Top Films by Year
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Top Films of 2015
London Theatre
We saw three plays in London last week; each had a highlight, each left me with quibbles. Grace Pervades featured acting by Ralph Fiennes that took my breath away; Inter Alia had a provocative argument (or more) with no easy answer; Les Liaisons Dangereuses was simply a spectacular production. Grace Pervades, David Hare’s 32nd play(!), provided a history of […]
The Christophers – 5
This would have been better on the stage, where the “art” and the overacting wouldn’t have been in my face. As it was, the only enjoyable moments in what is essentially a two-hander came from watching my TV buddy James Corden ham it up. Like Marty Supreme, Ian McKellen is presumably meant to be obnoxious, […]
Palestine 36 – 7.5
An effective, if unintentional, prequel to No Other Land, with the British, instead of the Jews, dispossessing Palestinians of their homeland. Well made, with appealing characters, and although one-sided in its history it didn’t come across as propagandistic. Unfortunately, there is no happy ending.
Bushido – 6
A new take on the Lone-Samurai (ronin) character familiar from Yojimbo and Sanjuro. The bustling 18th-century setting is fun, but Kurosawa and Mifune are missing, and missed. The role of go was a bit hard to swallow, but worse was a lack of subtlety, more expected in a film from 1970 than 2024.
Miroirs no. 3 – 7.5
Four characters and their permutational relationships is the essence, indeed almost the totality, of this film. After all the bluff and bluster of American cinema, it’s refreshing to return to a European film, this directed by the German auteur Christian Petzold, with no special effects, hardly any scenery, no dramatic soundtrack, just real people coping. […]