Aquarius

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." A woman of later years (Sonia Braga), independent and strong-minded, refuses to be forced out of her apartment so that a property company can build a new development on the site. I love this woman. No matter what life throws at her, she knows her own mind and …

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

"We wasted so much time" Spring and part of the summer of 1983 (when this film is set) was the beginning of an important period of my life - although I didn't realise it at the time. Aged somewhere between main characters Elio and Oliver, I spent several months living in Italy as part of …

Jauja

Long takes, still camera and minimal dialogue. It's all a bit Tarkovsky, but left me asking what and why, which generally isn't the case with the Russian director, who is clearly a massive influence here. It has also has a definite Western vibe (yet another in 2015 - see here for others) and is framed …

El Ardor – The Burning

Those of you who've been reading this blog for a while will know that Gael García Bernal can generally be relied upon in my view to provide high quality, thought-provoking films on a regular basis. For some reason though, this one fails to reach those usually high standards. Don't get me wrong - Bernal himself …