Images (1972)

There’s something very eerie about a misty, green countryside and being alone in an old house. This is one aspect to the atmosphere of Images (1972), which Robert Altman directed after McCabe and Mrs Miller, an underrated psychological thriller that has gotten more attention in recent years. Susannah York plays Cathryn, an author of children’s […]

Close-Up (1990)

What a magic trick this movie is. An odd courtroom case is filmed by the camera, the person charged is studied in the frame, everyday people are asked to become actors and recreate what they experienced, and the result offers a complexity of meanings and readings, but also depending on your viewing experience, it also […]

The Magician (1958)

I was inspired to watch Ingmar Bergman’s The Magician (1958; Ansiktet) by Tracy Letts and Carrie Coon including it in an article for The AV Club where they planned a 24 hour film festival line up. When I read about Bergman, this film doesn’t come up as much as a title and it feels like […]

The Psychic (1977)

Italian horror maestro Lucio Fulci’s giallo thriller, The Psychic (1977; aka Seven Notes In Black, Sette Note In Nero, Murder To The Tune Of Seven Black Notes), received attention awhile back due to its great soundtrack by Franco Bixo, Fabio Frizzi, and Vince Tempera (listed as Bixo-Frizzi-Tempera); it was another score cannibalised by Quentin Tarantino […]

Faces (1968)

Carousing is one word I’d used to describe the events in Faces (1968), a key John Cassavetes film I’d always be meaning to see (ever since Scorsese referenced it in his Personal Journey Through American Cinema docu-series). Self-financed from acting jobs for other movies, and shot around his own house, Cassavetes explores marriages, love and […]