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Shanghai (2010)
Filmmaker(s): Mikael Håfström

An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.

No Lust, Too Cautionary I’ve written before about the tendency in film to couple a love story with some radical political turmoil. The reason is simply that love is not inherently cinematic. Sex is and female attractiveness can be, but I‘m talking here about the dimensions...


Published February 4, 2024
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Top of the Lake (2013)
One day, we won't be able to close our eyes anymore.
Filmmaker(s): Ján Lacko

A woman haunted by her past, Detective Robin Griffin, investigates complex and unsettling cases.

Hidden Agents, Justice This masterly series has several notable qualities. Most striking are the cinematic (meaning the camera-centric) anchors for the storytelling. But the most commented upon by others is the exploration of motherhood, supported by accomplished actresses doing their best work. I’ll comment instead on the...


Published February 3, 2024
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Burning (2018)
The truth is all in your head.
Filmmaker(s): Lee Chang-dong

An aspiring writer goes to the airport to pick up a high school friend returning from a trip to Africa but is disheartened to see her with another man.

Soft Glass Young South Korean filmmakers have a layered vitality one doesn’t find anywhere else. Filmmaking is all about mapping what we have as cinematic conveyance to what we yearn for internally. That’s the game, the expected contract between filmmaker and viewer. We negotiate that as...


Published February 3, 2024
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The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
They come in pieces.
Filmmaker(s): Mike Mitchell

It's been five years since everything was awesome and the citizens are facing a huge new threat: LEGO DUPLO® invaders from outer space, wrecking everything faster than they can rebuild.

Eggo The concept is gone. We are in a golden age of concept folding and our experimental loft is popular film. When the filmmakers hit a sweet spot and adventure in self reference is carried in a hit movie, the whole society becomes more cognitively elaborate. The original...


Published February 3, 2024
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Bluebeard (2009)
Filmmaker(s): Catherine Breillat

Anne (Daphné Baiwir) reads her younger sister, Marie-Catherine (Lola Créton), the story of Bluebeard. In 17th-century France, another set of sisters — also named Anne and Marie-Catherine — are left impoverished by their father's death. Marie-Catherine dreams of marrying into money, and soon falls for wealthy divorcé Bluebeard (Dominique Thomas). Grateful for the chance at a life of comfort, Marie-Catherine marries Bluebeard — in spite of rumors that he has made a hobby of murdering his wives.

Bresson’s Beast It is a sad thing to see the tragedy unfold, that tragedy of growing weariness of life we have impressed on the story of the lost innocence of a girl. There are three such stories here. The least interesting is the 'fairy tale' itself: an...


Published February 1, 2024
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Intersection (1994)
Make every move as if it were your last.
Filmmaker(s): Mark Rydell

During a car accident, Vincent Eastman watches his whole life flash before his eyes, and he doesn't like what he sees. While maintaining the semblance of a marriage with his wife, Sally, Vincent has been carrying on with a mistress, Olivia. She's everything Sally isn't -- warm, passionate, carefree. So why can't he choose between the two, especially when his indecision is taking its toll on his daughter?

West Coast Architecture I admit to a weakness for any film that attempts to be architectural in some fundamental way. Even the failures — and they are mostly failures — are usually interesting. And this one features a redhead as well, a cinematic device that is...


Published January 24, 2024
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Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005)
Turn Off The Light And See What Happens.
Filmmaker(s): Mary Lambert

On a prom-night dare, a trio of high school friends chant an incantation, unleashing an evil spirit from the past with deadly consequences.

Locked in a Box These days the game in horror is a horrible business. Pity the poor filmmaker: she has to have enough formula to give the viewer something to rely on. After all, in a horror film, most of the work is done by the...


Published January 24, 2024
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Mademoiselle (1966)
Filmmaker(s): Tony Richardson

A sexually repressed school teacher releases her pent up passions in a series of shocking crimes.

Dark Dread of the Marienbad Snake French films, even artificially French ones like this, compress all their depth and simplicity of reading together. So that after the first few it becomes so boring you need to invent your own depth. In this case, we are helped...


Published January 24, 2024
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Catfish (2010)
Don't let anyone tell you what it is.

Nev, a 24-year-old New York-based photographer, has no idea what he's in for when Abby, an eight-year-old girl from rural Michigan, contacts him on Facebook, seeking permission to paint one of his photographs. When he receives her remarkable painting, Nev begins a friendship and correspondence with Abby's family. But things really get interesting when he develops a cyber-romance with Abby's attractive older sister, Megan, a musician and model. Prompted by some startling revelations about Megan, Nev and his buddies embark on a road trip in search of the truth.

Deceptions Taken at face value, this is a documentary about how a young photographer was deceived by a lonely housewife. How he gently confronts her, discovers her desperate existence and gets a tearful apology. The way it unfolds is engaging. We do allow this woman some latitude...


Published January 22, 2024
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2012 (2009)
We Were Warned.
Filmmaker(s): Roland Emmerich

Dr. Adrian Helmsley, part of a worldwide geophysical team investigating the effect on the earth of radiation from unprecedented solar storms, learns that the earth's core is heating up. He warns U.S. President Thomas Wilson that the crust of the earth is becoming unstable and that without proper preparations for saving a fraction of the world's population, the entire race is doomed. Meanwhile, writer Jackson Curtis stumbles on the same information. While the world's leaders race to build "arks" to escape the impending cataclysm, Curtis struggles to find a way to save his family. Meanwhile, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes of unprecedented strength wreak havoc around the world.

Foreground - Background When you make a film that is nothing but flavoured special effects, when you make the matter of those effects into a character, you have two decisions to make. The first is whether you are dealing with object or environment. This is a fairly...


Published January 22, 2024
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