Category A Reviews
The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, 2013)
Nobody in Hollywood can direct a movie like Martin Scorsese, who has made one of his very best with The Wolf of Wall Street. His camera effortlessly soars across crowded rooms, glides through corridors before stopping and following its chosen subject, effortlessly enters and exits the diegesis, and does it all without ever drawing too […]
Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men opens with a man (Clive Owen) ordering a cup of coffee, watching a news report about the murder of “Baby Diego,” the youngest person on the planet. People all around him are grieving the death of the 18 year-old, but the man, Theo, gets his coffee and the camera follows […]
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (David Lowery, 2013)
Even if you haven’t seen St. Nick, David Lowery’s first feature film, there is a good chance you are more familiar with his work than you would initially expect. Lowery edited two of 2013’s best films so far, Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color and Amy Seimetz’ Sun Don’t Shine, and also wrote Pit Stop, a SXSW […]
The Double Life of Véronique (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1991)
The Double Life of Véronique is a very special movie. From the first scenes, beautifully orchestrated and gorgeously colored, that’s more than clear. Something about the elegiac movement of the film is sad but uplifting, emotional and intelligent, unique yet accessible. Shooting in luscious shades of greens and yellows, Krzysztof Kieślowski’s makes Double Life shimmer […]
Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1990)
Drama is low, and yet emotion is quite high. How is that possible? It’s all in the name. Close-Up is such an intimate look at what motivated Hossain Sabzien (playing himself) to impersonate the famous Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf. As the title says, the film gets very close, and we get to know this man […]
Weekend (Andrew Haigh, 2011)
Two strangers are drawn to each other, but one of them has a place they absolutely must be within a day or so, but they let their romance bloom despite the visible end. It’s a common subject for the movies, and when it’s done well, the results can be quite stunning. Richard Linklater caught lightning […]
His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940)
There are a few spoilers here and a lot of analysis, please watch the movie, available on Netflix Instant, before reading. Howard Hawks is not as cinematic as Orson Welles or the visionary that Alfred Hitchcock is, but he was able to construct films that best demonstrated the potential of the studio system and operated […]
The Blue Angel (Josef Von Sternberg, 1930)
The Blue Angel (1930) is a few famous “firsts.” The first collaboration between director Josef Von Sternberg and actress and Marlene Dietrich, Germany’s first major sound film (so much so that it was also shot in English), and many would note it as Von Sternberg’s first sound film (although that title belongs to Thunderbolt, released […]
Forrest In Focus: Critical Film Reviews 