Enys Men

I loved Bait. It ticked all my boxes and I couldn’t wait to see how Mark Jenkins would handle the difficult ‘second album’ syndrome. Enys Men which he wrote, directed and edited was impacted very significantly by COVID and Jenkins chronicled his trials and tribulations in an audio diary which kept The Film Programme afloat…

Babylon

Thanks to my trusty companion Seth, I know full well what a dog’s dinner looks like, and believe me it doesn’t take anywhere near 3 hours 9 minutes to consume. Now it seems possible that Director Damian Chazelle is developing a bit of a theme and it’s got something to do with his characters’ relentless…

Holy Spider

Hitherto I’ve found Iranian cinema surprisingly relatable and enjoyably accessible. The films have usually been absorbing, nuanced and eye opening, if ever so slightly earnest. So the prospect of a serial killer movie (even if conceived in Denmark and shot in Jordan) peaked my interest and Director Abi Abbasid doesn’t disappoint. He gives us a…

Tar.

Just let me say at the outset that this film contains a very very impressive performance from its lead actor Cate Blanchett. She plays Lydia (tho it transpires that her real name is Linda and her origins much humbler than you might expect). Lydia is a composer, musical anthropologist, writer and resident conductor of the…

Empire of Light

Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star. And everybody’s in movies. It doesn’t matter who you are. There are stars in every city, in every town and on every street and if you walk down Hollywood Boulevard their names are written in concrete. Rudolph Valentino is very much alive and he looks up ladies’ dresses…

Alcarras

After weeks of cold, wet, miserable weather I was drawn to Carla Simon’s second feature by the prospect of spending a little time in the Catalonian sunshine. And things got off to a very pleasant start. The Sole family are harvesting their peaches, whilst their children play imaginatively in an abandoned Deux Cheveau. It timeless.…

Mrs Harris Goes to Paris

It’s 1957 and in Paris the workers are revolting. Piles of rotting garbage fill the air with an unavoidable stench, while protesters block the roads. Hobos swill cheap red plonk as they huddle for warmth in the waiting rooms of the Gare du Nord. Squint and you might almost think that our current industrial unrest…

Corsage

Not so much a bodice ripper as a bodice zipper. And I have to confess that I found Marie Kreutzer’s portrayal of a year (1878) in the life of Elisabeth, Empress of Austro Hungary, about as bewildering and unapproachable as its subject. The film boasted an interesting conceit in its use of unvarnished settings. Much…