Film Reviews

The Salt of Life was released in Italy as Gianni e le Donne, which translates as 'Gianni and Women'. The less allusive Italian title gives a clearer idea of the film: middle aged Gianni and his women troubles, which aren't of the usual 'ladies man' variety. This gentle-but-with-a-bite comedy is set in the...

It's been a long time since rock and roll has been truly rock 'n' roll. Although 20 years ago Nirvana entertained us with their unique blend of teen spirit, you probably have to look even further back to Seventies punk for a genuinely threatening and questioning political, ethical stance. The Taqwacores takes the...

A crowd of young people in tennis whites and bright hopeful smiles cycle up the long drive towards a tennis court in the shadow of a large Italian mansion. The sun shines, the garden and its occupants are beautiful, every one is in a good mood. The situation cannot last. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970)...

Before Lavender Hill in Clapham became a site of rioting this week, another gang of crooks based on the road resorted to thievery to stick it to the man. This earlier gang however was fictional, as well as being better mannered and much funnier. The classic Ealing comedy from 1951, The Lavender Hill Mob, has...

Sarah's Key tells two stories, firstly that of Sarah Starzynski (Mélusine Mayance) a 10-year-old Jewish girl in Paris at the start of World War II and secondly that of investigative journalist Julia Jarmond (Kristin Scott Thomas) who is writing about the Nazi deportations from the city for her magazine in the...

The Nazis called their policy of ‘disappearing' political opponents during the Second World War ‘Night and Fog’. These men and women were not given a trial, but simply vanished into 'the night and the fog'. The term is also an apt title for a film about the holocaust. When trying to understand these...

What kind of a name is Horrible Bosses? Bad Bosses would have been bad enough, but at least it’s alliterative; Rachael-from-Friends-Dyes-Her-Hair-Brown-and-is-Now-a-Totally-Believable-Bad-Guy even has a better ring to it than Horrible Bosses. Come on movie execs, what were you thinking? The name may...

The nuclear explosion at Hiroshima is a tragedy so awful that it is difficult to adequately address in film. Alain Resnais, the director of Hiroshima Mon Amour took an oblique approach. In doing so, he made film history.   Resnais was originally commissioned to make a documentary about...

Even forgetting the influence Fox News exerted in leading US public opinion to support Dubya's invasion of Iraq, propaganda never had a very good reputation. But when Graham Greene is involved it might be worth a try. The case of Went The Day Well, the anti-Nazi message is in no doubt, but the film is no stodgy...

Legend has it that exited (m)ad man Dan Wieden whooped "You Nike guys, you just do it" to a bunch of senior honchos from Nike while discussing their advertising strategy. He had coined a beautifully simple global marketing slogan still in use more than 20 years later. It is also a phrase, it turns out, that can...