Godland [2022] – ★★★★
“To get back up to the shining world from there/My guide and I went into that hidden tunnel,/And Following its path we took no care/To rest, but climbed: he first, then I-so far/, through a round aperture I saw appear/Some of the beautiful things that Heaven bears/, Where we came forth, and once more saw the stars.” Godland by Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason has nothing to do with Dante, but the film’s poetic sensitivity and its…
The Widow of Saint-Pierre [2000] – ★★★★
“Look, examine, reflect. You hold capital punishment up as an example. Why? Because of what it teaches. And just what is it that you wish to teach by means of this example? That thou shalt not kill. And how do you teach that “thou shalt not kill”? By killing.” Victor Hugo (1802-1885), Plea Against The Death Penalty
There is this disturbing scenario in Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s play The Visit (1956): a rich and influential…
La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game) [1939] – ★★★★★
This film is, arguably, Jean Renoir’s greatest achievement. In the story, a circle of rich socialites meets up in a country house of Christine and her husband Robert de la Cheyniest. The complications then follow as it becomes apparent that aviator André Jurieux is deeply in love with Christine, and Christine’s own husband, Robert, is entangled in a love affair of his own. Coupled with this, Christine’s personal…
Oscar and Lucinda [1996] – ★★★
🎲 The film is as odd and uneven as its main characters, but there is still something delightful happens when Fiennes meets Blanchett.
Oscar and Lucinda is based on the novel by Peter Carey, and tells the story of a young Australian heiress Lucinda Leplastrier (Cate Blanchett), with the passion for glass and gambling, who meets an Anglican priest Oscar Hopkins (Ralph Fiennes), who has the same obsessions. The two soon strike up a…
