Farewell, My Lovely (1975)

I love neo-noir as a genre, so there’s only a few I haven’t seen in the recent Criterion Channel ‘Neo-Noir’ collection. So that’s why I watched Farewell, My Lovely (1975), which is a more traditional take on the film noir style with Robert Mitchum playing Raymond Chandler’s character of private detective Phillip Marlowe. I think […]

Cemetery Of Splendour (2015)

What I most want from an art movie is to be taken to somewhere else. Another part of the world, yes, but also taken to another way of seeing. Cemetery Of Splendour (2015; Rak Ti Khon Kaen) is only my second film that I’ve watched from Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul (after Uncle Boonmee Who Can […]

Nightmare Alley (1947)

All I really knew about Nightmare Alley (1947) was that it was a classic film noir, it’s currently being remade by Guillermo Del Toro and it’s another film I’d not seen that was covered in Danny Peary’s Cult Movies 2. That, and it had something to do with carny life. This is definitely a case […]

Redbelt (2008)

I love Redbelt (2008) in spite of myself. Writer-director David Mamet has a way with words, but despite all his pretensions, he’s in love with macho bullshit as any other blockbuster action type. The movie is set in the world of Mixed Martial Arts competitions and has an eclectic cast that mixes Mamet regulars like […]

Bay Of Angels (1963)

From the very first shot I knew I’d made the right decision to watch Bay Of Angels (1963; La baie des anges): it’s a shot of glamorous Jeanne Moreau standing in a street near the water at Monte Carlo, the camera immediately pulling away and racing backwards down the street. Directed by Jacques Demy, his […]