Fascination (1979)

There’s something prototypical about a Jean Rollin film, in that it can be classified as what people would think of when it comes to ‘Euro-horror’ (nude women, vampires, castles). And yet, there’s something distinct, which probably helps when you’ve seen a few other 1970s exploitation movies. That there’s something slow and atmospheric, which feels very […]

Dudes (1987)

Memories of the Dudes (1987) VHS cover in the Comedy aisle of a video store, Jon Cryer and Daniel Roebuck with their hands up next to a cactus, promising fish-out-of-water laughs with two punkers in a western, radiating Bill and Ted comparisons, or even Wayne’s World (not knowing as a kid that they were from the same director, Penelope […]

Sholay (1975)

Sholay (1975) screened last year in cinemas as part of an anniversary 4K edition. I wish I had seen it in a cinema. Due to life and the three hour plus run time, I had to watch it broken up, almost treating it like a serial. A full blown cinematic epic whose cultural impact and […]

Pickpocket (1997)

In Jia Zhangke’s Pickpocket (1997) aka Xiao Wu, which was shot in the Chinese town of Fenyang (where Zhangke grew up), there are a few street scenes where something happens, often to the main character, and people passing by begin to stop and look; there’s a feeling that these are not extras, but actual people wondering what’s going […]

Animal (2023)

Animal (2023) is a film about work and it’s about that mid-life crisis feeling of the party leaving you behind. Director Sofia Exarchou focuses on ‘animateurs’ employed by a resort hotel on Crete; the hotel is not high class or exclusive, it looks affordable enough for older Europeans as a holiday destination. The animateurs are […]