Bastards (2013)

Cascading rain in close-up against a building at night as moody synth from the Tindersticks plays over the soundtrack. The opening shot to Claire Denis’ film, Bastards (2013), hooked me in and visually established its neo-noir vibe. One of my favourite shots later in the film was of a woman, Chiara Mastroianni – seen from […]

35 Shots Of Rum (2008)

Of director Claire Denis’ film, 35 Shots Of Rum (2008; 35 Rhums), I’d mainly heard about the use of The Commodores song ‘Nightshift’, a melancholy early-1980s jam (about Marvin Gaye’s passing), in a dance sequence. While not used as electrifying or profoundly as the use of a certain dance track at the end of Beau […]