All That Heaven Allows (1955)

Seeing the doco series, A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies, on ABC when I was a teenager was the kind of uber-text that sets you up with a list of references, of movies to one day track down and understand why they meant so much to Marty and his enthusiastic testifying. In […]

Nenette And Boni (1996)

Tactile, melancholic, sensuous, elliptical. It’s hard to describe the effect that Nenette And Boni (1996) had on me. Directed by Claire Denis, and co-written by Denis and her collaborator Jean-Pol Fargeau, the story is about a brother and sister living in Marseilles. The experience of the movie is that it gives you pieces of the […]

C’mon C’mon (2021)

I’m a Mike Mills guy. I wasn’t so much into Thumbsucker, but I became a fan through his autobiographical-inflected indie dramas like Beginners (based on his father) and especially 20th Century Women (based on his mother). I’m completely aware that some will dismiss Mills’ humanistic writing and design approach (complete with elegantly designed montages and […]

At Close Range (1986)

The Patrick Leonard score to At Close Range (1986), and the “teasing” (as director James Foley described in the interview accompanying the new blu-ray release) of the Madonna single, ‘Live To Tell’ (written for the movie) is so great. Just a haunting synth ambience that works as an overture to the oncoming tragedy ahead of […]

Love Streams (1984)

I really love revisiting John Cassavetes’ films – often, it feels like you have to acclimatise to the tones. The characters aren’t asking you to love them: they are tough to take. Love Streams (1984) I only saw for the first time a couple of years back and was always keen to revisit. While it’s […]