On the set: Chiaki Kuriyama
Wednesday, 24 March 2021
A Field in England (2013)
Amid the Civil War in 17th-century England, a group of deserters flee from battle through an overgrown field. Captured by an alchemist, the men are forced to help him search to find a hidden treasure that he believes is buried in the field.
Intense and delirious period drama photographed in excellent
black-and-white, all accomplished in a very limited setting (a field),
at times grisly, tinged with black humor, but also hard to follow.
Maltin**1/2: "Despite a seemingly conventional plot, this is really an experimental and metaphysical head trip of a movie in which the psychedelic style...trumps the incoherent narrative."
Tuesday, 23 March 2021
Ride With the Devil (1999)
During the American Civil War, two friends join the Bushwhackers, a militant group loyal to the Confederacy.
Excellently and beautifully directed Western with an excellent cast takes its time to analyze the causes and effects of war, but somehow fails to make a lasting impact due to a lack of focus on its agenda.
Halliwell**: "Dour, beautifully photographed semi-western, a harsh drama of idealism corrupted and redeemed; it ably shows the futility of war, as both sides commit atrocities and betrayals, but might have benefitted from a maturer point of view than that of its youthful participants."
Maltin**1/2: "Interesting subject matter is diffused by overlong, sometimes unfocused treatment, though the time and place are well drawn. Pop singer Jewel makes an impressive acting debut."
La vérité (2019)
A stormy reunion between scriptwriter Lumir with her famous mother and actress, Fabienne, against the backdrop of Fabienne's autobiographic book and her latest role in a Sci-Fi picture as a daughter of a mother who never grows old.
Undemanding family drama is amusing for having Ethan Hawke play the helpless bystander to a feud between the titans Deneuve and Binoche.
Magellan (2017)
After NASA picks up a trio of mysterious signals from within our own solar system, astronaut Roger Nelson is dispatched on a multi-year solo mission aboard the Magellan spacecraft to investigate the sources.
Simple, yet watchable sci-fi drama with a plot not unlike 2001: A Space Odyssey offers some mediocre performances, but some good space photography and effective special effects.
Indignation (2016)
In 1951, Marcus, a working-class Jewish student from New Jersey, attends a small Ohio college, where he struggles with sexual repression and cultural disaffection, amid the ongoing Korean War.
Proper adaptation of the Philip Roth novel presents the tragedy in a calm, old-fashioned style with good period detail and an excellent cast.
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