Recent Films

Russian Ark [2002]
dir. Alexander Sokurov

After initially fearing a work of colossal indulgence, the film lifted to become a free-flowing stream of consciousness. This is the film that was famously shot in a single continuous take – neither edits nor pauses. Time and its organisation into history is traversed by an initially puzzled and then accepting narrator who remains invisible throughout. The nature of the traversing however is a stream of consciousness, of moments significant and not. The narrrator is accompanied by a charismatic guide, an Italian ambassador who appears to many of the people who throng the Hermitage in St Petersburg in which the film is set. It’s a paen to a lost age, though surely not an endorsement?

2001 A Space Odyssey [1969]
dir. Stanley Kubrick

Guts, temerity, tenacity – these were the first thoughts. Surprisingly reminiscent of Tarkovsky’s style – the viewer has to adjust to the pace and style of the film rather than there being any idea that the film is catering to audience expectation. Almost a series of still images, at least in memory. An admirably oblique approach to storytelling and even more impressive is the lack of final resolution. The message is clear, though frustrating perhaps to some. To these eyes the film seemed out of time rather than in any way date stamped to the 60s. Striking use of the Blue Danube.

The Royal Tennenbaums [2002]
dir. Wes Anderson

Highly enjoyable if slight movie. Quirky, fun.

The Secret Agent [1936]
dir. Alfred Hitchhock

Very difficult to resist indulging in superlatives for this film. Perhaps the most striking scene is the last when the hero and heroine look out from the screen at the audience with expressions that speak candidly that what they have done is not something to be forgotten, that others have done this and more and that it is not just drama, but life. The penultimate scene, too, prefigures the final scene of 1940′s Foreign Correspondent. Both films are remarkable for their near-catastrophic finales which see the protagonists surviving whilst many around them perish. Earlier scenes are also remarkable for their darkness. This is film-making that is morally conscious and deliberately responsible. However much of a caricature he played in this film as a Mexican assassin, Peter Lorre is superb. Masterful.

Smiles Of A Summer Night [1956]
dir. Ingmar Bergman

Incredibly enjoyable, witty, funny, deep comedy of the sexes. Dear reader, if you ever see this in your local library or in rep somewhere go see.

Lost In Translation [2002]
dir. Sofia Coppola

Is hated it. I thought it was a finely judged, if slight (there’s that word again) and melancholic film. Both leads act brilliantly.