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 […]

In The White City (1983)

Swiss-German actor Bruno Ganz is popularly identified for two roles – playing the angel in Wings Of Desire and Hitler in Downfall. But I love him in The American Friend and am always keen to discover more of his work in international cinema, particularly in the 70s and 80s. In The White City (1983; aka […]

A Week’s Vacation (1980)

Sunday afternoon dread when the working week beckons. This is a feeling that A Week’s Vacation (1980; aka A Week Of Holidays aka Une semaine de vacances) is about, yet it also works as a soothing balm for such an emotion. The second film I’ve watched by French director Bertrand Tavernier, A Week’s Vacation is […]

The Clockmaker Of St. Paul (1974)

When French director Bertrand Tavernier passed away recently, I was ashamed to say I’d not seen any of his movies. A number of them are on the Criterion Channel until the end of June, which gave me a timeline to at least see a few. I started with his first film, The Clockmaker Of St. […]

Army Of Shadows (1969)

Programming the VCR recorder to tape Le Samourai off daytime SBS was my introduction to director Jean-Pierre Meville, mainly because I’d read about him in old classic cinema books as well as knowing that film was an influence on John Woo’s The Killer (as well as Ronin, Ghost Dog, etc). I’ve only slowly caught up […]