Kiki : Love to Love
We are sadly too used to Hollywood making big-budget remakes of successful independent European films which inevitable end up as poor shadows of the original and fail at the box office. e.g. the French ‘Anthony Zimmer‘ that became the big Angelina Jolie dud ‘The Tourist‘. However in the case of the Spanish sex comedy ‘Kiki’ … Continue reading
Kumiko The Treasure Hunter
Kumiko a disheveled 29 year old real loner ekes out a living in Tokyo as a lowly office secretary before returning each night to the cramped messy apartment she shares with her pet white rabbit. She has discovered an old VHS tape (in what we assume is a dream sequence) and now spends every waking moment replaying it over and over … Continue reading
Lady Macbeth
Filmmaker William Oldroyd’s debut feature is a stunning Victorian dark period drama adapted from Russian writer Nikola Leskov’s 1865 novella Lady Macbeth of Mitsensk. Relocated to a remote part of the British northern countryside it is the compelling tale of how a reluctant teenage bride took matters into her own hands to re-shape her destiny … Continue reading
Life
In 1955 the actor James Dean has just completed his first starring role in Elia Kazan’s “East of Eden” and although the movie had not premiered yet, Warner Brothers Studio knew that when the film was released he would become a major star. Most of all Dean himself knew this and as part of his … Continue reading
Linda Ronstadt ‘The Sound of My Voice’ : tears as the voice breaks
Rock star documentaries often gain their drama from the self-destructiveness of their subjects. Fame magnifies personal flaws too brightly and the star gets burnt out. This one, by Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman, is lovingly different. The Linda Ronstadt seen here has a soccer mom like determination to do things well. When tragedy strikes, … Continue reading