Orpheus (1950)

I knew little of Jean Cocteau (what a cultural barbarian I am!), mainly that he was a poet and an artist, and I’d always heard about his version of Beauty And The Beast with Jean Marais. When Mubi had Cocteau’s Orpheus (1950; aka Orphee) in their library as part of their French Cinema spotlight, also […]

Lux Aeterna (2019)

I really loved Gaspar Noe’s Climax, a movie I watched on NYE 2018 and clicked with me more than Noe’s previous provocations like Irreversible or Enter The Void. His most recent production is a short art film, Lux Aeterna (2019), was produced by fashion line Saint Laurent, which exists I guess as corporate synergy to […]

The Gleaners And I (1999)

Late one Sunday evening, dreading work the next day and coming off a fading headache, I browsed around for half an hour thinking about what to watch, not interested in dramatics or action, and eventually felt despondent. Then on a whim, I thought I’d watch something by Agnes Varda and picked The Gleaners And I […]

Full Moon In Paris (1984)

I’ve only seen one Eric Rohmer short film, have been sitting on a boxset of the Moral Tales unwatched for a long time, while both Mubi and Stan have been adding the French auteur’s back catalogue to their streaming libraries. Aside from knowing that Noah Baumbach named his child after him and that Gene Hackman’s […]

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 […]