Keane

Very well directed film, and not really what I expected, Willaim Keane is clearly insane, but is it because he has lost is daughter, or he is making it all up in his crazy mind. Kerringam doesn't give the answer, which is good, but Keane is not a particularly pleasant character.

Espion lève toi

Basic thriller from 1982 set in Zurich, why the spy is awaken didn't make much sense. Lino Ventura is not very good, Piccoli makes a good bad guy.

Cigarette Burns

From the Masters of Horror serie, Carpenter directs a very interesting film, about a film fan/cinema owner tracking down a very rare and infamous film called la fin absolue du monde which was shown once at Sitges and the audience went completely crazy. Very effective film with lots of gore, and quite scary really.

To Sang Fotostudio/Amsterdam Afterbeat

Brief intro to Johan van der Keuken, the first shot is about a street in Amsterdam, with various ethnic shopkeepers whom he invites to have their portrait taken by Mr To Sang. The 2nd one is some mad outtakes from his sound woman hitting her microphone to have a synchronisation mark during the shooting of Amsterdam Global Village.

Death walks on high heels

Another Luciano Ercoli giallo with Susan Scott, starting in Paris and then in rural England. A very elaborated plot, with lots of twists, even though the whole thing is not particularly credible, and a bit less stylish than the previous one, but still well crafted.

The forbidden photos of a lady above suspicion

Below par Giallo from Luciano Ercoli, but a great score from Ennio Morricone, good decors and costumes, shame about the storyline.

Party Girl

A gangster film in Metro Colour, Scope, with romance and dance numbers, Cyd Charisse is the girl, Robert Taylor the lawyer working for mobster Lee J. Cobb. Superbly directed by Nicholas Ray, but my feeling is that it must have disoriented audiences back in 58, and pushed Ray out of Hollywood sets and in Europe.

Broken Flowers

Started slow, picked up with sharon stone and her very hot daughter, then kept plodding along. Quite disappointing really, the story is quite weak with not a lot of depth in the cahracters, good choice of music, but the whole style is quite posy more than anything else. Jarmush dedicated the film to Jean Eustache, hmm nothing to do with Eustache at all.

The Osterman Weekend

Peckinpah's last film is a fine mess. It doesn't make much sense, but is a fun film, lots of nudity, big 80's sunglasses and quite thrilling. Hurt is a kind of substitute again for Peckinpah, looking for revenge in a self destructive way. Greta use of video screens.

Dog Day Afternoon

A real classic from the 70's, which I don't think I have ever seen before. Pacino is great, in fact all of the actors are great, a proof that Lumet is a pretty good director, even though I think the movie could have been a bit shorter. The first 5 minutes of New York on a hot summer day are stunning. Like Network, no use of music during the whole film.

Network

Fairly prescient film on TV and how it morally perverts people involved in that business. Great acting and hilarious at times but still pretty deep. And it has all gone way beyond what Lumet and the screenwriter imagined.

Wings of desire

A great hommage to Berlin, as Wenders himsrlf puts it a city in the middle of nowhere. It gets a bit rambling (the movie was shot without a script) but Alekan's images are sublime and the Nick Cave performance at the end is great. just having been to Berlin, it was cool to see the city 20 years before.

All the President's men

Not as good as I rembered it, but last time i saw it was well over 20 years ago. Still it is a solid detective story, with solid acting, and shows the legwork and frustrations of journalists to finally get a hot story.

Comment ça va?

Mieville and Godard ask this question in 1976, with the director of a communist newspaper and a journalist, most of the film is about the meaning of images, why they are published, how they are read. The form has aged a bit but not the content.

Wallace & Gromit: the curse of the were-rabbit

first time I see Wallace & Gromit. It was excellent, amazing amount of work, and clever with lots of cute little as Pixar can also do. Lots of rabbits, Phillip the dog, etc. Very good.

Cindy, the doll is mine

Great short film, with Asia Argento playing both the photographer (inspired by Cindy Sherman) and her model, with a blonde redhead song.

The conversation

Probably amongst the greatest films of the 70's. The script is not particularly strong, but the direction is truly superb. I stayed at the hotel where the murder takes place. Interesting to see another film sets in San Francisco but not showing any sights at all.

La double vie de Veronique

Beautifully shot and emotionally charged, but very strange too, and mysterious. Probably need to see it again. Apparently Kiewslovski had several versions, a la Wong Kar Wai.