Red Desert (1964)

Michelangelo Antonioni is a divisive auteur and I can understand why some people don’t like him – wealthy people being bored in slow narratives where nothing much happens. But I really like L’Eclisse and The Passenger as absorbing portraits of alienation. Red Desert (1964; Il deserto rosso) was advertised as Antonioni’s first film in colour, […]

Sonatine (1993)

When violence occurs in Sonatine (1993), directed, written and starring Takeshi Kitano, it is sudden and shocking. Yet there’s also a blankness to it – gangsters fire their guns without emotion and react impassively to the blood. For a crime movie about the Yakuza, the lifestyle is not presented with any excitement or flashiness. Kitano […]

A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence (2014)

It’s sad that it’s taken me this long to watch a Roy Andersson film – I’d always been intrigued by Songs From The Second Floor when it came out. But life is sad, y’know, and why not start with the last of the ‘trilogy’ that includes Songs and You, The Living. From what I gather, […]

Swallow (2019)

I was very interested to see the film Swallow (2019) turn up on Stan’s streaming services in Australia after reading reviews of its festival and arthouse run in the US before cinemas closed down. A warning right from the start is that this is not a film for everyone. Swallow stars Haley Bennett, who has […]

In Fabric (2018)

Peter Strickland is a British director I have time for, because of his second and third films, Berberian Sound Studio and The Duke Of Burgundy, playing with older genre forms (Italian horror movies, European erotica) and crafting art-house homages that almost have an academic, clinical bent. Strickland’s latest film, In Fabric (2018) is a strange […]