Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)

In Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003), there’s an obvious contrast between the 1960s wuxia film being screened, Dragon Inn, and the dilapidated cinema where its being shown; the faded film stock of adventure and action compared to the mundane stillness of empty cinema seats and rain dripping from the ceiling. Within Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang’s slow […]

Dead Or Alive 2: Birds (2000)

Yakuza assassinations cross-cut with world vision footage of starving children in Africa. CGI birds representing the childhood spirits of our two protagonists. Digital graphics illustrating the geometry of three bullets entering a head at 60 degree angles. A powerful comet sighted against the night sky. The title card “Where are you?” repeated, white text against […]

Ghost Of Mars (2001)

John Carpenter is one of my all time favourite directors. When I first saw John Carpenter’s Ghosts Of Mars (2001) on DVD when it came out, I was pretty disappointed. Then, later, when I found out it was originally intended as another Escape movie that was rewritten after Escape From LA’s lack of success, it […]

Revolver (2005)

I like Guy Ritchie movies the most when they get pretentious. Like, I’m more keen to rewatch something like Wrath Of Man rather than The Gentlemen. And the zenith (so far) of Ritchie’s pretensions has to be Revolver (2005), his return to the gangster genre after the unsuccessful remake of Swept Away. I’ve always been […]

The Headless Woman (2008)

I always loved that in their Criterion Closet YouTube video, Lucrecia Martel selected Carnival Of Souls and said something to the effect of, that it was enough to make one film if it was as great as that. Only after I had watched Martel’s film, The Headless Woman (2008), did I see its connection to […]