Mania Akbari and some special Cambridge screenings

There is a scene in the film ONE.TWO.ONE which is so brilliant in its conception and execution that it takes my breath away. I wish that every film student would carefully examine its construction and try to understand how an apparently simple static camera shot can be so richly textured, so simple yet full of elegance and poetry. Mark Cousins …

That Ealing touch

At Screen St Ives we recently showed the 1942 classic WENT THE DAY WELL?, to a packed and extremely enthusiastic audience. It is a testament to Ealing, the relatively small, independent studio that produced this film, that their output is still delighting audiences some 70 years later. Perhaps part of what still captivates us in …

The Passion of Joan of Arc

My short review published online in One Hundred Words Magazine [no longer available]:- Amongst the many gems on offer in the BFI Southbank’s complete retrospective of the films of master Danish director Carl Dreyer is this silent masterpiece. The Passion of Joan of Arc portrays the final days of the tragic and deluded heroine. It …

My Favourite Films of 2011

The usual caveats apply: a) there are many important 2011 films which I haven't yet seen; b) I tend to change my mind about films, so this is a snap shot of my opinions at this point in time; c) I find it almost impossible to rank films in any great detail, so I tend …