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In My Father’s Den (2004)
Filmmaker(s): Brad McGann

Paul (Macfadyen), a prize-winning war journalist, returns to his remote New Zealand hometown due to the death of his father, battle-scarred and world-weary. For the discontented sixteen-year-old Celia (Barclay) he opens up a world she has only dreamed of. She actively pursues a friendship with him, fascinated by his cynicism and experience of the world beyond her small-town existence. But many, including the members of both their families (Otto, Moy), frown upon the friendship and when Celia goes missing, Paul becomes the increasingly loathed and persecuted prime suspect in her disappearance. As the violent and urgent truth gradually emerges, Paul is forced to confront the family tragedy and betrayal that he ran from as a youth, and to face the grievous consequences of silence and secrecy that has surrounded his entire adult life.

Spatial War, Redhead Landscapes, Image and Word Woven Together Apart is vital to my life in film. From an American perspective, New Zealand is normally clumped in there as well — something that annoys Kiwis to no end. At least in terms of film, they...


Published May 23, 2022
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The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
The man who tried to cheat the devil.
Filmmaker(s): Terry Gilliam

A travelling theatre company has more to it than meets the eye. It is an imaginary world commanded by the mind of Doctor Parnassus and the audience is in for more than just a show.

Imagination the standard paragraph here, the one others are writing about Gilliam's grand ambition but lack of execution. The man made a very bad career decision, to try to map his very particular and limited imagination into film. He has two notions only. One is...


Published May 20, 2022
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Identity (2003)
The secret lies within.
Filmmaker(s): James Mangold

Complete strangers stranded at a remote desert motel during a raging storm soon find themselves the target of a deranged murderer. As their numbers thin out, the travelers begin to turn on each other, as each tries to figure out who the killer is.

10 Conversations about One Thing half of all films today are of the type that directly tinker with the narrative in some way. Usually the game is intended to play with the role of the viewer, tricking him into being a co-creator of the story....


Published May 17, 2022
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The Woman in the Window (2021)
She has nothing to prove but what's real.
Filmmaker(s): Joe Wright

An agoraphobic woman living alone in New York begins spying on her new neighbors only to witness a disturbing act of violence.

Painful wonder why filmmakers make the choices they do. Here is a filmmaker who specialises in acute realism, expansive vision and narrative clarity. He’s chosen a project designed to expand his palette, one that depends on claustrophobic madness and resulting visions. These visions are what...


Published May 13, 2022
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Death on the Nile (2022)
Murder was just the beginning.
Filmmaker(s): Kenneth Branagh

Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot's Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple's idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short.

Red Fingernails is more special to me than she should be because she represents a tradition I miss. When you read one of her novels, you enter into tryst with an invisible woman who teases you with a false world that you welcome. Is there...


Published May 13, 2022
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Wandavision (2021)
Experience a new vision of reality.
Filmmaker(s): Martin Ťapák

Wanda Maximoff and Vision—two super-powered beings living idealized suburban lives—begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems.

Humans vs Robots work in military AI. As in ordinary domains where AI is applied, we have two camps. One is smitten with the future of what AI can do, and foresee a day where nearly everything we do as humans can be done better...


Published May 13, 2022
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Exorcist: the Beginning (2004)
Go back to where the horror began.
Filmmaker(s): Renny Harlin

Years before Father Merrin helped save Regan MacNeil’s soul, he first encounters the demon Pazuzu in East Africa.

The Phantom Devil know, the very best film experiences are sometimes the ones that are the hardest work. If you don’t work at this one, you’ll be stuck at the John Carpenter level. But if you do...


Published May 13, 2022
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Snake Eyes (1998)
Believe everything except your eyes.
Filmmaker(s): Brian De Palma

All bets are off when shady homicide cop Rick Santoro witnesses a murder during a boxing match. It's up to him and lifelong friend, Naval intelligence agent Kevin Dunne to uncover the conspiracy behind the killing. At every turn, Santoro makes increasingly shocking discoveries that even he can't turn a blind eye to.

The Eye That Lies is a wonderful experience. Never mind that the acting is poor and the story weak — that was never the point. This film was made because DePalma knows how to make his camera dance and wanted to make a film based...


Published May 13, 2022
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Lovers of the Arctic Circle (1998)
Destiny cannot be denied.
Filmmaker(s): Julio Medem

Otto and Ana are kids when they meet each other. Their names are palindromes. They meet by chance, people are related by chance. A story of circular lives, with circular names, and a circular place where the day never ends in the midnight sun. There are things that never end, and Love is one of them.

Geometric Cosmologies is so beautiful, it hurts. Tender. It is a lacy filigree in what it is, essentially a story about longing, urges and space. But that filigree extends to the nature of the space that surrounds the story on screen. And the motion of weaving...


Published May 13, 2022
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To Sleep So As to Dream (1986)
Filmmaker(s): Kaizo Hayashi

An aging silent film actress hires a private eye and his wacky but helpful assistant to track down her missing daughter, Bellflower. The two follow a succession of bizarre, obscure clues, until they track down the location of the kidnappers and the daughter.

Mysterious Silences my readers know, I study folding in film; when films have parallel positions for the viewer as supported by the construction of the thing. Usually, this is a fluid contract between filmmaker and viewer that requires deeper engagement. I like these in part because...


Published May 13, 2022
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