A review of the classic 1959 film “Hiroshima, Mon Amour”
June 6th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
It took me many decades to catch this French-language film set largely in the Japanese city that was the first to suffer the atomic bomb and, by then, I’d visited Hiroshima and its Peace Museum twice, so the work had a special resonance for me.
This was the first feature film by Alain Resnais, previously a documentary film maker, and indeed it started out as a documentary and uses documentary footage from the 1945 nuclear attack. But, at heart, the is a romance, short but passionate, between a French actress (Emmanuelle Riva) and a Japanese architect (Elji Okada), both with their own traumatic memories of the war – in her case, shown in repeated flashbacks – and both now ostensively in happy marriages. The power of this haunting work comes from the contrast between horrific events of the end of the war and the tenderness of this ill-fated relationship.
There is a lot of dialogue and, in the woman’s case, monologue and it is not surprising that it was a woman who wrote the screenplay, Marguerite Duras, and that she received an Academy Award nomination for her work.
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A review of the classic 1959 film”Some Like It Hot”
June 6th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Although at the time of its release, it was controversial in some quarters and not universally supported by critics, audiences immediately adored it and still do, making “Some Like It Hot” one of the best-loved comedies of all time. In many ways, this is a Billy Wilder movie because he co-wrote the witty screenplay and produced and directed this fast-paced and entertaining caper. So many lines of dialogue are quotable but the final line is just perfect.
However, great credit also goes to its talented leading actors: Tony Curtis as ‘Josephine’ and Jack Lemmon as ‘Daphne’, the cross-dressing jazz musicians pursued by murderous mobsters in the Chicago and Florida of 1929. Above all, though, this has to be seen as Marilyn Monroe’s film. As the singer and dancer Sugar Kane, she is quire simply captivating. Famously, she had been experiencing all sorts of personal problems and this film was seen as something of a come-back. Indeed she was real trouble on set, but Wilder managed to coax her into this most enchanting and memorable of performances.
The last time I saw “Some Like It Hot” in 2026, the British Film Institute was showing a major Monroe season to mark the centenary of her birth. The film was introduced by the season’s curator Kimberley Sheehan who put the work in context, arguing that the star was far from the ‘dumb blonde’ seen by some studio executives but instead, in spite of her insecurity and anxiety, a serious and talented actor. The word ‘icon’ could have been invented for the lasting persona of the great Monroe.
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A review of the best-selling novel “There Are Rivers In The Sky” by Elif Shafak
June 4th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
I had not heard of this book, or even of the Turkish-British author, before the novel was gifted to me by a good female friend, but I found it a thoroughly enjoyable read and a really impressive piece of work.
Following a introduction set in Ancient Mesopotamia, the hugely ambitious narrative features three characters from different times and places whose stories intersect in all sorts of ways: Arthur, who lives from 1840-1876, rising from destitution in Victorian London to becoming an acclaimed expert on the ruins of Nineveh (a person loosely based on an actual historical figure called George Smith); Narin, a nine year old Yazidi from Turkey in 2014 who is learning about her culture as she is going deaf; and Zaleekhah, a 31 year old hydrologist working in London in 2018 who has just left her husband to live on a house boat. The novel flips from one character to another and back again over almost 500 pages.
There is much to commend in this work: the text is shaped by formidable research, with rich and erudite descriptions in beautiful language, littered with wonderful similes and metaphors. Recurrent themes are water, rivers, Nineveh, lamassu, cuneiform, and most importantly the Yazidi.
However, too much of the dialogue is clumsy and frequently expository. Most seriously, the allusions to water are excessive and often contrived and the author appears to regard the substance as not just mysterious but mystical. The flirtation with the notion of ‘water memory’ and the suggestion that a drop of water can retain its essential character over space and time go beyond literary licence to something approaching pseudo-science. This 2024 novel by Elif Shafak reminds me a little of the 2004 “Cloud Atlas” by David Michell but, in the latter work, the inter-locking lives are connected more subtly.
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A review of the 1972 classic film “The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie”
June 2nd, 2026 by Roger Darlington
An odd title for a very odd film, but then this French-language work was co-written and directed by the Mexican surrealist Luis Buñuel. Three upper middle-class couples try repeatedly to sit down for a meal together, only to be frustrated by an absurd number and nature of interruptions. Out of such seemingly quotidian material, Buñuel fashions a satire on the selfishness and vacuous nature of the ruling class. Three of the four dreams in the loose narrative are inspired by Buñuel’s own nocturnal experiences. The work won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, but it will not be to everyone’s taste and I found it rather irritating.
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Was the universe made for us?
May 28th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
At one level, the question may seem arrogant, even preposterous.
After all, for much of our existence on Earth, we humans thought of ourselves as a pretty big deal. Then along came science and taught us how utterly insignificant we are. We aren’t the centre of the universe. We aren’t special. We are just a species of ape living on a smallish planet orbiting an unremarkable star in one galaxy among billions in a universe that had been around for 13.8 billion years without us.”
At another level, the laws of physics are ridiculously fine-tuned for you and me. All told, about 12 parameters – such as the values of the electromagnetic force and the strong nuclear force or the amount energy contained in empty space – have been identified as being just right for life. Why?
One answer is known as the strong anthropic principle which states that the universe is so perfect for life that it must have been made for us either by an intelligent creator or, more likely, because of some fundamental features of the cosmos that drives it towards intelligent life. Another answer is known as the weak anthropic principle which states that, given that we are around to observe the universe, it simply has to allow for our existence.
Another, altogether more radical, proposition is that our universe is simply one of many multiverses, each with its own physical constants and laws. Wild as this idea seems, versions of it emerge from both quantum mechanics and standard cosmology.
So, how do you feel now?
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A review of the 1991 classic film “The Silence Of The Lambs”
May 25th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
When this film was first released, it shocked audiences and, to this day, it is still chilling to watch. An adaptation of the bestselling novel by Thomas Harris, it portrays the efforts of new FBI recruit Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) to track down an elusive serial killer with the unlikely aid of imprisoned serial killer Hannibal ‘The Cannibal’ Lector (Anthony Hopkins). A complex relationship, with some mutual respect, ensues between the reptilian prisoner and the clever but vulnerable novice agent. Although Foster has the most screen time and is excellent, it is Hopkins who is stunning and has the best lines, most notably: “A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”
“The Silence Of The Lambs” was the first horror movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and actually all five major Oscars, including Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director (Jonathan Demme). Following the success of the film, there was a sequel, “Hannibal” (2001) and a prequel, “Red Dragon” (2002) which in fact was a remake of “Manhunter” (1986).
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A review of the 1954 classic film”A Star Is Born”
May 25th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
This story has been told four time in films but this is the classic version of the musical. A male star whose career has peaked acts as mentor to a rising female star whose success soon outshines his. In this case, it is film star Norman Maine (James Mason) who befriends singer, dancer and actor Vicki Lester (Judy Garland). The film is an absolute triumph for Garland who, following a four-year break from the big screen, stormed to success with some set-piece singing and dancing and some heavy-weight acting. The big numbers are “The Man That Got Away” and “Born In A Trunk”.
This version is both the examination of a tortured relationship and a satire on the Hollywood system and indeed, in a case of art imitating life before life imitates art, there is even a scene involving the award of the Oscars. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Actor and Best Actress, but did not actually win any.
In 1983, more than 20 minutes of previously cut footage was restored (using stills for lost scenes), taking the running length now to some three hours but, in the cinema, there is an intermission.
For the record, the other versions star Fredric March and Janet Gaynor (1937), Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand (1976) and Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga (2018). Although the 1954 version is regarded as the classic, I loved the 2018 remake.
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A review of the latest episode of the “Star Wars” saga:”The Mandalorian And Grogu”
May 24th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
I’ve been a “Star Wars” fan since we release of what we now call “A New Hope” in 1977, so I wasn’t going to miss this 12th contribution to the cinematic canon. However, if (like me) you haven’t been following the development of the franchise on Disney+ streaming TV series, you might welcome a bit of explanation regarding the titular characters of this new film.
The Mandalorian (played by Pedro Pascal) is a bounty hunter in a helmeted costume and from a group introduced to us by Boba Fett, who seemingly can kick and shoot his way out of any danger, while Grogu (presented by a collection of puppeters) is a young and speechless member of the species to which Yoda belonged, who is still maturing his telekinetic powers. The timeframe is just after “Return Of The Jedi” when there are still warlords from the defeated Empire plotting against the New Republic. Remember Jabba the Hutt? Well, his son and a couple of other Hutts are a central part of the plot.
So, in this adventure, there are references to familiar characters and plenty of familiar themes with plenty of new creatures threatening our heroes. We even have cameos from Sigourney Weaver (as if appearing in the “Alien” and “Avatar” franchises was not enough sci-fi credit) and the veteran director Martin Scorsese (voicing a four-armed, street-food vendor). And there’s lots of action from the get-go. There’s a problem, however, if your leading character hardly ever reveals his face and mumbles through a mask – think Tom Hardy as Bane in “The Dark Knight Rises” – and too much of the action is in the dark and too much of the dialogue is clunky, so this is a thoroughly entertaining film but lacks some of them magic of the original sequel.
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A review of the 1953 classic film “From Here To Eternity”
May 20th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Based on a best-selling novel by James Jones, a 950-page work of the same title, this film is a gritty account of life on a US army base in Hawaii in 1941, just prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Although very much toned down from the scandalous book, this cinematic adaptation was still an unusually adult film for the time.
There is a lot going on in this wordy script which is much more character-driven than action-based. Burt Lancaster is the efficient sergeant who runs a tight operation but takes a risk in romancing the commander’s wife (Deborah Kerr), Montgomery Clift is the newly arrived rifleman who refuses to give in to bullying while falling in love with a local dancehall ‘hostess’ (Donna Reed), and Frank Sinatra plays an Italian-American soldier who is insulted and brutalised by an obnoxious stockade sergeant (Ernest Borgnine).
The movie is best-known these days for its scene of Lancaster and Kerr passionately kissing on the beach while the waves possess them, but this is a classic which attracted no less than 13 Academy Award nominations, including five for six of the named actors. It actually won eight, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Director for Fred Zinnemann who introduced a screening of the film at London’ National Film Theatre which I attended in 1982 when he was 75.
Note: The title phrase comes originally from Rudyard Kipling’s 1892 poem “Gentlemen-Rankers”, about soldiers of the British Empire who had “lost [their] way” and were “damned from here to eternity”.
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A review of “Kokuho”, the most successful Japanese film ever
May 19th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Since the early 17th century, Japanese culture has featured a form of theatre known as kabuki which mixes dramatic performance with traditional dance. Although the original version was performed by a female troupe, the art form soon developed into its present all-male form after women were banned from performing in kabuki theatre and the men who perform the female roles are known as onnagata.
“Kokuho” – literally translated as ‘national treasure’ – is set in post-war Japan over a period of some 50 years and centres on the initial friendship and subsequent rivalry between Kikuo (played by Ryo Yoshizawa), the son of a yakuza crime boss who – unlikely as it seems – has a rare talent as a onnagata, and Shunsuke (Ryusei Yokohama), the son of an acclaimed kabuki practitioner.
This is a long film (three hours) and Westerners (like me) will sometimes struggle to follow the plot, but it is a stunning piece of work: the colour and costumes plus the singing and dancing all contribute to a visual and aural treat.
There is immense attention to the detail of the kabuki art form: the author of the novel on which the film is based, Shuichi Yoshida, spent an unprecedented three years working backstage of a theatre; lead actors Ryo Yoshizawa and Ryusei Yokohama trained for a year and a half in traditional kabuki dance and movement; and the film’s director engaged a professional kabuki actor as the official consultant and instructor for all the stage performance scenes.
On its release in 2025, “Kokuho” was so successful in its home country that it became the all-time highest-grossing Japanese live action film.
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