Both Sides Of The Blade (2022)

Both Sides Of The Blade (2022) is a love triangle that unfolds like a floating inevitability, like something on rippling water, bobbing towards you slowly. Directed by Claire Denis and written by Christine Angot (based on her novel), the film focuses on Sara (Juliette Binoche), a radio journalist, who is married to Jean (Vincent Lindon), […]

Portrait Of A Young Girl At The End Of The 60s In Brussels (1994)

Shot for French TV during the nineties, Portrait Of A Young Girl At The End Of The 60s In Brussels (1994) is directed and written by Chantal Akerman, and feels semi-autobiographical. As the title indicates, Akerman sets the story in 1968 but isn’t too concerned about fidelity to the era; you can see CDs in […]

Return To Seoul (2022)

A character study whose style mirrors the push-and-pull of its protagonist, Return To Seoul (2022) follows a young French woman, Freddie (Park Ji-Min), who was adopted from South Korea. Visiting the home of her birth parents on a spur-of-the-moment deal, she also decides to track them down, and is completely unprepared for the emotional consequences. […]

Stars At Noon (2022)

One thing I love about Claire Denis as a director is her relationship with the band Tindersticks – they score most of her movies. To the point that the two movies she directed in 2022 – Stars At Noon and Both Sides Of The Blade – both featured a similar moment in their trailers where […]

The Iron Rose (1973)

The Iron Rose (1973; La Rose de Fer) is the third film I’ve seen from French director Jean Rollin, and along with Spanish filmmaker Jess Franco, their names represent a quintessential arty Euro-horror milieu. Rollin is known for low-budget genre flicks, usually concerning vampires, where there’s nudity and blood, and actors wandering around castles and […]