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Saturday, 28 February 2009

Lloyd George: The People's Champion (2006)

Posted on 12:23 by uthpa
UK
Television Documentary
Director: Jeff Morgan
Cinematographers: Mike Harrison, Colin Skinner
Presenter: Huw Edwards

Huw Edwards argues that history has done the eponymous politician no favours, positing the theory that he was in fact a great social reformer who just made a few mistakes along the way, in this well-made and interesting if slightly dry documentary. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Television Documentary, UK | No comments

Gods of Brazil: Pelé & Garrincha (2002)

Posted on 10:11 by uthpa
Best Avoided
France/Denmark/UK
Television Documentary
Original Title: Pelé, Garrincha, Dieux du Brésil
Writer/Director: Jean-Christophe Rosé
Narrator: Garth Crooks

An uninspired and rather cheep feeling documentary, consisting entirely of archive footage (admittedly often excellent, but why no interviews?), with a rather poor and perfunctory voiceover that adds no real contextualisation or serious analysis - hugely disappointing. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Denmark, France, Television Documentary, UK | No comments

The Pianist (2002)

Posted on 08:01 by uthpa
Cautiously Recommended
France/Germany/Poland/UK
Feature Film
Director: Roman Polanski
Writers: Ronald Harwood, Wladyslaw Szpilman
Cinematographer: Pawel Edelman
Composer: Wojciech Kilar
Cast: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox, Ed Stoppard, Ed Stoppard, Julia Rayner, Jessica Kate Meyer

Despite some stunning scenes towards the end between Brody and Kretschmann, this incredible story of the eponymous musician Szpilman, chronicling his remarkable survival in Warsaw during the Second World War, is never really as affecting as it should be, suffering irrevocably from all the characters speaking English in silly accents rather than speaking Polish. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, France, Germany, Poland, TSPDT 21st Century, UK | No comments

Pickup on South Street (1953)

Posted on 02:55 by uthpa
Highly Recommended
USA
Feature Film
Director: Samuel Fuller
Writers: Samuel Fuller, Dwight Taylor
Cinematographer: Joe MacDonald
Composer: Leigh Harline
Cast: Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter, Murvyn Vye, Richard Kiley, Willis B. Bouchey, Milburn Stone

The fabulous Ritter’s is the pick of a number of excellent performances in Fuller’s muscular, grimy, and sweatily sexy film, following the often confounding actions of Widmark’s amoral pickpocket after he unwittingly becomes involved with a ring of Communist spies. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, TSPDT Top 1000, USA | No comments

Mole (2009)

Posted on 02:49 by uthpa
UK
Radio Play
Writer: Richard Monks
Director: Marc Beeby
Cast: Lesley Sharp, Neil Dudgeon, Robert Lonsdale, Paul Rider, Manjeet Mann, Gunnar Cauthery

A touchingly amusing tale of loss, grief, guilt, obsession, and mole hills, depicting the different ways that a husband and wife deal with a crushing family tragedy. Iain.Stott
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FCB: The Inside Story (2004)

Posted on 02:18 by uthpa
Cautiously Recommended
UK/Denmark/Germany/Spain
Television Documentary
Promotional Title: Barca - The Inside Story
Directors: Daniel Hernandez, Justin Webster
Cinematographer: Jorge Mota
Narrator: Justin Webster

A fly-on-the-wall, warts 'n' all (minus the warts, and not a great deal of the all) documentary following, for a season, the newly elected board-of-directors at Barcelona Football Club, which, despite skirting around potentially difficult issues and only ever showing these slick young men as thoroughly nice guys, is often surprisingly (if perhaps superficially) fascinating. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Denmark, Germany, Spain, Television Documentary, UK | No comments

Friday, 27 February 2009

Communism and Football (2006)

Posted on 09:31 by uthpa
Cautiously Recommended
UK
Short Television Documentary
Director: Séan Hughes
Cinematographers: Stephen Bye, Louis Caulfield
Narrator: Veronika Hyks

A rather one-sided but nevertheless entertainingly informative portrait of the oft exploitative and nefarious influence over football held by the various Communist regimes of the former Eastern Bloc. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Short Television Documentary, UK | No comments

Solitary Endeavour on the Southern Ocean (2008)

Posted on 07:48 by uthpa
Recommended
UK/Australia/USA
Short Television Documentary
Directors: David Michôd, Jennifer Peedom
Composer: Lisa Gerrard

A hard-to-watch account of adventurer/head-the-ball Andrew McAuley, who set out to become the first person to single-handedly kayak across the Tasman sea, tragically failing, leaving us to ask just why he attempted it in the first place? Iain.Stott
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Posted in Australia, Short Television Documentary, UK, USA | No comments

Pollock (2000)

Posted on 05:52 by uthpa
Recommended
USA
Feature Film
Director: Ed Harris
Writers: Susan J. Emshwiller, Barbara Turner, Steven Naifeh, Gregory White Smith
Cinematographer: Lisa Rinzler
Composer: Jeff Beal
Cast: Ed Harris, Marcia Gay Harden, Jennifer Connelly, Amy Madigan, Robert Knott, Jeffrey Tambor

Harris’s painfully stunning performance as the titular artist, Jackson Pollock, in this intelligent and nuanced portrait of said artist’s troubled relationship with his wife and fellow painter, Lee Krasner, beautifully adds a human face to the familiar paintings, and helps to create an astutely entertaining film. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, USA | No comments

Thursday, 26 February 2009

Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002)

Posted on 11:57 by uthpa
Recommended
USA
Feature Documentary
Director: Paul Justman
Writers: Walter Dallas, Ntozake Shange, Alan Slutsky
Cinematographers: Douglas Milsome, Lon Stratton
Composer: Alan Slutsky
Narrator: Andre Braugher

A gorgeous, delectable, and wondrous documentary, mixing delightful reunion/tribute concert footage with a wealth of touching, perceptive, and funny interview subjects, putting a human face on the history of Tamla Motown’s criminally underappreciated house band, The Funk Brothers. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Documentary, USA | No comments

Hallam Foe (2007)

Posted on 08:54 by uthpa
Not Recommended
UK
Feature Film
Director: David Mackenzie
Writers: David Mackenzie, Ed Whitmore, Peter Jinks
Cinematographer: Giles Nuttgens
Cast: Jamie Bell, Sophia Myles, Claire Forlani, Ciarán Hinds, Jamie Sives, Maurice Roëves, Ewen Bremner

Despite some brave, spirited performances, Mackenzie’s fairly disappointing film never really convinces, mainly due to some rather implausible plotting and some strangely misplaced soundtrack choices; but it just about manages to hold the attention, never the less. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK | No comments

Wednesday, 25 February 2009

Motor City’s Burning: Detroit from Motown to the Stooges (2008)

Posted on 11:51 by uthpa
Recommended
UK
Short Television Documentary
Director/Narrator: Ben Whalley
Cinematographer: Tim Sutton

An entertaining look at the Detroit music scene, taking in such diverse acts as the Supremes, The Stooges, George Clinton, MC5, Alice Cooper, and Eminem, and exploring the socio-economic conditions that helped to mould them. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Short Television Documentary, UK | No comments

The Lady in the Van (2009)

Posted on 10:18 by uthpa
UK
Radio Play
Series Title: The Saturday Play
Writers: Gordon House, Alan Bennett
Director: Gordon House
Composer: Simon Morecroft
Cast: Maggie Smith, Adrian Scarborough, Alan Bennett, Marcia Warren, Matt Addis, Janice Acquah, Stephen Critchlow, Caroline Guthrie, Philip Fox, Jonathan Tafler, Malcolm Tierney

A whimsically playful and very funny portrait of Bennett’s real-life relationship with an eccentric, homeless old woman who lived in a van in his front garden for 15 years. Iain.Stott
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The Motown Invasion (2009)

Posted on 06:50 by uthpa
Recommended
UK
Short Television Documentary
Director: James Maycock
Narrator: Sean Carlsen

A loving and reverent documentary, chronicling Tamla Motown’s mildly disappointing 1965 UK tour, with a cracking array of interview subjects and, of course, a wonderful soundtrack. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Short Television Documentary, UK | No comments

The Last Smoker (2009)

Posted on 01:31 by uthpa
UK
Radio Play
Series Title: The Afternnon Play
Writers: Julia Dover, Yasutaka Tsutsui
Director: Matt Thompson
Translator: Andrew Driver
Cast: John Byrne, Eileen McCallum, Madeleine Worrall, Stewart Conn, Madeleine Brolly

Dover’s Scots adaptation of Tsutsui’s short story, an agreeably histrionic satire set in a Japan of the near future in which smokers are treated like pariahs, is a mordantly funny work that asks important questions about the relationship between government, media, and the individual in terms of liberty. Iain.Stott
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Posted in | No comments

Comrades (1986)

Posted on 01:00 by uthpa
Essential Viewing
UK
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Bill Douglas
Cinematographer: Gale Tattersall
Composers: Hans Werner Henze, David Graham
Cast: Robin Soans, William Gaminara, Jeremy Flynn, Keith Allen, Stephen Bateman, Philip Davis, James Fox, Michael Hordern, Freddie Jones, Alex Norton, Vanessa Redgrave, Imelda Staunton, Robert Stephens, Simon Parsonage

Douglas’s remarkable film – a lovingly unhistrionic portrait of the Tolpuddle Martyrs (a group of early 19th century British labourers sentenced to seven years’ transportation for having the temerity, what with them barely able to put bread on their families’ tables, to form a trade union in order to acquire a fair wage) – is a beautifully made and invaluable record of extremely important historical events. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK | No comments

Tuesday, 24 February 2009

True North (2006)

Posted on 01:21 by uthpa
Cautiously Recommended
UK/Ireland/Germany
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Steve Hudson
Cinematographer: Peter Robertson
Composer: Edmund Butt
Cast: Peter Mullan, Martin Compston, Gary Lewis, Steven Robertson, Angel Li

Hudson’s feature debut never really convinces in terms of realism - there is far too much that seems illogical, and the score, at times, is horribly intrusive - but as allegory, it is far more effective, painting a damning picture of the uncaring, exploitative, and all-consuming West. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, Germany, Ireland, UK | No comments

Brick Lane (2007)

Posted on 01:06 by uthpa
Recommended
UK
Feature Film
Director: Sarah Gavron
Writers: Laura Jones, Abi Morgan, Monica Ali
Cinematographer: Robbie Ryan
Composer: Jocelyn Pook
Cast: Tannishtha Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik, Christopher Simpson, Naeema Begum, Lana Rahman, Lalita Ahmed

A tender adaptation of Ali’s popular novel, taking a look at the lives of a number of Bangladeshi immigrants in London at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Gavron’s visually stunning and beautifully moving film delightfully captures the unpredictability, resilience, and changeability of human emotion. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK | No comments

Monday, 23 February 2009

Tsotsi (2005)

Posted on 11:25 by uthpa
Recommended
South Africa/UK
Feature Film
Director: Gavin Hood
Writers: Gavin Hood, Athol Fugard
Cinematographer: Lance Gewer
Composers: Paul Hepker, Mark Kilian
Cast: Presley Chweneyagae, Terry Pheto, Kenneth Nkosi, Mothusi Magano, Zenzo Ngqobe, Zola, Rapulana Seiphemo, Nambitha Mpumlwana

Although the brilliant Chweneyagae’s street thug discovers his sentimental side after finding a baby in the back of a car that he has stolen, film-maker Hood never succumbs to his own schmaltzy side, and as a result this harrowingly authentic feeling film is never less than gripping and is ultimately really rather moving. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, South Africa, UK | No comments

Trouble in Amish Paradise (2009)

Posted on 09:21 by uthpa
Recommended
UK
Short Television Documentary
Cinematographer/Director: Andrew Tait
Composer: Adrian Williams
Narrator: Ludo Graham

A rare look at Amish culture, albeit in the guise of two excommunicated families, but a fascinating and enlightening one never the less, and, in its depiction of basic human goodness in the face of overwhelming odds, is surprisingly heart-warming and ultimately even rather moving. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Short Television Documentary, UK | No comments

......One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)

Posted on 07:42 by uthpa
Recommended
UK
Feature Film
Writer/Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Cinematographer: Ronald Neame
Cast: Godfrey Tearle, Eric Portman, Hugh Williams, Bernard Miles, Hugh Burden, Emrys Jones, Pamela Brown, Joyce Redman, Googie Withers, Hay Petrie, Peter Ustinov
......One of Our Aircraft Is Missing provides a leisurely paced and unromantic depiction of an RAF bomber crew, shot down over Nazi-occupied Holland, as they make their way back towards the North Sea and home. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK | No comments

The History Man (1981)

Posted on 05:01 by uthpa
Highly Recommended
UK
Television Mini-Series
Director: Robert Knights
Writers: Christopher Hampton, Malcolm Bradbury
Cinematographer: John Kenway
Composer: George Fenton
Cast: Antony Sher, Geraldine James, Isla Blair, Paul Brooke, Peter-Hugo Daly, Laura Davenport, Michael Hordern, Miriam Margolyes, Veronica Quilligan

A continuously surprising and unpredictable journey through early ‘70s university campus politics, revolving around the fabulous Sher’s duplicitous, self-serving, perma-gum-chewing, moustachioed, womanising, Marxist sociology lecturer, Howard Kirk, perhaps the most unfathomably fascinating television character since James Bolam’s Jack Ford. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Television Mini-Series, UK | No comments

Iran and the West (2009)

Posted on 04:38 by uthpa
Recommended
UK/USA/France/Belgium/Japan/The Netherlands/Sweden/Norway/Canada/Australia/Finland/Poland/Iran
Television Documentary Mini-Series
Directors: Dai Richards, Delphine Jaudeau, Paul Mitchell
Cinematographers: Emyr Jenkins, Farzin Khosroshahi, David Niblock, Richard Numeroff, Sheila Smith, Vladamir Trivic
Composer: Samuel Sim
Narrator: Tony Gardner

A fascinating, even-handed look at the continuously tortuous relationship between Iran and the West since the Islamic revolution of 1979, boasting a fabulous array of interview subjects from both sides of the divide, including a number of former presidents. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Iran, Japan, Norway, Poland, Television Documentary Mini-Series, The Netherlands, UK, USA | No comments

Sunday, 22 February 2009

Venus (2006)

Posted on 02:27 by uthpa
Recommended
UK
Feature Film
Director: Roger Michell
Writer: Hanif Kureishi
Cinematographer: Haris Zambarloukos
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Jodie Whittaker, Leslie Phillips, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Griffiths

Despite the odd trite moment towards the end, this stunningly well acted and beautifully photographed work, a tenderly written sort-of romance between the brilliant O'Toole’s on-his-last-legs actor and the eye-opening Whittaker’s alluring ingénue, is a foul-mouthedly funny and very moving film. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK | No comments

Creep (2004)

Posted on 02:12 by uthpa
Not Recommended
UK/Germany
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Christopher Smith
Cinematographers: Danny Cohen, Richard Craske
Composers: The Insects
Cast: Franka Potente, Vas Blackwood, Ken Campbell, Jeremy Sheffield, Paul Rattray, Kelly Scott, Sean Harris

For the most part, Smith’s (allegorical?) horror film is appropriately creepy and suspenseful, making the most of some spirited performances, but unfortunately some of it is merely unpleasant; a gynaecological torture scene, in particular, makes nauseous viewing. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, Germany, UK | No comments

Saturday, 21 February 2009

Ian Rankin's Edinburgh (2007)

Posted on 10:45 by uthpa
UK
Short Television Documentary
Promotional Title: Ian Rankin's Hidden Edinburgh
Director: Richard Downes
Cinematographer: Jerry Kelly
Featuring: Ian Rankin

A brief and slight but nevertheless moderately entertaining and fairly interesting journey around some of Edinburgh’s more infamous locales in the company of Rebus author, Ian Rankin. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Short Television Documentary, UK | No comments

New Town (2009)

Posted on 09:05 by uthpa
UK
Short Television Film
Writer/Director: Annie Griffin
Cinematographer: Tim Palmer
Composer: Jim Sutherland
Cast: Rose Leslie, Mark Gatiss, Max Bremer, Daniela Nardini, Lucie Crystal, Cameron Bowie, Omid Djalili

This disappointingly half-baked short film from Griffin, potentially the first part of a six-part series, doesn’t really work as a stand-alone episode, but there are enough good ideas and interesting characters in its misanthropic, satiric, and delightfully playful shell to suggest that more instalments would be more than welcome. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Short Television Film, UK | No comments

Contraband (1940)

Posted on 06:15 by uthpa
Cautiously Recommended
UK
Feature Film
Director: Michael Powell
Writers: Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell, Brock Williams
Cinematographer: F.A. Young
Composers: Richard Addinsell, John Greenwood
Cast: Conrad Veidt, Valerie Hobson, Hay Petrie, Joss Ambler, Raymond Lovell, Esmond Knight, Charles Victor, Phoebe Kershaw

Contraband is an entertaining if rather light and forgettable first collaboration between Powell and Pressburger, which, in its first half, a relaxed and amiable journey towards destinations unknown, gently points towards the future wonders that the partnership would produce, but in its second half, as spies are unmasked and motivations revealed, it all becomes a little familiar and rather tedious if, never the less, still reasonably entertaining. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK | No comments

Friday, 20 February 2009

How Vietnam Was Lost (2005)

Posted on 11:20 by uthpa
Recommended
UK/USA
Television Documentary
Original Title: Two Days in October
Director: Robert Kenner
Writers: Allen Rucker, Paul Taylor, David Maraniss
Cinematographer: Buddy Squires
Composer: Mark Adler

How Vietnam Was Lost is a powerful and devastatingly moving account, by those involved (and from all sides), of two disparate events – a sit-in and a jungle battle – in October 1967, which would go on to have a great and lasting influence upon American public perception of the Vietnam war. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Television Documentary, UK, USA | No comments

Ghosts of the 7th Cavalry (2009)

Posted on 09:18 by uthpa
Highly Recommended
UK/Germany/Japan/USA/Australia
Television Documentary
Writer/Director: Tom Roberts
Cinematographers: Petra Graf, Tom Roberts, Jonathan Partridge
Featuring: Major Robert 'Snuffy' Gray

Using the unique story of Major Robert 'Snuffy' Gray, a veteran of three wars and an adopted member of the Lakota Indian tribe, as its centre-point, this beautifully paced and often painfully moving depiction of the broken lives of a number of veterans, paints a portrait of war as an endless and deeply human tragedy. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Australia, Germany, Japan, Television Documentary, UK, USA | No comments

Wednesday, 18 February 2009

And When Did You Last See Your Father (2007)

Posted on 07:46 by uthpa
Recommended
UK/Ireland
Feature Film
Director: Anand Tucker
Writers: David Nicholls, Blake Morrison
Cinematographer: Howard Atherton
Composer: Barrington Pheloung
Cast: Jim Broadbent, Colin Firth, Juliet Stevenson, Gina McKee, Sarah Lancashire, Elaine Cassidy, Claire Skinner, Matthew Beard, Bradley Johnson

A well-acted, beautifully drawn, and humorously touching portrait of a world-weary son’s regret-tinged remembrance of the up-and-down relationship that he shared with his once gregarious father, as he helplessly watches his emaciating shell quietly waste away on his death-bed. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, Ireland, UK | No comments

The Hide (2008)

Posted on 07:38 by uthpa
Recommended
UK
Feature Film
Director: Marek Losey
Writer: Tim Whitnall
Cinematographer: George Richmond
Composer: Debbie Wiseman
Cast: Alex MacQueen, Phil Campbell

Marek (grandson of Joseph) Losey’s debut - a predictably unpredictable and stunningly photographed film, set in a birdwatchers’ hide, with a cast of just two disparate and ill-matched characters - is a blackly funny, wickedly playful, and unsettlingly perceptive film that demands to be consumed rather than just passively watched. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, UK | No comments

Home (2003)

Posted on 07:32 by uthpa
Highly Recommended
UK
Short Television Film
Director: Richard Curson Smith
Writers: Richard Curson Smith, J.G. Ballard
Cinematographer: Jeff Baynes
Composer: Andrew Phillips
Cast: Antony Sher, Deborah Findlay, Matilda Ziegler, Keith Allen, Guy Henry, Simon Nagra

Richard Curson Smith's short film is a wickedly inventive and blackly humorous adaptation of Ballard’s short story, The Enormous Space, which sees the brilliant Sher’s jilted husband suffer the most horrendously stomach-churning mental breakdown, either caused by or the cause of his decision to never again leave the safe confines of his (expanding?) home. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Short Television Film, UK | No comments

The Beast Within (1890)

Posted on 07:23 by uthpa
France
Novel
Original Title: La bête humaine
Author: Émile Zola
Translator: Roger Whitehouse (2007)

Zola’s wonderfully insightful journey into the criminal mind - depicting a number of grisly murders and torrid affairs on the railways of northern France - is an unflinchingly violent look at the innate bestial side of man that is usually hidden by societal conformity. Iain.Stott
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Posted in | No comments

Turtles Can Fly (2004)

Posted on 07:18 by uthpa
Highly Recommended
Iraq/Iran/France
Feature Film
Original Title: Lakposhtha parvaz mikonand
Writer/Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Cinematography: Shahriar Assadi
Composer: Hossein Alizadeh
Cast: Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Feysal, Hiresh Feysal Rahman, Abdol Rahman Karim, Ajil Zibari

Ghobadi’s beautiful and often funny film, taking a child’s-eye view of life in a Kurdish refugee camp on the Iraqi border with Turkey just before the American-lead invasion, is a heart-warming yet devastatingly sad tale of human resourcefulness, resilience, compassion, and cruelty. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, France, Iran, Iraq | No comments

Prostitution: Behind the Veil (2004)

Posted on 07:10 by uthpa
Recommended
Sweden, Denmark, Norway, UK
Short Television Documentary
Original Title: Prostitution bakom slöjan
Director/Cinematographer/Narrator: Nahid Persson

An eye-opening look at the little seen world of Iranian prostitution and drug abuse, but one of questionable authenticity – everyone seems to be just a little too comfortable performing illegal acts in front of the camera – an affecting one none the less. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Denmark, Norway, Short Television Documentary, Sweden, UK | No comments

Iran and Britain (2009)

Posted on 07:00 by uthpa
Recommended
UK
Short Television Documentary
Presenter: Christopher de Bellaigue

An informative and enlightening look at the history of the often tortuous relationship between Iran and Britain, highlighting colonial crimes, Persian paranoia, and the ever-present influence of oil and religion. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Short Television Documentary, UK | No comments

Moses Jones (2009)

Posted on 06:52 by uthpa
Cautiously Recommended
UK
Television Mini-Series
Director: Michael Offer
Writer: Joe Penhall
Cinematographer: Tim Fleming
Cast: Shaun Parkes, Matt Smith, Eamonn Walker, Jude Akuwidike, Wunmi Mosaku, Sonila Vjeshta, Obi Abili, Dennis Waterman, Femi Elufowojo, David Fishley

This grimly diverting BBC crime series, centring on murder and corruption within the Ugandan immigrant community in London, boasts some cracking performances, with Parkes and Akuwidike being particularly excellent, although soon-to-be-the-Doctor Matt Smith is really rather bland, and the script contains perhaps one or two too many clichés and implausibilities to be totally convincing. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Television Mini-Series, UK | No comments

To Be First (2007)

Posted on 06:47 by uthpa
Recommended
UK
Television Film
New Title: The First New Heart
Writer/Director: Patrick Reams
Cinematographer: Giulio Biccari
Composer: Ruth Barrett
Cast: Rupert Graves, Ben Miles, Darrell D’Silva, Claire Berlein, Warrick Grier, Nigel Sweet, Nola Collins, Adam Neill, Stephen Jennings

Reams’s compelling television film, depicting the race to perform the world’s first human heart transplant, is a naturalistically shot and acted work that not only captures the pertinent facts of the events, but also manages to paint a moving and insightful portrait of human desires and failings. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Television Film, UK | No comments

Joan of Arc, and How She Became a Saint (2009)

Posted on 06:44 by uthpa
UK
Radio Play
Series: The Saturday Play
Writer/Director: Patrick Barlow
Cast: Dawn French, Anne Reid, Maggie Steed, Nell Barlow, John Ramm, Kevin Eldon, Cheryl Campbell, Marc Wootton, Patrick Barlow, Andrew Dunn, Samuel Barnett, Jim Broadbent, Beth Nestor, Carrie Quinlan, Humphrey Ker, David Reed, Thom Tuck

An hilariously irreverent and wonderfully performed look at the life and times of Jeanne d’Arc, cowherd turned freedom-fighter, who, under heavenly orders, attempted to drive the “bastard English” out of France, and one that highlights the tragic absurdity of pretty much everything. Iain.Stott
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The Young Poisoner's Handbook (1995)

Posted on 06:39 by uthpa
Recommended
UK /Germany/France/USA
Feature Film
Director: Benjamin Ross
Writers: Jeff Rawle, Benjamin Ross
Cinematographer: Hubert Taczanowski
Composers: Robert Lane, Frank Strobel
Cast: Hugh O'Conor, Tobias Arnold, Ruth Sheen, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Norman Caro, Charlotte Coleman, Antony Sher

The irreverent, blackly comic tone - that may offend some people - of this entertainingly insightful film, perfectly captures the mindset of detached real life killer, Graham Young, in this slightly fictionalised and delightfully acted account of said poisoner’s nefarious teenage years. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Feature Film, France, Germany, UK, USA | No comments

Samuel Johnson: The Dictionary Man (2006)

Posted on 06:08 by uthpa
UK
Short Television Documentary
Writer/Director: Richard Alwyn
Cinematographer: Richard Rankin
Cast: Roger Ashton-Griffiths

An informative and pleasingly human portrait of perhaps the most famous of dictionary writers, Samuel Johnson, charting his journey from humble origins to literary stardom. Iain.Stott
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Posted in Short Television Documentary, UK | No comments
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Blog Archive

  • ▼  2009 (500)
    • ►  September (131)
    • ►  August (67)
    • ►  July (36)
    • ►  June (43)
    • ►  May (46)
    • ►  April (60)
    • ►  March (75)
    • ▼  February (42)
      • Lloyd George: The People's Champion (2006)
      • Gods of Brazil: Pelé & Garrincha (2002)
      • The Pianist (2002)
      • Pickup on South Street (1953)
      • Mole (2009)
      • FCB: The Inside Story (2004)
      • Communism and Football (2006)
      • Solitary Endeavour on the Southern Ocean (2008)
      • Pollock (2000)
      • Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002)
      • Hallam Foe (2007)
      • Motor City’s Burning: Detroit from Motown to the S...
      • The Lady in the Van (2009)
      • The Motown Invasion (2009)
      • The Last Smoker (2009)
      • Comrades (1986)
      • True North (2006)
      • Brick Lane (2007)
      • Tsotsi (2005)
      • Trouble in Amish Paradise (2009)
      • ......One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)
      • The History Man (1981)
      • Iran and the West (2009)
      • Venus (2006)
      • Creep (2004)
      • Ian Rankin's Edinburgh (2007)
      • New Town (2009)
      • Contraband (1940)
      • How Vietnam Was Lost (2005)
      • Ghosts of the 7th Cavalry (2009)
      • And When Did You Last See Your Father (2007)
      • The Hide (2008)
      • Home (2003)
      • The Beast Within (1890)
      • Turtles Can Fly (2004)
      • Prostitution: Behind the Veil (2004)
      • Iran and Britain (2009)
      • Moses Jones (2009)
      • To Be First (2007)
      • Joan of Arc, and How She Became a Saint (2009)
      • The Young Poisoner's Handbook (1995)
      • Samuel Johnson: The Dictionary Man (2006)
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uthpa
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