Reviews

A brilliant, sad and cynical masterpiece. Yes, I'm saying that about what's ostensibly a romantic comedy. But only Billy Wilder could make a romantic comedy and also a cynical, political film about post-WWII Berlin at the start of the Cold War.

Berlin hadn't yet been split into West and East (that was to happen shortly after the film's release) but the backdrop is sad, jaded and disillusioned. Billy Wilder, an Austrian Jew who spent several years living in Berlin before the Nazis came to power, knew and loved the city and returned to the Berlin as the setting for a couple of his films, 'A Foreign Affair' being one of them.

The film is about a US Army officer (John Lund) who is having an affair with an ex-Nazi turned cafe singer, played to absolute perfection by Marlene Dietrich. Jean Arthur plays an Iowan congresswoman who comes to Berlin to investigate the morale of US soldiers and begins to fall for John Lund, creating a strange love triangle in the middle of a bombed and devastated Berlin.

While this plays out, it allows Wilder to cynically dissect the political situation of his time. There are some dark and sombre observations that made it through to a Hollywood romantic comedy. Billy Wilder tells a lot without saying much. Marlene Dietrich talks about how hard it was for women when the Soviets came to Berlin. Rape and murder was commonplace in war torn Berlin. US soldiers swapping candy and watches for money to desperate Berliners shows only the surface of what else was being swapped. Prostitution was an unfortunate reality for some women just so they could make some money to survive, turning (in Jean Arthur's own words) soldiers into 'barbarians'. As Dietrich says later on in the film, life in that time of such destruction and uncertainty was about self-preservation. To be able to live on a day-by-day basis by any means.

By turns funny, dramatic and sad, 'A Foreign Affair' should stand as one of Wilder's strongest efforts. A cynical, observant and darkly funny look at human nature at the start of the Cold War.

A stunning, emotionally wrenching, spiritually powerful piece of art. One that completely overwhelms you with mans eternal struggle between the earthly and the spiritual life, and the unshakable faith that keeps a person going leading up to and after her execution. The visuals are breathtaking and Falconetti's performance is quite simply one of the greatest of all time. Heart wrenching and soul searching performance. I've just finished watching the film and I'm still processing the experience. I can't quite believe what I just watched.

I'm surprised at the amount of mixed reviews 'Journey to the Shore' has. It's true that it differs from his acclaimed and popular thrillers, but Kiyoshi Kurosawa still manages to create the same kind of mysteriousness and atmosphere of his previous films. The ambient soundscapes are mostly absent and the score has been replaced by a lush, romantic score. Although only used sparingly, it is reminiscent of a score from the 50's. Its slow pace and philosophical edge is one you'd find in a Stanley Kubrick or Andrei Tarkovsky film, but Kiyoshi Kurosawa blends fantastic lead performances, atmospheric imagery and hypnotic long shots to create a truly breathtaking, innocent, meditative and haunting drama of life and death.

Steven Spielberg's vast body of work has been hit-and-miss for me. While he's always been a technically brilliant filmmaker, he sometimes falls too much into mainstream territory, directing films that undeniably entertain but fall short when seen from an artistic point of view. However, when he's on point, his films are absolutely breathtaking. Bridge of Spies certainly falls under this category, although I might be slightly biased simply because I'm a Cold War buff. Based on the real-life incident, we follow lawyer James Donovan, who ends up negotiating the exchange of Soviet spy Rudolf Abel for American pilot Francis Gary Powers in Berlin during the early 1960's.

Ever since reading Don DeLillo's incredible postmodern novel Libra, I've been fascinated by the U-2 spy planes and the capture of American pilot Francis Gary Powers. In a part of the novel, DeLillo describes, in disturbing political realism, the capture and interrogation of the pilot after his U-2 plane was shot down over Soviet territory. Now, in Bridge of Spies, Spielberg dramatises this important moment in history with terrifying realism.

While not overtly violent, the film manages to disturb the viewer through the impeccable set design, cinematography and Spielberg's typically brilliant direction. Soviet spies lived and spied on Western nations, most notably the USA and the UK, while American and British spies lived and spied on Soviet Russia, during a time of extreme political paranoia. With the world on the potential verge of World War III, James Donovan (Tom Hanks) uses his legal knowledge in order to prevent a massive wave of violence. Hanks gives a predictably strong, professional performance as Donovan while British actor Mark Rylance steals the screen for his supporting role as Rudolf Abel.

Spielberg is old-school Hollywood. His films feature the theatrical musical flourishes found in 40's and 50's Hollywood classics, American sentimentality and patriotism, and well-staged action and direction. His craftsmanship is undoubtedly excellent and this film shows why he's one of Hollywood's most successful and popular filmmakers, and Bridge of Spies is one of his best films. But we can't forget another filmmaking double, the Coen brothers, who co-wrote the film and deserve a mention for their well-written screenplay. It is a tense and exciting political thriller, and also a fascinating account of one of the most important, but also somehow forgotten, moments in Cold War history.

This is one of the strangest, complex films I've ever seen. When you read the synopsis, you'll probably realise that the writer and director, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, is working on many different levels, and you'll equally stay involved with the story due to the outstanding visuals. Kurosawa's camera work is typically brilliant, allowing the viewer to escape into the mysterious rural Japanese landscape.

Part philosophical drama, part social study, part ecological investigation, part surrealistic, Kafkaesque black comedy, Kurosawa has clearly crafted a film that demands repeated viewings. My first viewing was focused on the ecological themes present throughout the film; the whole idea of man's control over nature, without realising that nature doesn't reason. It just is. Applying Spinozan logic, nature is the infinite essence of the universe and doesn't need controlling. Nature doesn't act out of emotion and reason; it is perfect and simply is. There's just so much more thematic material open to interpretation so it's hard to place one specific genre to the film, but Kurosawa skillfully builds up disturbing dramatic moments with his trademark perfect camera work, boasting stellar cinematography of the Japanese landscape.

The film might not be my favourite, but 'Charisma' is certainly up there as one of Kurosawa's best films. If you're interested in strange but nonetheless interesting examinations of reality, then be sure to check this one out.

Wow. This was my first Kiyoshi Kurosawa film, and what an incredible experience it was. This is art at its finest. It's been over seven hours since I watched it and as I am writing this, my heart still palpitates when recalling the mesmerising images and scenes from the film. 'Cure' is a film that blends multiple genres into a unique cinematic experience akin to the films of Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, Alfred Hitchcock and Andrei Tarkovsky. In fact, I'd put Kiyoshi Kurosawa up there as one of the greatest filmmakers in world cinema.

Koji Yakusho plays a detective investigating a series of bizarre murders across Tokyo in a superb and emotional performance. Masato Hagiwara delivers an absolutely chilling performance as the mysterious Mamiya. Kurosawa's camera work allows the viewer to witness the subtle changes in Mamya's body language and the results are absolutely terrifying. It's his eyes: cold, lifeless and sinister.

The story itself comes from an intelligent script written by Kurosawa, combining a crime mystery with film noir, horror, psychology, philosophy and social criticism. The atmosphere can only be described as a unique mix of Lynchian terror, Hitchcockian suspense and Tarkovskian or Kubrickian ambiguity. The music itself consists of ominous ambient soundscapes and rumbling drones which is a great deviation from orchestral scores.

Each scene, each shot is so well filmed. The camera work is pretty much perfect. Kurosawa's direction is absolutely masterful, delivering beautifully shot long takes, some lasting more than five minutes, to allow the viewer to soak in the atmosphere he has created on screen. Kurosawa clearly has an eye for the camera and each scene is so well shot and edited, evoking a kind of dark beauty to the screen.

This is not strictly a horror film. David Lynch is known for incorporating elements of horror in his works, but isn't strictly a horror director. Kiyoshi Kurosawa should be considered the same. There is horror, but this horror isn't overt; it is subtle and intelligent. I've heard the average movie goer say that Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining' wasn't scary, simply because they were expecting jumps, gore and other cheap tactics to scare the audience. Little did they realise was that Kubrick was making a deep, cerebral psychological story.

So if you like your films cerebral, ambiguous, deep and different, then 'Cure' is highly recommended. It will likely stay with you long after the end credits.

Billy Wilder is slowly becoming my favourite filmmaker ever. In what is arguably his greatest film, Sunset Boulevard takes on the dream machine that is Hollywood, and succeeds in providing a scathing, haunting and bleakly humorous film that will remain timeless, as long as films continue to exist.

Bare witness to a simply stunning and equally disturbing performance from Gloria Swanson as film star Norma Desmond, whose fame and popularity faded into obscurity during the arrival of 'sound' films. William Holden plays struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis. Gillis, who seriously considers giving up Hollywood and returning to his hometown in Ohio, ends up in Desmond's fantasy world and its dangerous consequences.

Wilder, who also co-wrote the film, slowly and meticulously deconstructs the Hollywood dream by creating detailed and developed characters, a whole historical background behind them and the famous locations of Tinseltown for the viewer to immerse themselves into. Beautifully directed, with a range of amazing visual shots, the world portrayed on screen gradually becomes more sinister as Norma Desmond's mental state goes from fantastical and theatrical to terrifying and dangerous.

More than a film noir, more than a psychological drama, more than a bleak and bitter black comedy, Sunset Boulevard is rightly a highly placed work of art. Along with David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, this film continues to stun me with its savage analysis of a town obsessed with fame, fortune and immortality, and the darkness behind it all.

One of the towering achievements in art house cinema, Five Easy Pieces is a wonderfully underrated drama that features one of Jack Nicholson's best performances with magnificent direction from Bob Rafelson.

Forget the self-parodic performances that has dominated Jack Nicholson's career from the late eighties onwards, here Jack is a vulnerable, complex and somewhat unlikable Bobby Dupea. Abandoning the privileged and affluent lifestyle of his youth he is introduced at the start of the film as a blue-collar drifter wandering aimlessly around California, earning his living on oil rigs. Nicholson gives a measured and emotional performance as a man who gives off an aura of 'existence precedes essence', rootless and raw.

There is a powerful moment in the film where Bobby and his simple and naive girlfriend Rayette pick up two women, one of them (a mesmerising performance by Helena Kallianiotes) completely disillusioned with Western society. For the next ten minutes she describes the filth of man, Western society's obsession with mass consumerism and materialism. Her shaky and sombre tone adds such realism to the scene. She isn't passionate about her words; she says what is true, and wants away from it all.

A brilliant film of the counterculture era, Five Easy Pieces handles disillusion, existential despair, alienation and love in a visually and intellectually stimulating film experience for those looking for something different in life.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I watched this film with low expectations, even after watching Wilder's masterful Sunset Boulevard and Double Indemnity, and reading such glowing reviews on this film, but I was completely blown away by The Lost Weekend. It is a bleak work of realism, but also a fantastic work of art.

Ray Milland delivers one of the best performances in film history as an alcoholic who also happens to be a struggling writer in New York. We follow him on four days of his life, as his serious addiction begins to take its toll on his mind and body. Ultimately, many of the supporting actors and actresses are almost drowned out due to Milland's strong on screen presence, but thankfully provide the character development required for the story to continue.

Billy Wilder's direction is impeccable. The camera work is fluid, the scenes expertly filmed with a dark, noirish feel to it in order to evoke the mental deterioration of Don Birnam. The music is haunting and undeniably central to the film, with its eerie sound effects and dramatic score.

The Lost Weekend has withstood the test of time and continues to do so. Released in 1945 amidst controversy for its serious examination of alcohol abuse, The Lost Weekend hasn't lost any of its power, and is quite simply of the greatest psychological dramas of all time.