Archive for January, 2023
A review of the new movie “The Fabelmans”
January 30th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I can understand why Steven Spielberg – who directed, co-wrote and co-produced this work – regards it with such affection. It is his most personal film to date and largely auto-biographical. I can appreciate why so many critics have supported the movie. A central stream of the narrative is why we love movies and how […]
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Word of the day: EGOT
January 26th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I confess that I had never heard the term EGOT until recently when I watched the Todd Field “Tar”. The term refers to the top four media awards: the top awards in television (Emmy), music (Grammy), film (Oscar), and theatre (Tony). Some have called it the grand slam of show business and only 17 stars […]
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A review of the controversial new film “Tar”
January 26th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I confess that I had never heard of the American Todd Field before this work (he has only made two previous films, the last being 16 years ago) but “Tár”, which he wrote, produced and directed, will ensure that every serious cinema-goer will now be familiar with him. His eponymous character is a Lydia Tár, […]
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A review of the 1936 Chaplin classic “Modern Times”
January 22nd, 2023 by Roger Darlington
This is absolutely a Charlie Chaplin film: he wrote, produced and directed it, he composed the music, and he is the star who has one of the few and small speaking roles (actually it is a gibberish version of a song). Given the date, it should really have been a work of sound, but mostly […]
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A review of the classic Spanish film “The Spirit Of The Beehive” (1973)
January 22nd, 2023 by Roger Darlington
This Spanish-language film is the archetypical art house product and critics adore it. It is very, very slow and very, very opaque and I confess that I found it hard work, although I admired the haunting cinematography with its stark terrains and muted colours. It was director Victor Erice’s first film and the key to […]
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A review of the recent film “The Wonder”
January 18th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
Set in the deeply religious rural Ireland of 1862, the wonder is that a local child called Anna O’Donnell (an impressive performance from young Kila Lord Cassidy) has apparently not eaten for four months but is still in good health. Florence Pugh is excellent as Elizabeth, an English nurse hired by a council of local […]
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A review of the new film “Empire Of Light”
January 17th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
I’m always going to watch something from British director Sam Mendes and recently his output has been so variable: after the Bond movies “Skyfall and “Spectre” and the war film “1917”, we have an altogether different offering. I had originally thought that it would be a homage to cinema, something like a British version of […]
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A review of the classic Japanese film “Rashomon”
January 13th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
Set in Japan in the deeply troubled 8th century, this black and white film tells a story which proves to be anything other than black and white: how a samurai and his wife are set upon by a bandit, who rapes the wife and murders the husband, all while being observing by a passing woodcutter. […]
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A review of the new film “The Pale Blue Eye”
January 8th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
This Netflix movie – an adaptation of a novel – is set at the the US military academy at West Point in 1860 and the odd title is from a line of poetry. Written and directed by Scott Cooper, it starts as a slow criminal procedure but, as it picks up pace, it acquires elements […]
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A review of the 1963 classic film “The Leopard”
January 6th, 2023 by Roger Darlington
This is a film adaptation of a famous Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. The setting is Sicily in the 1860s and the story is the challenge to the power and lifestyle of the upper class presented by the ‘Risorgimento’ movement of Garibaldi and his followers. There are several versions of this classic film […]
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