Unrelated (2007)

Thank you to Kenta for recommending this film in an issue of VHS Tracking zine devoted to Summer Movies. The debut narrative feature by British director Joanna Hogg, Unrelated (2007) has a story when described that might sound like Shirley Valentine or a Diane Lane film like Under The Tuscan Sun. A lonely woman Anna […]

Pusher II (2004)

Pusher II: With Blood On My Hands (2004) is the movie I thought Pusher was going to be. Scenes set in red-lit brothels, tense heists, and a coiled intensity to its main actor. Nicolas Winding Refn’s sequel spins-off to stick a supporting character in the lead, the shit-talking thug, Tonny (played by Mads Mikkelsen). Released […]

Rocco And His Brothers (1960)

Sometimes watching an old classic might feel like homework. A three hour black and white movie seems like a heavy undertaking. Then you watch a film of that length and vintage, and the time passes by quicker than you thought because you are deeply invested in the characters and storytelling. So it was with Luchino […]

Far From Men (2015)

Based on a short story by Albert Camus, Far From Men (2015; Loin des hommes) focuses on the inevitability of choice and of having to choose a side, particularly with its setting being the Algiers conflict in French-colonised North Africa during the 1950s. A former war veteran from World War 2, Daru (Viggo Mortensen) lives […]

Our Time (2018)

I took a chance on Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas’ Post Tenebras Lux mainly on the basis of the intriguing image of a red demon with horns moving through a living room. In the end, that was one surreal image included in a visually immersive arthouse drama about an upper class family and their workers in […]