Although Cloud Atlas polarised the critics, I’m going to say simply that I thought it an astonishing, moving and utterly unforgettable film. I watched it twice, in somewhat quick succession, and the second viewing was even better than the first. Don’t get me wrong, the six interweaving tales of how reincarnated souls move through the…
Read moreThe White Ribbon
I came across another black-and-white European movie this weekend, this one shot in Germany, and an altogether less charming affair. Called “The White Ribbon“, it was the German Best Foreign Language nominee in 2009 and the winner of the Palm d’Or in Cannes. I’d never heard of it before, and it’s a slow, strange watching…
Read moreBlack Death
When the Bubonic Plague swept Europe in the late 1340’s, it resulted in the deaths of around 100 million people – anywhere between 30 and 60% of the entire population. Amongst other things, this terrifying and misunderstood phenomenon produced a complete upheaval of the existing social order, bringing about the end of feudal relationships, the…
Read moreThe Ghost Writer
Last night at the Sarajevo Film Festival, the Fairies and I took ourselves off to Novi Grad to see The Ghost Writer, a middling-to-good film based on a captivating premise: what the hell was Tony Blair thinking when he took the UK to war? Based on Thomas Harris’s novel, here it’s a fictional former Prime…
Read moreValkyrie
So Valkyrie has a fews things going against it; firstly, you know what’s going to happen in the end (and it ain’t pretty.) Secondly, the hero is a Nazi, which is always going to be difficult to pull off. And thirdly, it stars Tom Cruise, who’s an official loon and too barmy to be taken…
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