JoJo Rabbit works nearly all of the time, which for a comedy about the friendship between a small boy in the Hitler Youth and a Jewish girl, and with a buffoonish Hitler as an imaginary father figure, is pretty good going. Writer-director Taika Waititi runs a tight ship when it comes to tonal changes, the switches… JoJo Rabbit (London Film Festival 2019) Read More
Notorious (4k re-release) 4.5 stars
Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious (rereleased by the BFI in a stunning 4K restoration) pairs Cary Grant with Ingrid Bergman in a nail-biting thriller where an investigation into South American Nazi enclaves becomes entangled with the messiness of human relationships – as both the chilly Devlin and urbane Nazi Alex Sebastian fall in love with Alicia, the German-American daughter of… Notorious (4k re-release) Read More
The Aftermath – 1 minute video review Includes Video 2.5 stars
READ MY FULL REVIEW OF THE AFTERMATH
The Aftermath 2.5 stars
How much can be rebuilt after it has been smashed to pieces? That’s the big question in The Aftermath – a postwar love story that attempts to to examine the realities of reconciliation, whether between people or countries. The film is about rebuilding broken relationships as much as broken cities, with the ambiguities of war… The Aftermath Read More
The Aftermath: can everything be rebuilt? Trailer, interviews and featurettes
*** Read my review of The Aftermath now *** The film, directed by James Kent, is about reconciliation – rebuilding broken relationships as much as broken cities, and the ambiguities of war that are thrown up, particularly afterwards. It stars Keira Knightley, who I love, though I’m looking forward to the day she takes a… The Aftermath: can everything be rebuilt? Trailer, interviews and featurettes Read More
INTERVIEW: How to make An American Piano, set in Japan, by two Aussies – Hamish Downie & Paul Leeming
“You could say that the descendants of old enemies came together to make this film – which is part of our message.” Hamish Downie, writer and producer of An American Piano. Paul Leeming and Hamish Downie, the director and writer/producer of An American Piano, both lived in Japan for several years (Hamish still does). Their… INTERVIEW: How to make An American Piano, set in Japan, by two Aussies – Hamish Downie & Paul Leeming Read More
An American Piano (Short Film) Short Film 4 stars
Music, like war, is a great leveller. During World War Two, Youko (Leon Masuda), a little girl living in Japan with plans to train to be a concert pianist, sits at her grand piano playing Chopin. Across the way, an Allied prisoner of war listens and catches her eye. Based on a true story, An… An American Piano (Short Film) Read More
Das Boot (Director’s Cut) 5 stars
*** Check out my submarine movies section *** “They are drinking at the bar, celebrating our sinking! Not yet my friends, not yet!” shouts U-96’s captain with delight, as they practically bounce up onto the surface of the narrow Straits of Gibraltar, which they’ve been marooned at the bottom of for 15 hours. He’s not a lover… Das Boot (Director’s Cut) Read More
Black Sea 4 stars
*** Check out my submarine movies section *** Black Sea is a brutal watch, almost a horror film as the deaths mount, with fear itself a virus. And although not a straight East-West underwater battle, it still has Westerners fighting with Russians. At one point they each take over different ends of their submarine, with the Brits… Black Sea Read More
Deciphering The Making Of Short Film The Code With Director Patrick Ryder
Award-winning director Patrick Ryder’s latest short film is The Code, a World War 2 drama set in the forests of France shortly before the events of Dunkirk. It follows brothers Will (Kevin Leslie) and Eddie (Jacob Anderton) and their friend Tommy (Robert Dukes), separated from the rest of their regiment and desperate to get to… Deciphering The Making Of Short Film The Code With Director Patrick Ryder Read More
The Code (Short Film) Short Film 4 stars
*** Read my interview with director of The Code, Patrick Ryder *** Three British soldiers, one horribly injured, come across a wounded German, still attached to the silk parachute which is splayed out across a tree trunk lying on the forest floor. The German he utters remains mostly un-translated. He can speak English though, and… The Code (Short Film) Read More
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society 3.5 stars
There’s a cosiness to the word-count guzzling Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society, in a lie-back-and-think-of-postwar-England kind of way. We know what we’re going to get: fabulous 1940s fashions (wide-leg high waisted jeans, here I come); clattering typewriters; bosom-hoiking landladies; beautiful views. Plus love, loss, and employment for several British national treasures. But it… The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Read More