Lured (1947)

Pre-sitcom superstardom, Lucille Ball was apparently synonymous with B-pictures and I never realised she’d starred in a few film noirs during the 1940s before I Love Lucy came to define her iconic legacy. I really liked Ball’s turn as a private detective’s helpful secretary in The Dark Corner, which I watched for the first time […]

The Aviator’s Wife (1981)

It’s a testament to the directing and writing of Eric Rohmer, and the performances of the actors, that the characters in The Aviator’s Wife (1981) come off as understandable and empathetic, even as they’re wrapped up in their own emotional problems and romantic overthinking. Then again, Rohmer’s talky, French serio-comic catalogue is not for everyone […]

The Grandmaster (2013)

I can’t remember much of a cinema release for Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster (2013); it felt like its mixed reception resulted in an underwhelming reputation. Unexpectedly a martial arts movie for fans of Wong Kar-wai’s arthouse melodramas, it might have been too much of an arthouse melodrama for fans of martial arts movies. I was […]

Written On The Wind (1956)

Quite a contrast to grow up with Robert Stack as an older guy in a trenchcoat walking out of the night to host Unsolved Mysteries on TV and to see him young as the alcoholic, suicidal son of a Texas oil baron in Written On The Wind (1956) with the most intense eyes ever. Directed […]

The Lure (2015)

In 1980s Poland, two mermaids hear their own siren song: a fair haired boy playing an indie ballad on the shoreline. Leaving the water for the world of humans, the mermaids eventually front their very own synth pop band. Welcome to the horror-musical-fantasy world of The Lure (2015; Córki dancingu), which revolves around a nightclub […]