. Why it was a big hit I will never understand.
• the constant gardener (dir. fernando meireilles, 2005, uk) I woke up the next morning with a revolutionary zeal – I was going to chuck everything in and head off to africa to save the world. err… which lasted 15 mins. Then I clattered downstairs on my crutches to have breakfast and coffee.
• trois couleurs: blanc (dir. krzysztof kieslowski, 1993, france)
• bad education (dir. pedor almodovar, 2003, spain) starts promisingly enough with a cross-dressing gael garcia bernal but eventually descends into a ridiculous farce.
• goodbye lenin! (dir. wolfgang becker, 2003, germany)
• trois couleurs: rouge (dir. krzysztof kieslowski, 1993, france) powerful performances from jean-louis trintignant and irene jacob closes the three colours trilogy with reflections on the nature of truth, compassion and forgiveness.
• les parapluies de cherbourg (dir. jacques demy, 1964, france) a gorgeous-looking candy coloured movie colours where every line of dialogue is sung is also, incongruously, one of the saddest movies I have ever seen. the michel legrand score will haunt you for days.
• les demoiselles de rochefort (dir. jacques demy, 1967, france) dancing sailors, gene kelly, a bright pink water hydrant and a michel legrand score that will have you scratching your head trying to figure out where you’ve heard it before
• les choristes (dir. christophe barratier, 2004, france) a hit in its native france when released, probably because it evokes a nostalgic bygone era with cute little orphans, an evil headmaster and a good-hearted music teacher thrown in for good measure. Not bad but for an equally sentimental but less clunky film where jacques perrin looks back on his childhood, cinema paradiso still ranks a head over the rest.
• clueless (dir. amy heckerling, 1995, usa) still as funny and relevant as it was 10 years ago… although references to luke perry and jason priestley will probably go over the heads of today’s ‘yoof’.
• requiem for a dream (dir. darren aronofsky, 2000) frankly, drug movies always give me a headache (what’s with the constant flashing lights and swooping camera angles?) but this is a brilliant, often painful to watch film, which struck me as a bit gimmicky and music video-like with its split screens, fast motion and quick interspersing shots of the characters shooting up, drinking coffee, popping pills. fabulous dreamy soundtrack.
• la dolce vita (dir. frederico fellini, 1964, italy) searing, particularly relevant indictment on the hollowness of the tabloid media and a celebrity obsessed culture. anouk aimee smoulders and marcello mastrioanni is suitably world weary and cynical.
• cinema paradiso (dir. giuseppe tornatore, 1988, italy)
• magnolia (dir. paul thomas anderson, 1999, usa) brilliant and thought-provoking with quite possibly the only tom cruise performance which doesn’t have him proclaiming “I AM TOM CRUISE!!”. Gorgeous soundtrack by Aimee Mann.
• anne of green gables: the continuing story (dir. stefan scaini, 2000, canada) absolutely hideous. give it a wide WIDE berth!
• anne of green gables: the sequel (dir. kevin sullivan, 1987, canada)
• anne of green gables (dir. kevin sullivan, 1985, canada)
• far from heaven (dir. todd haynes, 2002, usa)
• the hours (dir. stephen daldry, 2002, usa)
• jules et jim (dir. francois truffaut, 1962, france)
• spirited away (dir. hayao miyazaki, 2001, japan)
• like water for chocolate (dir. alfonso arau, 1992, mexico)
• borat: cultural learnings of america for make benefit glorious nation of kazakhstan (dir. larry charles, 2006, uk) two days after seeing the movie, a poster had me giggling. worth it for the chicken scene alone.
• howl’s moving castle [english language dub] (dir. hayao miyazaki, 2005, japan) miyazaki brings his special brand of whimsy, magic and machinery to this diana wynn-jones tale of a 19 year old girl labouring under a spell which transforms her into an old woman, a vain, selfish wizard, the witch of the waste, a scarecrow and two kingdoms at war. Oh, and of course, a moving castle is involved. stunning.
• letter from an unknown woman (dir. max ophüls, 1948, usa) feat. joan fontaine, louis jourdan.
• the fallen idol (dir. carol reed, 1948, uk)
• the red shoes (dir. michael powell & emeric pressburger, 1948, uk) feat. moira shearer
• eros (dir. wong kar wai, steven soderberg, michelangelo antonioni, various)
• la terra trema (dir. luchino visconti, 1948, italy) neo realist film detailing the (mis)fortunes of a poor family of fisherman in Sicily before and during the time of Mussolini. The cast, real-life fishing folk, rather than actors, gives it an even more err… realistic tone.
• belleville rendez-vous (dir. sylvain chomet, 2003, france) Curious animation with the very gallic themes of cycling, the Tour de France, the wine mafia and loss. When her beloved grandson Champion is kidnapped, Madame Souza, along with Champion’s faithful canine, Bruno, go in search of him. And come across some very eccentric characters, particularly the Triplettes de Belleville. An interesting break from the traditional cartoon purveyors of Japan and America.
• trois couleurs: bleu (dir. krzysztof kieslowski, 1993, france) feat. the luminescent juliette binoche. stunning film – particularly in its use of music and imagery – relating a women’s struggle back to normality after the death of her husband and daughter. a moving, uplifting experience.
• romanzo criminale (dir. michele placido, 2005, italy) feat. kim rossi stuart (quite the most handsome man I have seen for awhile) and anna mouglalis, the ‘allure’ face of chanel.
• the naked civil servant (dir. jack gold, 1975, uk) feat. john hurt. Based on Quentin Crisp’s autobiography of the same name. The 1975 film reignited Crisp’s career and provides an entertaining context of the man, his battles and his wonderful quips. John Hurt is also quite brilliant in his breakthrough role.
• napoleon dynamite (dir. jared hess, 2004, usa) took awhile for the deadpan dialogue, resolutely uncool 80s aesthetic and its even nerdier lead John Heder to win me over but win me over it did. The dance scene is flippin’ genius.
• vers le sud (dir. laurence cantet, 2005, france) feat. charlotte rampling. Ultimately uncomfortable film showing the sexual exploitation of Haitian men by Western women in the 1970s.
• la vie rêvée des anges (dir.erick zonca, 1998, france) feat. elodie boucher. Hard-hitting film revolving around characters on society’s fringes. Certainly not a movie for a ‘veg-out post hard day’s work’ session.
• princess raccoon (dir. seijun suzuki, 2005, japan) feat. zhang ziyi.
• behind the sun (dir. walter salles, 2001, brazil) feat. rodrigo santoro. Stunning, although one suspects that Senor Santoro’s pulchritudinous visage apes a bassett hound’s plaintive expression rather too convincingly.
• the dreamers (dir. bernado bertolucci, 2003, ) feat. no one interesting. Oh hold on, there was new Bond girl, Eva Green. Total utter pile of old newspapers.

NB: Seen since blog began