M

1931 Director Fritz Lang

Based on the the true story of Peter Kurten, a child killer known then as the monster of Dusseldorf this film set Peter Lorre on his remarkable acting career. It's a classic early talkie set in 1931 Berlin.

The police are anxious to capture an elusive child murderer and begin rounding up every criminal in town. The underworld leaders decide to take the heat off their activities by catching the child killer themselves. Once the killer is fingered, he is marked with the letter "M" chalked on his back. He is tracked down and captured by the combined forces of the Berlin criminal community, who put him on trial for his life in a kangaroo court. The killer pleads for mercy, whining that he can't control his homicidal instincts. The police close in and rescue the killer from the underworld so that he can stand trial again.

Some prints of the film end with a caution to the audience to watch after their children more carefully. The film is dark and menacing as befits such a subject. It serves to remind us that sadly this is not a new phenomenon in our society. M remains one of the most chilling serial killer films ever produced.

La Chinoise

1967 Director Jean-Luc Godard

Not one of Godard's most popular films. La Chinoise quickly gained the reputation of a head film, best appreciated when the viewer is stoned. In these days, the audience for this sort of film is generally straight, which may be why it has seldom been shown in recent years. It must be remembered that it is ostensibly a satire. The redeeming scene is on a train when the heady students meet a real revolutionary, who's down to earth point of view puts their bourgeois rantings into sharp perspective.

Godard's then wife Anne Wiazemsky plays a philosophy student who commiserates with the four members of her campus Maoist group. They are so taken by the external trappings of their cause; the posters, the Little Red Books, the by rote chantings, that they seem not to grasp the true meaning of their political persuasion. Nor do they give any thought to the long-range ramifications of their terrorist activities.

Non-fans of Godard will get migraines by the director's perverse refusal to film even the simplest sequence in a linear, logical fashion. I was tempted to recommend avoidance but on revisiting I think it does capture the naïve student idealism of that time rather well.

Amacord

1974 Director Federico Fellini

This is a delightful romp down Fellini's memory lane. It centres around the seaside village of Rimini during the Mussolini era and is more a stream of consciousness than a plotted story. The film's greatest asset is its ability to be sweet without being cloying, due in great part to Danilo Donati's surrealistic art direction and to the frequently bawdy injections of sex and politics. Fellini clearly has deep affection for the people of this seaside village, warts and all, and communicates it through episodic visual anecdotes which are seen as if through the mists of a favorite dream, playfully scored by Nino Rota and lovingly photographed by Giuseppe Rotunno.

It won the 1974 Academy Award as Best Foreign Film.

Casshern

2004 Director Kazuaki Kiriya

Based on a 1973 Japanese animé of the same name this is Kazuaki Kirya's visionary science fiction epic.

The wars between east and west have left the planet decimated. The east has won, forming an alliance known as Eurasia. But the planet has been ravaged beyond the point of repair by nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, and a half-century of warfare has taken a devastating toll on all mankind. At first, it appears that salvation is imminent when a highly respected geneticist named Azuma announces the discovery of a so-called "neo cell" that can rejuvenate the human body without risk of rejection. Mankind's last hope threatens to become its ultimate downfall, however, when nature and science combine to create a menace that could very well extinguish the human race forever. Now, as the human race prepares to make its last stand against the ultimate enemy, a powerful warrior will emerge to fight for mankind and provide hope for future generations.

With dazzling special effects this is quite a ride. It would be misleading to describe it as Matrix meets Frankenstein although there are connections and homages paid to both. Some of the action scenes become very Japanese in that they stretch credulity somewhat. But this does not detract from the overall. Well worth seeing.

Solaris

1972 Director Andrei Tarkovsky

Based on a novel by Stanislaw Lem, this is Tarkovsky's famous seminal science fiction film which explores the bounderies of reality.

It centers on a widowed psychologist Kris Kelvin, who is sent to a space station orbiting a water planet called Solaris to investigate the mysterious death of a doctor, as well as the mental problems plaguing the dwindling number of cosmonauts on the station. Finding the remaining crew behaving oddly and aloof, Kelvin is more than surprised when he meets his seven-years-dead wife Khari on the station. It quickly becomes apparent that Solaris possesses something that brings out repressed memories and obsessions within the cosmonauts, leaving Kelvin to question his perception of reality. 

These concepts were pretty ground breaking in 1972, which lead to this film being compared to Stanley Kubrik's 2001. In actual fact there are very few touching points. Much as I admire Tarkovsky's work his lack of attention to detail in this film makes it very dated. In 2002 Steven Soderbergh remade the film and cast George Clooney in the lead to much greater effect.

Mein Führer - Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler

2007 Director Dani Levy

In the last months of 1944 with the war as good as lost, Hitler needs to beef up his rhetoric and saves a Jewish actor from a concentration camp to help him with his public speaking.

This is German humour at its very worst. Although the concept has merit its execution is both crass and tasteless. Slapstick may have worked for Chaplin in "The Great Dictator" but fails miserably in this film. If you want to waste an evening wondering why you watched this film then this is for you. Avoid at all costs.

Timecrimes

2007 Director Nacho Vigalondo

An extraordinary film that deals with the protracted problems connected with reverse time travel. This is Nacho Vigalondo's debut film in which he plays the minor role of the scientist in charge of the time machine.

An ordinary man is renovating his country house with his wife when he sees something that catches his attention while playing with his binoculars. Looking at a wooded area, he spies a beautiful woman taking her clothes off, and decides to take a stroll and give her a closer look. However, when he arrives the woman is lying in the grass and appears to either be dead or passed out. As he examines her, he's attacked by a strange man and flees on foot. He seeks refuge in a building that turns out to be a research facility owned by a scientist, who gives him a place to hide inside what looks like a milk vat. It is actually a time machine and when he emerges a few minutes later and looks out of the window he sees himself working in the garden as he was before. Thus starts a series of loops as he attempts to keep time in a straight line without leaving himself stranded in the past and unable to rejoin his wife.

The film has many twists and turns but does remain coherent and logical. It wisely omits any special effects that would otherwise detract from the very ordinary look of the film.

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser

1974 Director Werner Herzog

Herzog's film is based upon the true and mysterious story of Kaspar Hauser, a young man who suddenly appeared in Nuremberg in 1828. This was Herzog's "breakthrough" film. Kaspar Hauser is played by Bruno Schleinstein an equally enigmatic figure of Herzog's finding.

Hauser shows up unannounced in the middle of a village square, intriguing the people with his bizarre behavior. He cannot talk, nor is there any indication of his parentage, thus Kaspar is immediately the object of close scrutiny by the authorities. When he finally does develop the power of speech, he reveals a highly advanced state of intelligence. His child like innocence and questioning mind cause consternation to the more conservative members of the community.

This is a charming film full of irony and subtle comic wit in a tragic setting.  Bruno plays the part with insightful sympathy that marks him as an outstanding actor. Unfortunately this genius came with a tragic amount of mental illness and this was only one of two films he took part in, the other being another Herzog production, Stroszek in 1977. Kaspar Hauser was the winner of the 1975 Grand Jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Sátántangó

1994 Director Béla Tarr

This is Tarr's epic seven and a half hour long film dealing with the dissolution of a farming commune following the collapse of the communist regime and with it the subsidies that kept this community alive.It is adapted from a novel by Laszlo Karsznahorkai and took two full years to film. The story is presented through a series of chapters of varying lengths presented in a tangoesque sequence. Hence the name "Satan's Tango".

Tarr employs a series of very long shots, some up to 20 minutes in duration and a variety of techniques to make the viewer feel present in the scene. In some instances the shot is static with action being heard off screen only. In others a shot is held on a character for 5 minutes after the action is complete. After spending so long in the company of these characters the viewer can not fail but to empathise with their plight.

A stunning film and well worth the effort although it can easily be watched chapter by chapter without detracting from the overall experience.

Russian Ark

2002 Director Aleksander Sokurov

Sokurov broke boundaries with his dreamlike vision of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Russian Ark. It's the first feature-length film shot in a single take using a state of the art Steadicam operated by a single cameraman. The full 90 minutes are one unedited take.

Russian Ark is shot from the first person point of view, exploring the museum and traveling through Russian history. The audience witnesses Peter the Great abusing one of his generals; Catherine the Great desperately searching for a bathroom; and, in the grand finale, the sumptuous Great Royal Ball of 1913. The viewer is accompanied by a sarcastic and eccentric 19th century French Marquis, who travels with him throughout the huge grounds, encountering various historical figures and viewing the legendary artworks on display.

The film was obviously shot in one day, but the cast and crew rehearsed for months to time their movements precisely with the flow of the camera while capturing the complex narrative, with elaborate costumes from different periods, and several trips out to the exterior of the museum. Tilman Büttner, the director of photography, was responsible for capturing it all in one single Steadicam shot.

As an exercise in well choreographed cinematography this is an unsurpassed endeavour.

Le Dîner de cons

1998 Director Francis Veber

Francis Veber wrote and directed this film adaptation of his own play. In 1993, he cast Jacques Villeret in the role of the idiot onstage for 600 performances of a 27 month run, and the play also had a 1994 London production.

The film is about a cruel competition among a group of friends to see who can find the stupidest person to bring to dinner. The dinners are held each Wednesday night, and French publisher Pierre Brochant has found a world class idiot, tax accountant Francois Pignon who uses matchsticks to build small-scale replicas of monuments. Things quickly go awry after Pierre wrenches his back at golf. He nevertheless makes an effort to attend the dinner with his prize. Francois arrives at Pierre's luxury apartment, but Pierre is in such pain they never exit the apartment for the dinner. Instead, Pierre is trapped in a situation where Francois' stupidity turns his life into a comic hell.

This film is french comedy at its very best and never tires with revisits. The expressions and reactions of the luckless pair coupled with exquisite comic timing make this a must see.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God

1972 Director Werner Herzog

Based on the real-life journals of a priest, Brother Gaspar de Carvajal, this film is the most famed collaboration between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski. Shot entirely on location in the Peruvian mountainous jungle it presents the viewer with stunning vistas of this most hostile environment.

Exhausted and near to admitting failure in its quest for riches, the 1650-51 expedition of Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro becomes bogged down in the impenetrable jungles of Peru. As a last-ditch effort to locate treasure, Pizarro orders a party to scout ahead for signs of El Dorado, the fabled seven cities of gold. In command are a trio of nobles. Traveling by river raft, the explorers are besieged by hostile natives, disease, starvation and treacherous waters. Crazed with greed and mad with power, Aguirre takes over the enterprise, slaughtering any that oppose him. Nature and Aguirre's own unquenchable thirst for glory ultimately render him insane, in charge of nothing but a raft of corpses and chattering monkeys.

Kinski delivers an inspirational performance as the power crazed Aguirre. This coupled with the breath taking scenery that he finds himself in makes this a powerful and evocative film.

8½

1963 Director Federico Fellini

Fresh from the international success of La Dolce Vita, director Federico Fellini moved into the realm of introspective autobiography with what is widely believed to be his finest and most personal work. So named as it presented the count of films made to date.

Marcello Mastroianni delivers a brilliant performance as Fellini's alter ego Guido Anselmi, a film director overwhelmed by the large-scale production he has undertaken. He finds himself harangued by producers, his wife, and his mistress while he struggles to find the inspiration to finish his film. The stress plunges Guido into an interior world where fantasy and memory impinge on reality.

Fellini jumbles narrative logic by freely cutting from flashbacks to dream sequences to the present until it becomes impossible to pry them apart, creating both a psychological portrait of Guido's interior world and the surrealistic, circus-like exterior world that came to be known as "Felliniesque".

Atanarjuat The Fast Runner

2001 Director Zacharias Kunuk

Atanarjuat  is the first feature film in the Inuktitut language, spoken by the Inuit tribes of northern Canada. The film was shot in the Arctic wastelands and deals with an ancient legend of an evil spirit causing strife in the community and one warrior's endurance and battle of its menace. One of the most acclaimed films of the year, Atanarjuat is an extraordinary, triumphant experience. 

When a small, nomadic community is cursed by an unknown shaman, the curse is still felt years later.  Atanarjuat falls in love with Atuat, a woman already promised to the son of the clan's leader.  In a fight, she is won by Atanarjuat causing vengeful clan leader Oki to plot to attack Atanarjuat and his brother in their sleep.  Atanarjuat manages to escape and sets off running across the ice, embarking on a harrowing adventure to survive in the brutal wilderness.  His journey ends when he returns, stronger and wiser, to reclaim his life and stop the curse that has divided his people.

The film was shot on widescreen digital video by Norman Cohn who was one of the few non-Inuit crew members on the shoot. Kunuk and his crew meticulously re-created the conditions the Inuit tribes lived under before exposure to Southern influences, using information handed down from tribe elders and the journals of Captain William Edward Parry, a British explorer who visited the area in 1822.

Run Lola Run

1998 Director Tom Tykwer

Reminicent of Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Blind Chance", this is a film about the differences that minute amounts of time can have on the outcome of events. Moritz Bleibtreu and Franka Potente play a couple who's fate is inextricably entwined.

Manni is given an opportunity to prove his worth by a gangland boss by delivering the cash from a diamond deal. He leaves the money on a train and now has only 20 minutes to gather 10,000 marks. He calls his girlfriend Lola and tells her that he intends to hold up a supermarket. She pleads for him to wait for her.

Here start three roller coaster runs across town, each one dependent on the time that it takes her to get down the stairs of her apartment. Each scenario is punctuated by a conversation on mortality that Manni and Lola have in bed.

Many cinematic techniques are on display here including whip pans, jump cuts, slow and fast motion, split-screen, intercut color and black and white, segment titles, and animation and all are choreographed superbly to the thumping soundtrack. An exhilarating and very watchable film.

Ivan's Childhood

1962 Director Andrei Tarkovsky

This is Andrei Tarkovsky debut film. A feature-length wartime drama and a remarkable introduction to a remarkable career. The poetic touch of Tarkovsky's hand and his measured pace is already evident as the tale of the young, twelve-year-old Ivan evolves. Ivan is orphaned after his village is wiped out by an invading Nazi army and as a consequence, he ends up in a prison camp. The inventive lad escapes and is taken under the wing of Captain Kholin, whose intention is to send the boy away to school. But Ivan is determined to help the Russian army and so he starts spying on the German forces. Because of his tender years he manages to pass freely back and forth behind enemy lines -- at least for awhile.

This is a poignant and tragic film about the loss of innocence in a vanishing generation. This exemplary film won the top prize, the Golden Lion award at the 1962 Venice Film Festival and also won the Grand Prize at the 1962 San Francisco Film Festival.

I Am Cuba

1964 Director Mikhail Kalatozov

This is an unabashed exercise in cinema stylistics. I Am Cuba is communist rhetoric dressed up in the finest clothes. The film's four dramatic stories take place in the final days of the Batista regime. The first two illustrate the ills that led to the revolution, the last two the call to arms which cut across the social and economic lines.

A lovely young woman in a nightclub frequented by crass American businessmen takes a customer to her modest shack for a night of pleasure for pay, only to be found out by her street vendor suitor. A tenant farmer is told that his crop has been sold to United Fruit and in frustration burns his fields. A middle-class student rallies his pals and workers in a street demonstration against the regime with dire consequences. A peasant eking out a living in the mountains quickly converts to the cause when Batista bombers strafe his land in search of rebel fighters.

Mikhail Kalazatov turned his cinematographer, Sergei Urusevsky, loose and the result is a procession of dazzling black-and-white images, shot with a camera that is almost always moving and soaring over the sugar fields, swooping in and out of urban buildings, following characters down narrow streets.  The long tracking shots at time defy possibility as the camera moves from track to hand to hand to pulley to dolly so smoothly that one wonders how the shot was accomplished

Having given Kalatozov free reign in making the film the Soviet regime immediately shelved it as being too controversial. Finally in 1995, through the auspices of filmmakers Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese I Am Cuba got a belated release and has proved to be both a time capsule of a fading political movement and a timeless work of cinematic art.

The Night of the Sunflowers

2006 Director Jorge Sánchez-Cabezudo

This film explores the idea that the truth is never as simple as at first appears. Castilla-León is a dying rural village in the middle of nowhere. Told from six different perspectives the story unfolds with the discovery of a cave near the village. Cave explorers arrive to document the find and there is much speculation that this will put the village back on the map and bring much needed visitors. But emerging from the cave they discover that a girl has been assaulted. This sparks a violent revenge mission that sets into motion a tragic series of events in the impoverished local communities.

Each chapter overlaps the previous and is told from a completely different perspective drawing the viewer to empathise with the current character so thoroughly that all their actions appear completely logical, given the circumstances.

Beautifully shot in a captivating landscape its a very watchable film.

Man Bites Dog

1992 Director Rémy Belvaux

Hold on to your seats for an uncomfortable ride into the ultimate realm of reality TV. Rémy Belvaux films from the perspective of a reality TV crew following the exploits of a serial killer with a predisposition for postmen. As they become more and more involved in the making of the documentary the boundaries between the killer's deeds and the crew's actions becomes more and more blurred until they reverse their roles from passive observers to active participants.

This film is not for the easily shocked or squeamish. However, the real skill and fascination is in the relationship between the film crew and the killer and their detachment from the horror of his actions in preference to their film making.

It's an ironic warning, bearing in mind that reality TV was in its infancy in 1992 and well worth watching once the children have gone to bed.

Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht

1979 Director Werner Herzog

This is a remake of F.W. Murnau's classic 1922 silent horror-fest Nosferatu and stars Klaus Kinski. A great deal of homage is paid to the original including the makeup style used by Murnau's leading man Max Schreck.

Essentially this is a retelling of Bram Stoker's Dracula that misses the mark on a number of levels. Kinski fails to deliver the menace and madness that he managed so well in "Aquirre, the wrath of God", and Herzog fails to imbue the atmosphere with anything resembling tension or foreboding.

I can't fathom why Herzog embarked on this film. It does his other work a great disservice. Stick with the Murnau original.

Les Amants du Pont-Neuf

1991 Director Leos Carax

Filmed on Paris' oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf, while it was closed for repairs, this is a love story between two homeless youngsters. Alex, an alcoholic street performer addicted to sedatives and Michele, an artist driven to a life on the streets because of a failed relationship and an illness that is slowly turning her blind.

The film portrays the harsh existence of the homeless as Alex, Michele and Hans, an older vagrant and the supplier of Alex's sedatives, survive on their  wits. As they both slowly get their lives back together, Michele becomes increasingly dependent on Alex as her vision deteriorates further. Fearing that Michele will leave him if she receives a new medical treatment Alex attempts to keep Michele prisoner.

Beautifully composed shots of the streets, skies and waterways of Paris are used as a backdrop to the story in a series of stunning visuals which dominate the film.

Frozen Land

2005 Director Aku Louhimies

Based on Leo Tolstoy's novella The False Coupon, this is an intriguing journey into the ripples of cause and effect. The story passes from character to character as the impact affect them. The film appears to make a figure eight of events in that it goes full circle, at which point I was expecting the credits. Instead it then embarks on another circle apparently in an attempt to clear up the loose threads. I feel this could have been done better.

However it is well worth the watch. Based in alcohol soaked Finland the story starts with a middle aged teacher being made redundant in favour of a younger IT teacher. This leads to him pawning his son's Hifi for some beer. The son leaves home in anger and meets with some friends who take him in. From their computer he prints out a 500 euro note which he passes off to an old lady minding the pawn shop to recover his Hifi. The pawn shop owner then passes the dud to a car salesman who ends up arrested when he tries to pass the note in a restaurant. He vents his fury on the Pawnbroker and goes on a bender where he meets a failing vacuum cleaner salesman. They go on a bender to end all benders ending in the car salesman and his whore being murdered. The policewoman who comes to investigate gives chase to a man she presumes is the killer only to trip and fall under a train in a goods yard. She is the wife of a young IT teacher. End of first loop and the point where I think the credits should be.

However, leaving you a moment to get your breath, the film starts off again with the counterfeiter being recruited to be the lookout in a factory break-in. When he sees the police arrive, on their way to a murder, he panics and makes his getaway leaving the burglar to run into a goods yard. A policewoman gives chase with the already predicted outcome. The man is arrested and convicted of manslaughter. A five year jump to his release and the final confrontation with the husband of the policewoman ties all the loose ends together.

A great deal of care has been taken in the characterisations as all are believable people placed in extraordinary circumstances. It's a fast paced and very good film.

Jour De Fête

1949 Director Jacques Tati

This is Jacques Tati's pre-Hulot first feature. Intriguingly, Tati originally shot this film in two simultaneous processes; a black and white one and an experimental color one called 'Thomson-Color' but was forced to release the black-and-white version when he ran into problems printing the color film. Then in the late 1990s his daughter prepared and released a color version of the entire movie.

Tati plays a contented postman in a small, unhurried French village. He leisurely performs his duties, peddling away on his rounds on his bicycle. A traveling fair arrives in town. One of the attractions at the carnival is a film depicting the United States Postal Service's fast and efficient postal delivery system. Tati accepts the challenge and attempts to modernise his work style with predictably disastrous results.

What this film captures beautifully is a post war rural community where the pace of life barely exceeds a crawl. The viewer is treated to a leisurely stroll through an unhurried era. It's a delightful film whose influence is evident in quite a few more modern films.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

2005 Director Cristi Puiu

A tragic look at a prejudiced and uncaring health system and it's consequences. Set in Romania there are some stark parallels that can be drawn against our struggling and disjointed NHS system. The outcome is in the title and so should come as no surprise.

Luminita Gheorghiu plays a patient and caring ambulance medic who is drawn into the deteriorating plight of a belligerent old man. We start with him having a bad headache and vomiting. He feels that it is something more serious than the pain caused by his ulcer and the hangovers caused by his regular excessive drinking. He calls for an ambulance, and after convincing the skeptical dispatcher that he is not simply drunk, he begins the long wait for help to arrive.  Mioara finally arrives and after ascertaining that Lazarescu has been drinking to excess, she considers giving him an aspirin and going on her way, but a quick examination shows that the old man is in severe pain, and she begins to suspect that he is gravely ill. Thus begins a long, unpleasant journey from one hospital to another, as Lazarescu faces a backlog of patients caused by a massive traffic accident, and the cold indifference of arrogant doctors who appear hesitant to cure a man who has seemingly destroyed his own health.

It is a moving film with enough cynical humour to make you laugh and despair at the same time. It touches on a few raw nerves when we look at what our own health system is becoming. Well worth the view.

Amores Perros

2000 Director Alexandro Gonzalez Inarritu

This is Inarritu's debut film which sets a very high standard. The English translation of the title "Life's a Bitch" is a misnomer. It should be "The Love of Dogs, which is what Amores Perros actually means and what this film is really about.

The whole film is set in Mexico city. Three lives become inextricably linked in the wake of a terrible car crash: a young punk stumbles into the sinister underground world of dog fighting; an injured supermodel's pooch disappears into the apartment's floorboards; and an ex-radical turned hit man rescues a gun-shot Rottweiler.

This film is not for the squeamish but it does deliver a fast paced, attention grabbing ride. It is coherently structured which allows it to yoyo back and forward in time without confusing the viewer. All the loose ends come nicely together in the end without stretching your credulity.

A particularly memorable moment is when the tramp/hit man contemplates killing the dog only to realise that he and the dog are cast from the same mold; born and trained to kill. This film benefits from a second viewing even when the final outcome is known.

Blind Chance

1987 Director Krzystof Kieslowski

This film deals with minute actions that can be life changing in consequence.

A young medical student, Witek runs for a train. Three alternatives are then played out.  In the first he catches the train, meets an honest Communist and joins the Party as an activist. In the second while running for the train he bumps into a railway guard, remonstrates with him and is arrested. He is brought to trial and sent to do unpaid labour in a park where he meets someone from the opposition. In this scenario he is persuaded to becomes a militant member of the opposition. In the last he misses the train, meets a girl from his academy, resumes his interrupted studies, marries the girl and leads a peaceful life as doctor unwilling to get mixed up in politics. The final scenario brings elements of all three together in a surprise ending.

This offering by Kieslowski is not quite as polished as his later films in the "Colour" series but still makes for interesting viewing. I found that I saw much more the second time round. If you like this genre of film then this was the precursor to "Run Lola Run".

Hukkle

2002 Director György Pálfi

This film defies classification. It is an exquisite example of perfect cinematography. With no dialogue of any kind the viewer is taken on a tour of life in a rural Hungarian village where all is not as it at first appears. A cart driver spies on a young shepherdess. An old woman picks dainty white flowers. A couple excitedly watch their pigs mate. The men folk play skittles. An idyll of tranquil life. The central character is a young policeman who gradually becomes aware of a sinister conspiracy within the village. He contemplates taking action, though he knows it will rock the town to its foundations.

The real skill in this film is that you reach the same conclusions as him at exactly the same time, which is no mean feat on the part of the director considering the complete lack of dialogue.

Punctuating these vignettes is the recurring hiccuping of an old man, who you realise by the end of the film is as aware of the goings on as you have just become.

This is a film I never tire of seeing. There has been a great deal of effort made to make each shot perfect. From the opening snake sequence to the slow motion shot of the jet flying under the bridge, this is a film that should be studied by all those aspiring to good camera work. I am unable to flaw any of it.

36 Quai de Orfevres

2004 Director Olivier Marchal

A gritty, no holds barred film starring Gérard Depardieu and Daniel Auteuil. Set in the underbelly of the Parisian criminal world, the Police are frustrated by a gang committing a series of violent robberies.

At 36 Quai de Orfevres,the Parisian police headquarters, the head of the department's anti-crime unit and the head of the "search and action squad" compete with one another not only for their boss' job, but to be the first to solve an ongoing series of security-van robberies. Ultimately, the men resort to sabotaging one another, and thus set the stage for an ongoing series of twists, turns, reversals, and betrayals.

The action sequences are tight and realistic although the many twists in the plot do require a modicum of attention on the part of the viewer.

Alphaville

1965 Director Jean-Luc Godard

Jean-Luc's foray into the world of science fiction.

He probably shouldn't have bothered. The basic premise is sound: A mission to assassinate the inventor of a fascist computer that is controlling a planet. It has good merit but what follows is trite and banal. The atmosphere is very "film noire", which is at odds with its science fiction setting. The external shots are blatantly in a french city, possibly Paris. The execution sequences are laughable. The dialogue is stilted and the acting is lamentable. This renders the film quite painful to watch.

It is odd that Jean-Luc released this. His other work, on the whole, is excellent and ground breaking but, alas, he completely missed his mark with this one.

Koktebel

2003 Director Boris Khlebnikov 

This is the debut film of the the Russian writing/directing team of Boris Khlebnikov and Alexei Popogrebsky. Ostensibly a road movie, Koktebel charts the journey from Moscow to the Crimea of a widowed alcoholic father and his 11-year-old son.

Along the way they are helped by a rail worker, although I defy anyone to doubt his initial motives as he leads the pair to a locked shed in the rail yard. They meet up with grumpy recluse who shoots the father with a dust gun during a drunken altercation. A local woman doctor fixes him up, leading to a romance. The father decides to stay with her. The son becomes disillusioned and decides to finish the journey by himself.

The cinematography is stunning with long panoramic shots of a very beautiful part of the Soviet Union. It is a film that I will revisit many times.

The Spirit of the Beehive

1973 Director Victor Erice

In a small Castilian village in 1940, in the wake of the country's civil war, six-year-old Ana attends a traveling movie show of Frankenstein with her teasing sister and becomes possessed by the memory of it. She comes upon a deserter in a remote animal shelter on her father's farm and draws parallels between his plight and that of the monster.

The film's cinematography is lovingly shot with long atmospheric scenes. The child that plays Ana shows a remarkable talent. In particular the dinner scene where her father shows her the watch that the soldier was discovered with. The eye contact shots make all dialogue superfluous.

It is noteworthy that all characters have used their real first names. Apparently this was a late alteration to the script because Ana became too confused with the character's names.

Produced as Franco's long regime was nearing it's end, The Spirit of the Beehive is a bewitching portrait of a child's haunted inner life and one of the most visually arresting movies ever made.