Category Archives: Cinema

“Happy End” – a brief review [2011 Sweden, Denmark]

Björn Runge’s melodrama “Happy End” forces the issue upon four characters through their individual story-lines interacting with the central character Joanna (Ann Petrén), a widowed driving instructor whose personal life has hit a road-block after the husband’s passing, and her … Continue reading

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A battle between Sacrifice and Temptation, in “Metéora” [2012 Greece, Germany]

Talented young director Spiros Stathoulopoulos returns to his Greek roots to examine, using local symbolism, the eternal battle between sacrifice and temptation. His film “Metéora” is set amidst the craggy hilltop monasteries of the same name, run by monks and … Continue reading

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Lampooning pseudo-liberalism, “Une partie de plaisir” [1975 France]

In 1975, Claude Chabrol made two successive films that related to infidelity. The first of the two, “Une partie de plaisir” [Eng. Titles: A Piece of Pleasure, Pleasure Party], concerns Philippe – a pseudo-liberal, whose ego and controlling behaviour will … Continue reading

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A brief review of “Die Vermessung der Welt” [2012 Germany]

Detlev Buck’s “Die Vermessung der Welt” [Eng. Title: Measuring the World], is adapted from Daniel Kehlmann’s novel by the same name – a fictional recreation of two of Germany’s most eminent scientists, explorer and botanist Alexander von Humboldt, and mathematician … Continue reading

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Story of a masterpiece – “Nightwatching” [2007 United Kingdom, Netherlands] BR1080

Peter Greenaway’s film “Nightwatching” dramatises a time in the life of the great Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn; the circumstances surrounding the creation of one of his most famous works, The Night Watch – a colossal military group-portrait of the … Continue reading

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