Tag: DVD review site

Film

Goto, Isle of Love (1969) – Walerian Borowczyk (Arrow Video).

Viewing several films by Walerian Borowczyk allows certain traits and patterns to form in regard to his filmmaking.  From the extreme polar ends of Blanche (1971) to The Beast (1975), he’s a difficult to pin-down creator, though the man’s style has several factors that appear to gradually come into play.  Goto, Isle of Love (1969) already conjures images simply from its title though it’s doubtful … Continue reading Goto, Isle of Love (1969) – Walerian Borowczyk (Arrow Video).

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Film

The Missing Picture (2013) – Rithy Panh.

Despite living in an age of increased documentation, archive and detail, history can still be a tricky picture to paint.  For so long, the old adage of it being written by “the winning side” has been a tried and tested bias exposed in whole chapters of recounted history.  This has been a development based around prejudice whether through class, racism, sexism or other forms of … Continue reading The Missing Picture (2013) – Rithy Panh.

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Film

Sleepwalker (1984) – Saxon Logan, BFI Flipside.

The latest release in the BFI Flipside series revels in the social satire of its era with glee. Though of course the main draw of the release will be Saxon Logan’s main feature, Sleepwalker (1984), the release itself is built up to make a whole package of potential double and even triple bills of viewing; some Logan themed, some nocturnal themed.   The main feature simply … Continue reading Sleepwalker (1984) – Saxon Logan, BFI Flipside.

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Film

The Complete (Existing) Films of Sadao Yamanaka – Masters of Cinema.

Displaying a filmmaking ethic and system that would make even someone as fast-working as prodigious as Rainer Werner Fassbinder seem cautious and slow, Sadao Yamanaka should perhaps be far better known that he currently is in the West.  Making twenty two films over his short but highly productive cinema career, Yamanaka can be seen as one of the missing links in great Japanese cinema.  His … Continue reading The Complete (Existing) Films of Sadao Yamanaka – Masters of Cinema.

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Film

Tess (1979) – Roman Polanski (BFI Release)

Roman Polanski’s period films don’t garner the same sort of critical attention that his genre films attain.  The likes of Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and Chinatown (1974) no doubt feature more highly in film discussions than the likes of Oliver Twist (2005) or Tess (1979) yet the latter of these films presents an epic expanse that manages to still capture detail and beauty; a rare feat … Continue reading Tess (1979) – Roman Polanski (BFI Release)

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Film

The Blue Angel – Josef Von Sternberg (1930, Masters of Cinema)

This review contains spoilers. For a filmmaker who was supposedly uninterested in visual allegory, Josef Von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel (1930) is full of potential for visuals readings if wanted.  One of the first sound films to come out of Germany, it is astonishing how the medium’s relative newness seems to have had little negative effect on the visuals of this pioneering film.  However it … Continue reading The Blue Angel – Josef Von Sternberg (1930, Masters of Cinema)

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Film

BFI Fairy Tales – Early Colour Stencil Films From Pathé (1901 – 1908)

There’s something startling about just how inventive cinema was in the early days of its creation.  Whereas other artistic mediums have taken hundreds of years to bear fruit, film seemed to have caught on to what it was about mere years after its very conception.  Ranging from 1901 to 1908, the films in the BFI Fairy Tales release show a frank endorsement of both storytelling … Continue reading BFI Fairy Tales – Early Colour Stencil Films From Pathé (1901 – 1908)

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Folk Horror, Literature, Television

BBC Ghost Stories Volume 4 (The Signalman, Stigma, The Ice House) – BFI

Volume 4 of the BBC Ghost Stories At Christmas is a mixed bag of the eerie and the spooky.  Housing the last three instalments of the classic series before it ceased until its revival in 2005, it’s a must buy for one of the stories but its other two instalments wobble its consistency.  The most appealing aspect of this release is that it contains possibly … Continue reading BBC Ghost Stories Volume 4 (The Signalman, Stigma, The Ice House) – BFI

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