13 May 2022. By Neptune THE NORTHMAN * This is the sort of film that makes one yearn for censorship, as far as both violence and art are concerned. Old Shakespeare must be twirling around in his grave, for his Hamlet seems to be the leitmotif of this dark and bloody film. Based in ancient […]
FILM: THE SANCTITY OF SPACE ****
6 May 2022. By Neptune THE SANCTITY OF SPACE **** Mt. McKinley is the highest mountain peak in North America. But, situated in Alaska, it is now known by its native name, Denali. To avid mountain climbers it is obviously a huge challenge for, as they often repeat, they are literally “driven” to conquer such […]
FILM: NACHBARN ***1/2 – Syria through the eyes of a child
22 April 2022. By Neptune I was happily writing a very positive review of the excellent English film, THE DUKE, until I learned its released had been postponed to June 1st. Now we must patiently wait for another 2 months for this delightful film starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren. Pity, it would have lightened […]
FILM: WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY ***1/2
15 April 2022. By Neptune CONTES DU HASARD ET AUTRES FANTAISIES (Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy) ***1/2 (vo Japanese) Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi rose to international fame this year due to his film DRIVE MY CAR, which excited the critics. Due to that snowball effect, it ended up with a number of awards as this […]
FILM: SWAN SONG ***
8 April 2022. By Neptune This week has a strange batch of releases, of which only two will be covered here. I would therefore recommend you hurry to the fine films that have been on the screens already. They will soon disappear, as did WILD MEN, the hilarious “Fargo”-like, Danish/Norwegian gem which probably no one […]
FILM: THE STORY OF MY WIFE
THE STORY OF MY WIFE (Histoire de ma femme) ***1/2 A dashing sea captain, a mysterious beauty, a strange story about daring to “marry the first woman who walks in that door”, magnificently filmed by an award-winning Hungarian director – what more would you want from a turbulent, romantic drama set in 1920s Europe? The […]
FILM: NOBODY HAS TO KNOW – 4 stars
25 March 2022. By Neptune NOBODY HAS TO KNOW (L’Ombre d’un mensonge) **** On the Isle of Lewis and Harris, a windswept island somewhere off Scotland, we find a Belgian man who has come there to work on a farm owned by a taciturn old man and his two sons. It’s not quite clear why […]
FILM: NOTRE DAME BURNS – 4 stars
18 March 2022. By Neptune NOTRE DAME BRULE **** (vo French) As deviously slow-burning and finally ferociously-flaming as the fire that almost destroyed the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris in April 2019 – before the eyes of a horrified world, this reconstructed documentary by veteran director Jean-Jacques Annaud glows with a mixture of reality, […]
FILM: GOLIATH – honest lawyer fights conglomerate
11 March 2022. By Neptune GOLIATH *** (vo French) This French film is a more austere version of “Erin Brockovich” and other such films about the little man, or woman, fighting conglomerate giants in the courts, too often in vain, sometimes in victory. There are three sides to this story – one, an honest […]
FILM: BELFAST – deep, heartwarming and nostalgic
4 March 2022. By Neptune BELFAST **** How did director/actor Kenneth Branagh go from the showy, pop entertainment that was the latest “Death on the Nile” to something as deep, heartwarming and nostalgic as this black and white account of his own childhood in an Ireland torn apart by religious differences in the late 1960s? […]
