Hands Up / Identification Marks: None. Review by Alan Price. Here’s an artist constantly on the move: hitting out with anger, wit and veiled compassion. I savour David Thomson’s summing up of this Polish maverick. “Skolimowski is a director who stalks us like a fighter with stunning blows in either hand.”
Alan Price
EO. Directed by Jerzy Skolomowski. Review by Alan Price. EO is the story of the tribulations of a Sardinian donkey: very attractively grey with white spots round its melancholic eyes.
Carrie by William Wyler. Review by Alan Price. Carrie, William Wyler’s 1950 adaptation of Theodore Dreiser’s 1900 novel Sister Carrie, has been out of full circulation for some years now: hard to see on TV and only available as a cut DVD until Imprint’s restored Blu-Ray release.
The Cassandra Cat. Review by Alan Price. There have been many quirky films about cats but I can’t recall a film quite like The Cassandra Cat. The Cassandra Cat is a very different film to Vojtech Jasny’s later masterpiece All My Good Countrymen (1969) but nonetheless an endearing gem.
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.
The Aphorisms of Franz Kafka. Review by Alan Price. When you think of the name Franz Kafka those famous and familiar titles, The Trial, The Castle, America, In the Penal Colony and Metamorphosis are the first to be hung round the nervous neck of Franz.
The Glass Pearls by Emeric Pressburger. Review by Alan Price. Emeric Pressburger’s novel The Glass Pearls was originally published in 1966. It barely sold its print run and received one terrible review in the TLS.
The Complete Works of W. H. Auden. Review by Alan Price. I think we all want to be ‘especial.’ Princeton’s authoritative two volume edition of the poetry of W. H. Auden gives you his special lot.
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).
Maigret: the complete series. Review by Alan Price. The avuncular detective holds his place high with such other greats like Sherlock Holmes or Philip Marlowe. Network should be highly praised for restoring Maigret. A TV classic returns.
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.
Enys Men. Review by Alan Price. I doubt if 2023 will see a more visually beautiful British film than Enys Men. It’s a remarkable advance on Bait and confirms Jenkins to be a powerful poetic filmmaker.
By Alan Price • film, year 2023 • Tags: Alan Price, film