Would have been a travesty had it been made in the US

September 1, 2012

Watched Intouchables  last night (it’s exhibition was planned to be indian style, as a village event outdoor, but the unpredictable Gascon weather and over cautious european health and safety intervened and it was projected in a salle de fetes). A terrific film,...

Foreign films overrated?

August 14, 2012

I read this interesting take ont he trend toward the importation of non-english language genre dramas into UK TV, principally the Scandinavians ones, and the soft critical reception they receive there. I wonder does the same (or the opposite apply to foreign films)....

Prometheus?

June 12, 2012

I’ve read some criticism of the performances of the stellar cast of Prometheus, while I can’t comment on this with any conviction as I saw the movie in French and my rather limited French only allowed me to understand about 55% of the dialogue. However, it...

The ubiquitous auteur

April 11, 2012

It’s a busy time right now so I’ll keep this short. I’ve been reading many research papers which make the unquestioning assumption that the director of a film is its sole author. Many appear to have confused the director’s role with that of the...

When does a film have a national origin?

April 4, 2012

An important question for the independent study. This article about The Artist from the BBC raises some of the issues in particular just how French is this film, and why has it met with such indifference among French audiences. These questions are equally prescient to...

How I know that the makers of Attack the Block (2011) were not from the main ethnicity represented

March 23, 2012

Last  night against my better judgement I watched  Attack the Block (directed by Joe Cornish UK 2011). The film set out to in its tone, to represent itself as sympathetic to the yoot,  personified by a street gang led by a young afro-carribean boy, the dialogue seems...