Empire of Light. Review by Graham Buchan. A very reliable rule in most film-making is that an excellent script can still be turned into a bad film, but a poor script will never be turned into a good film.
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The War Trilogy. Review by Alan Price. The two most famous war trilogies in cinema are still Roberto Rossellini’s (Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero) and Andrzej Wajda’s (A Generation, Kanal, Ashes and Diamonds).
Tár. Review by Graham Buchan. Tár is a mesmerizing and complex tale of a jet-setting star orchestral conductor, Lydia Tár, and her past transgressions, her failings and her fall from grace.
Nil by Mouth. Review by Alan Price. Nil by Mouth makes up for so many old British films that patronised working class characters. It might be dark, raw and depressing but not without humour.
Poetry review – MY HOLLYWOOD AND OTHER POEMS: P W Bridgman admires the humanity and discernment in this collection by Boris Dralyuk
Dersu Uzala, Kurosawa. Review by Alan Price. Dersa Uzala is a minor Kurosawa film with three major virtues: outstanding photography, a direction finely tuned to nature and a wonderfully believable performance from the Tuva actor Maksim Munzuck playing Dersa.
Love (Szerelem) Karoly Makk (1971). Review by Alan Price. Love adapts and merges two short stories Love (1956) and Two Woman (1962) written by the famous Hungarian writer Tibor Dery. It is set in 1953 during the Stalinist period in Hungary and explores two forms of love.
Ingmar Bergman Vol 3. Review by Alan Price. And so, we’ve now reached the third BFI volume of Bergman films. Here we find four masterpieces, one near-masterpiece, one very good under-appreciated work, an interesting failure and (for me) a film that’s Bergman’s worst.
Robert Bresson: L’Argent and The Trial of Joan of Arc. Review by Alan Price. Of all the great film makers of the 20th century Robert Bresson was the most solely spiritual. His camera revealed what was concealed: a cinematic representation, or more subtly an apprehension, of what we would call the soul of his characters.
Desire / All My Good Countrymen (Vojtech Jasny). Review by Alan Price. “Jasny is the spiritual father of the Czech New Wave” claimed Milos Forman. Vojtech Jasny drew upon the lyricism of 1930’s Czech cinema to create his own dreamy naturalism and generosity of spirit that influenced those young directors of the 1960’s. Now we have the opportunity to see fine transfers of two key Jasny films: Desire (1958) and All My Good Countrymen (1968).
A Blonde in Love / Black Peter (Milos Forman). Review by Alan Price. Black Peter is one of the first early sixties films of covert dissent and ushered in a new kind of Czech cinema. But A Blonde in Love is Forman’s even more confident realisation of his original tender, angry and humane authorship. Both are essential viewing.
The Films of Ingmar Bergman Vol 4. Review by Alan Price. And so we arrive at the 4th BFI Box set of Bergman films. This covers his final films for the cinema and some TV work from 1972 until 1984.
By Alan Price • film, year 2023 • Tags: Alan Price, film