This is truly an end of an era. There will never be another Taylor. She was beautiful, glamorous, generous, talented and a force of nature. To begin to compress the tumultuous lifestyle led by...

Story of a Love Affair [1950] Marie Antoinette [2006] Hable con Ella [2002] And God Created Woman [1956]

Detective Deutsch: You know this slob? Barton Fink: …Yeah, he… he lives next door to me. Detective Mastrionotti:That’s right, Fink, he lives next door to you. Detective Deutsch:Ever talk to him?...

New York’s streets are filled with a cacophony of car horns, newspaper vendors hawking their trade above the bustling crowds. Smoggy air colluding with the shadows of skyscrapers adds to the sense...

I feel somewhat like the stuttering boy in the opening sequence of Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘Mirror.’ Struggling to articulate why this Russian film would without question be in my top two films to ever...

The soundtrack to a film when done beautifully can lift a film and subconciously resonate. Many directors make the mistake of bombarding a film with hit songs without taking in consideration the...

[1] The acoustics in this place are fantastic – my echo sounds with such clarity here! Well it’s been far too quiet on this blog so I suggest a challenge for all you cinematic lurkers out there....

Sensuous. Mysterious. Alluring. Monica Vitti was all these and more. The Italian actress came to prominence under the watchful eye of Michelangelo Antonioni and it is not hard to understand how she...

There’s a recurring joke in film critic Antonia Quirke’s autobiographical book ‘Madame Depardieu and the Beautiful Strangers’ in which the passing of time is signposted by the release of yet...

Atonement [2007] Persona [1966] Made in USA [1966] The Big Sleep [1946]

I’ve always found musical dissonances delicious. The clash of confliciting harmonies, that create an internal tension, building up this longing for the harmonies to be resolved. The moment before...

Marwood: What about what’s his name? Withnail: What about him? Marwood: Why don’t you give him a call? Withnail: What for? Marwood: Ask him about his house! Withnail: You want me to call what’s his...

The 400 Blows [1959] There are a few things that I never tire of seeing up on the screen. There is the intimate moment when a woman is applying her makeup and there are the moments of pure exertion...

City of God [2002] Lady Vengeance [2005] Gloria [1980] Mean Streets [1973]

It was a mythical masterpiece – never completed, never seen and seemingly lost forever. Now imagine you are Serge Bromberg, a film preservationist who spends 2 hours in an elevator with an elderly...

The Great British Summer is upon us. The pavements and buildings seem to crackle from the heat, there’s the insistent drone of popular songs distorted through the speakers of ice cream vans and...

Amélie [2001] Roman Holiday [1953] Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid [1969] 35 Shots of Rum [2008]

Rob: Just come on! What would it mean to you, that sentence: ‘I haven’t seen Evil Dead II yet?’ Barry: Well to me it would mean that you’re a liar. You’ve seen it twice. Once with Laura – oops –...

I have a new site for you all to check out – Buy Me Now Sweet Mother Of God. I’m having a thorough clear-out at my place- there have been surprising finds that I’d forgotten I had and there are...

A Nos Amours [1983] Here’s to the most important man in our life. Whether a dominant father or an absent one, his being and actions impact on us deeply and makes us the person we are today. He is...

Marie Antoinette [2006] Sunset Boulevard [1950] The Dreamers [2003] Masculin Féminin [1966]

Michelangelo Antonioni & Monica Vitti A thought occurred to me as I was writing my recent post Agent Provocateur. I had focused on two films starring Anna Karina (Pierrot Le Fou) and Harriet...

Before we begin I feel I need to get one thing straight; Godard IS God. To begin a film blog without starting with one of the greatest auteurs of the medium, who influenced the direction of Modern...