Heartbreakers (1984)

With its Tangerine Dream synth-wave score and gliding Michael Ballhaus cinematography, Heartbreakers (1984) exudes considerable neon-noir energy. Yet the movie has nothing to do with the crime or thriller genre. Instead, all that neon and energy is just the palpable aesthetic for a drama about male friendships. The film’s title card frames the two men […]

The Iron Rose (1973)

The Iron Rose (1973; La Rose de Fer) is the third film I’ve seen from French director Jean Rollin, and along with Spanish filmmaker Jess Franco, their names represent a quintessential arty Euro-horror milieu. Rollin is known for low-budget genre flicks, usually concerning vampires, where there’s nudity and blood, and actors wandering around castles and […]

Lured (1947)

Pre-sitcom superstardom, Lucille Ball was apparently synonymous with B-pictures and I never realised she’d starred in a few film noirs during the 1940s before I Love Lucy came to define her iconic legacy. I really liked Ball’s turn as a private detective’s helpful secretary in The Dark Corner, which I watched for the first time […]

The Aviator’s Wife (1981)

It’s a testament to the directing and writing of Eric Rohmer, and the performances of the actors, that the characters in The Aviator’s Wife (1981) come off as understandable and empathetic, even as they’re wrapped up in their own emotional problems and romantic overthinking. Then again, Rohmer’s talky, French serio-comic catalogue is not for everyone […]

The Grandmaster (2013)

I can’t remember much of a cinema release for Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster (2013); it felt like its mixed reception resulted in an underwhelming reputation. Unexpectedly a martial arts movie for fans of Wong Kar-wai’s arthouse melodramas, it might have been too much of an arthouse melodrama for fans of martial arts movies. I was […]