Monthly Archives: February 2013

Life, fiction, and blah blah blah… “Bonsái” [2011 Chile]

Young directors like Cristián Jiménez are proof that cinema is alive and well in Chile, and Latin America in general. “Bonsái” may only be the second feature directed and scripted by Jiménez, but his ambitiousness is already plain to … Continue reading

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When honour is your only possession – “Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum” [W.Germany 1975]

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– It’s Neuer Deutscher Film time..!
And I’ll start the filmography of Volker Schlöndorff – one of the important directors of New German Cinema, not with his Oscar-winning Die Blechtrommel (that comes later), but a slightly lesser known, but equally … Continue reading

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Love under an ash-cloud – “Cenizas del Cielo” [2008 Spain]

Using his intimate knowledge of the Asturias region, Spanish director José Antonio Quirós creates crowd-pleasing drama and romance through the film, “Cenizas del Cielo” [Eng. Title: Ashes from the Sun].
Storyline:
Travel writer Paul Ferguson’s (Gary Piquer) progress through northern Spain … Continue reading

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Survival in the face of savagery – “Zateryannyy v Sibiri” [1991 USSR, UK]

I’m stating the obvious – a film like “Zateryannyy v Sibiri” [Eng. Title: Lost in Siberia] would have been unthinkable in the USSR, were it not for Glasnost. It was nevertheless the first authoritative portrayal of the workings of … Continue reading

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Letting sleeping beauties lie: “Bella Addormentata” [2012 Italy]

Veteran director Marco Bellocchio’s latest drama, “Bella Addormentata” [Eng. Title: Dormant Beauty] takes on the subject of euthanasia in a predominantly catholic Italy, by setting the film against a backdrop of real-life events in 2009, when the father of … Continue reading

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