Film Reviews by CH

I cannot praise this collection of Iranian short films highly enough…the issue is a traumatic one, (though less bracing to Deep South US citizens) is the sanctioning of death by state or military execution. These films do not sensationalise the prequel or aftermath of execution, it does not dwell of the details of the executed but quietly observes the quotidian web of banality and the existential crises of the individuals and families who are caught in this tangled net of shame and humiliation.

If you can stay with this film you may glean a moment or two of enlightenment ( or even empathy) but mostly you will  be in a brume of bewilderment trying to follow this savage family dispute, without ever really knowing the details of who, what, where, when and how (and frankly not caring a jot.) Expect lots of slamming doors, withering looks, spat syllables, punched noses and drama queenery.

A young boy observes the disappointing disintegration of his now homeless father as they hike and hitch rides together towards a destination the father calls Koktebel on the Crimean coast. This flawed and tarnished hero used to work on big Soviet engineering projects but is now unemployed and having trouble convincing his young son that he is worth sticking with. I would put this 5 star Russian film with a trio of equally beautifully observed Soviet films I previously reviewed about the travails of childhood

Hmmm……overlong ‘thriller’ that would seem to imply that powerful businesswomen are unhinged chancers who deserve everything that’s coming to them. Really? This is a dangerous premise to be touting in 21st century. So if anyone can explain to me how I missed the point of this film I’d be glad to be enlightened. 

A 5star film that surely venerates the domestic detail of a Chekov short story, capturing a day in the life of an old War hero, his young wife and child, surrounded by a bourgeois flotilla of theatrically eccentric uncles, aunts. Are they all protecting the innocence of the delightfully precocious child from the darker reality of Soviet history? This day starts with the villagers protesting about the Soviet tanks on manoeuvre across their fields and develops a gentle slapstick comedy with the arrival at the dacha of a mysteriously disguised old man whose presence becomes the watershed reversal of the family’s fortunes……they are about to be burnt by the Sun that has protected them.

Peter Greenaway’s bawdy Jacobean country house murder mystery romp. Mossy, mischievous garden statues come to life adding rude piquancy to the tableaux. A most singular and entertainingly confusing 5 star period drama.

Hugh Grant can only ever be himself, (not a great actor) a floppy haired charmer playing a grumpy Chopin being Hugh Grant . When I listen to Chopin preludes, mazurkas, impromptus  etc I now see Hugh Grant irritating the ivories. Never mind, I actually enjoyed the film, but this is not one for classical music diehards. Julian Sands might have been a better Chopin….we’ll never know.

A gorgeously observed black and white German film set in early 20century. Shabbach is still an isolated peasant farming and artisan community that is struggling to keep families together. The young and able bodied are leaving for the cities and the siren call of a new life in the Americas.

Having previously reviewed The Italians (a very skilfully observed Russian film, following the lives of parentless children, seeking some sort of meaning to their lives in a bleak orphanage) the film Libero poses another question……how do children respond when forced to witness the claustrophobia and confusion of a violent and tempestuous marriage. In both films, happiness is only ever an anxious fleeting moment, like a passing shadow. I would pair these two films, The Italians and Libero together as a dark duo of the pains of childhood that both strike and illuminate the tragedy of the human condition.

Much to admire in this claustrophobic film……not least the importance of a solitary and clothed philosopher on the beach, (a Gerard Depardieu lookalike…)(presumably he wasn’t available). The calm idyllic waters of the lake are disturbed by what looks like the rough play of boys but turns sinister…..an unspeakable act. A classy French film that might have wider appeal were it not for the 18 certificate for the overtly homoerotic scenes.

I watched this film on Paradiso a while back but felt unable to commit to a review,  to shoulder the vacuum of indecision with the weight of commitment to one cause or another. Having since read more about the Israeli/Palestinian land grab it seems that this modern biblical conflict has no simple or reasonable answer to the many infinitely complex questions…the deeper you dig the worse it gets. The Lemon Tree in itself an innocent and beautiful thing, but the film puts faces to an otherwise faceless conflict, the faces of those who dare to stand in the way of the steamrollers of politics and progress and the architects of the maps of casual destruction. This was a hard review to write.

 quasi scientific Greek medical myth, merges with French Freudian, erotically charged anecdotal noir nonsense from Francois Ozon. Some slick camera angles with mirroirs and spiral staircases. Do yourself a favour here, go for a run, read a book, rewatch a favourite film, clean your windows, start your tax returns…….

Very much in the tradition of the darkest of dark Grimms fairy stories, here is a Korean tale woven with betrayal, deception, lies, love, lust and revenge. Certainly not for the young, prurient or faint hearted.  Villainy seems to be inextricably linked to an unhealthy interest in grand Victorian Gothic architecture concealing (what else) but dusty ‘gentlemen’s’ libraries and torture chamber…….slightly overlong but otherwise a classy, restrained film given the malicious subject matter.

A young Jewish boy, separated from his family and brother whilst fleeing his aggressors, now finds himself precariously hiding from them in plain sight. 

Fabulous……..a true French existential crisis of a film. Think of a Parisian bourgeois lifestyle with all the attendant trimmings and trappings. Then make one or two false moves and kaboom, the  edifice crashes down and buries our now hapless antihero under the rubble and roulette game that is another life. Call me heartless………but this was an unexpectedly thrilling film.