"Nothing is what it seems"

Of all the films revolving around loss, 'Don't Look Now' has to be one of the most acutely aware. When I watched this in my twenties, I was struck by the moody art direction, the confrontation on human finitude and death. Nicholas Roeg employs a dissociative almost subliminal style of imagery to suggest how a couple, John and Laura Baxter are haunted after the death of their child. When a trip is taken to Venice,…

A screenwriter is living a vacuous life perpetually searching for meaning.

In all my years as a dedicated cinephile, I've never considered watching a Terence Malick film until recently. Or so I thought. It turned out, many years ago, I had watched 'Badlands' so it made sense as to why I couldn't associate the two with the same director. In terms of genre and plot, they widely differ. One is abstract and glossily stylised and the other is moody and…

“A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.”

Ah, the musical. Never has one association packed so much torturous memories. Notwithstanding my contemptuous dismissal there were some rare exceptions.
Back in the 80s when I was growing up, my allergic reaction to musicals was not so pronounced. To this day apart from a handful of others, ‘Wizard of Oz’ is one I will happily have the time of day…

"We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert when he drugs began to take hold..."

Terry Gilliam's idiosyncratic film adaptation of father of gonzo journalism, Hunter S. Thompson's semi-fictional novel of the same name. A deranged drug-hazed journey taken by two friends in search of the American Dream that quickly turns sour. The main character, Raoul Drake played outrageously by Johnny Depp is Thompson's alter ego supplanted into the story. An exaggerated persona that goes on a…