Respected Afro-British director John Akomfrah’s haunting film The Nine Muses is an unusual, genre defying, literary based contemplation of migration, memory and the power of elegy.
The Nine Muses
On Distant Shores by Laura Bennett
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
In simple terms John Akomfrah’s The Nine Muses can be summed up as an unlikely trilogy of Homer’s Odyssey, the [...]
Entries Tagged as '2010'
Film Review: The Nine Muses (2010)
January 20th, 2012 No Comments
Tags: 2010 · Arvo Pärt · cinema · Dante · dogandwolf · film · film review · Homer · James Joyce · John Akomfrah · Laura Bennett · London Film Festival · Odyssey · Reviews · Shakespeare · The Nine Muses · UK
Eleven in 2011
January 5th, 2012 No Comments
The Dirty Dozen
Hm, the January blues. It’s enough to make you want to curl up inside a darkened room. Which is fortunate, as there were so many great films in 2011, there’s a lot of catching up to do. Most shamefully, I missed out on Lars von Trier’s Melancholia, and perhaps most painfully, Gianni Di Gregorio’s follow-up [...]
Tags: 127 Hours · 20 Sigarette · 2010 · 2011 · 5x2 · Aki Kaurismäki · Andrew Haigh · Andrij Parekh · Aureliano Amadei · Before The Revolution · Bernardo Bertolucci · Biutiful · Black Power Mixtape · Black Swan · Blue Valentine · Cannes · Catherine Deneuve · cinema · Derek Cianfrance · documentary · dogandwolf · film · film review · François Ozon · Gérard Depardieu · Gianni Di Gregorio · Howl · In A Better World · Involuntary · Jessica Chastain · Lars Von Trier · Le Havre · Lionel Shriver · LLGFF · Lubna Azabal · Lynne Ramsay · Mark Wilshin · Markus Schleinzer · Melancholia · Michael · Michel Hazanavicius · Mid-August Lunch · Norwegian Wood · Nuri Bilge Ceylan · Oslo August 31st · Palme d'Or · Paolo Sorrentino · Play · Potiche · Reviews · Ruben Östlund · Satte Farben Vor Schwarz · Sean Penn · Sophie Heldman · Susanne Bier · Take Shelter · Tambien La Lluvia · Terence Davies · Terrence Malick · The Artist · The Deep Blue Sea · The King's Speech · The Salt Of Life · The Skin I Live In · The Tree Of Life · This Must Be The Place · Tilda Swinton · Trollhunter · We Need To Talk About Kevin · We Were Here · Weekend · Wilshin · Wuthering Heights
Film Review: Mysteries Of Lisbon / Mistérios de Lisboa (2010)
January 3rd, 2012 1 Comment
Prolific Franco-Chilean director, Raúl Ruiz’s penultimate film, Mysteries of Lisbon, is a labyrinthine, pan-European, Proustian epic that twists and turns across the generations.
Mysteries of Lisbon
The Art of Memory by Laura Bennett
His final fully-complete film finished not long before his death, aged 70, in August 2011, Mysteries of Lisbon is Ruiz’s swansong and crowns a supremely accomplished legacy. A [...]
Tags: 2010 · Camilo Castelo Branco · cinema · dogandwolf · film · film review · Laura Bennett · London Film Festival · Mistérios de Lisboa · Mysteries Of Lisbon · Portugal · Proust · Raúl Ruiz · Reviews · Time Regained
Film Review: Perfect Sense (2010)
October 8th, 2011 No Comments
Perfect Sense
Sense and Sensibility by Laura Bennett
CAUTION: Here be spoilers.
David Mackenzie’s Perfect Sense is a twist on both thriller and love story as a couple find each other while the world around them crumbles, sense by sense. Set in Glasgow, Perfect Sense, the love story, begins like any other. Susan, played by the almost supernaturally [...]
Tags: 2010 · cinema · David Mackenzie · dogandwolf · Eva Green · Ewan McGregor · film · film review · Laura Bennett · Perfect Sense · Reviews · UK
Film Festival: 7th London Spanish Film Festival (2011)
September 29th, 2011 No Comments
The 7th London Spanish Film Festival
by Mark Wilshin
With special strands for short films, Catalan and Basque features and a retrospective on Geraldine Chaplin, the London Spanish Film Festival is certainly comprehensive. And with a line-up of films that include the brightest and best of contemporary Spanish cinema, as well as Goya winners Black Bread and [...]
Tags: 2010 · Alberto Ammann · Alex de la Iglesia · Ana Y Los Lobos · Andrucha Waddington · Balada Triste de Trompeta · Black Bread · Blackthorn · Born to Suffer · Carlos Saura · Carne de Neón · Catalunya Uber Alles · cinema · Crebinsky · dogandwolf · Eduardo Noriega · film · film review · Gael García Bernal · Geraldine Chaplin · Icíar Bollaín · La Teta Asustada · Leonor Watling · Les femmes du 6ème étage · London Spanish Film Festival · Lope · LSFF · Luis Tosar · Magaly Solier · Mark Wilshin · Mateo Gil · Miguel Albaladejo · Mil Cretins · Nacidas para sufrir · Nadie Conoce A Nadia · Neon Flesh · Oliver Laxe · Pa Negre · Paco Cabezas · Philippe Le Guay · Pilar López de Ayala · Ramon Térmens · Reviews · Sam Shepard · Spain · Stephen Rea · Tambien La Lluvia · Todas Las Canciones Hablan De Mi · Todos Vos Sodes Capitans · Ventura Pons · Wilshin
Film Review: Troll Hunter / Trolljegeren (2010)
September 19th, 2011 No Comments
With its folkloric hellions and scatological asides, André Øvredal’s mockumentary of Northern frights, Troll Hunter, can’t quite decide if it’s horror or comedy.
Troll Hunter
Norwegian Mood by Mark Wilshin
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
Like Finnish director Jalmari Helander’s Santa-themed kiddy-frightener Rare Exports, André Øvredal takes something quintessentially Scandinavian and turns it into a horror movie. Here, trolls are no longer cutesy little [...]
Tags: 2010 · André Øvredal · Askeladden · Blair Witch Project · cinema · dogandwolf · film · film review · Jack And The Beanstalk · Jalmari Helander · Mark Wilshin · mockumentary · Norway · Otto Jespersen · Rare Exports · Reviews · The Troll Hunter · Three Billy Goats Gruff · Trolljegeren · Wilshin
Film Review: The Skin I Live In / La Piel Que Habito (2011)
August 29th, 2011 No Comments
Neither really a return to form for Almodóvar nor a Banderas reinvention, The Skin I Live In is good clean, honest fun. Like Frankenstein and no monster.
The Skin I Live In
Dark Habits by Mark Wilshin
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
After catapulting into Hollywood after Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! in 1990, Antonio Banderas has returned to [...]
Tags: 2010 · Antonio Banderas · Átame! · Broken Embraces · Carmen Maura · cinema · dogandwolf · Elena Anaya · ETA Hoffmann · film · film review · Frankenstein · La Piel Que Habito · Los Abrazos Rotos · Louise Bourgeois · Marisa Paredes · Mark Wilshin · Mary Shelley · Pedro Almodovar · Penelope Cruz · Prometheus · Pygmalion · Reviews · Shrek · Spain · Spy Kids · The Sandman · The Skin I Live In · Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! · Victoria Abril · Wilshin · Zorro
Film Review: R – Hit First, Hit Hardest (2010)
August 25th, 2011 No Comments
Playing the waiting game, Noer and Lindholm’s R: Hit First, Hit Hardest reveals the bitter, cinematic truth about life behind bars in a Danish prison.
R: Hit First, Hit Hardest
Sinnerman by Mark Wilshin
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
Like a Danish, and rather belated, sequel to Fritz Lang’s chilling 1931 masterpiece M, Michael Noer and Tobias Lindholm’s R sees our [...]
Tags: 2010 · A Man Escaped · cinema · Denmark · dogandwolf · Dulfi Al-Jabouri · En Familie · film · film review · Fritz Lang · Horsens Statsfængsel · In The Hall Of The Mountain King · Jacques Audiard · Le vent souffle où il veut · M · Mark Wilshin · Michael Noer · Pilou Asbæk · Psycho · R · R Hit First Hit Hardest · Reviews · Robert Bresson · The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo · The Shawshank Redemption · Tobias Lindholm · Un condamné à mort s'est échappé · Un Prophète · Wilshin
Film Review: In A Better World / Haevnen (2010)
August 18th, 2011 No Comments
Split between Kenya and Denmark, Susanne Bier’s In A Better World has war and peace in its sights as its playground bullies test the pacifists to the limit.
In A Better World
The End Of Violence by Mark Wilshin
CAUTION: Here be spoilers.
Susanne Bier has issues. And if it was paternity in After The Wedding and recovery in Things [...]
Tags: 2010 · Academy Award · After The Wedding · cinema · Denmark · dogandwolf · film · film review · Haevnen · In A Better World · Mark Wilshin · Mikael Persbrandt · Reviews · Susanne Bier · Things We Lost In The Fire · Ulrich Thomsen · Wilshin
Film Review: Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
Film Review: Patience (After Sebald) (2012)
Film Review: The Nine Muses (2010)
Film Review: Shame (2011)
Eleven in 2011
Film Review: Mysteries Of Lisbon / Mistérios de Lisboa (2010)
Film Review: The Artist / L'Artiste (2011)
Film Review: Las Acacias (2011)
Film Review: We Have A Pope / Habemus Papam (2011)
Film Review: Take Shelter (2011)