film review
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The Tech In Return To Seoul
One of the many strengths of Davy Chou’s superb Return To Seoul is its depiction of our current dependence on technology for communication. Characters are constantly texting each other, or making video calls or using translation apps to say something to someone who doesn’t speak their language. This should bring all of them closer together,… Continue reading
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Best Films Of 2022
I probably shouldn’t start the year by thinking about the things I didn’t manage to do in 2022, but logging on to this blog makes it impossible for me to ignore that the film reviews I’d hoped to write never quite materialised. Never mind — the time that could have been spent on updating this… Continue reading
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House Of Gucci, Spencer, Respect and others – Screen Time November 2021
Here’s one way to sum up November’s cinematic delights: four films about fascinating, real women, and two films about equally fascinating, fictional women. Tellingly, the latter were far more interesting than the former, with one important exception, as I’ll describe in a moment. Continue reading
2021, 25 Years Of Innocence, Agata Kulesza, Aretha Franklin, Ayten Amin, cinema, Colin Firth, Egypt, Eva Husson, featured, film, film review, Graham Swift, House Of Gucci, Jan Holoubek, Josh O'Connor, Lady Gaga, Liesl Tommy, Mothering Sunday, movie, Odessa Young, Olivia Colman, Pablo Larrain, Piotr Trojan, Poland, Princess Diana, Respect, Ridley Scott, Screen Time, Souad, Spencer, Tomasz Komenda -
Dune, The Silence Of The Lambs, County Lines and others – Screen Time October 2021
Not the cheeriest of months… well, as long as we don’t count the Paw Patrol movie. Although I am partial to kids’ fare (which, in my view, requires extraordinary skill to pull off well), I must point out that this particular cinematic offering was enforced viewing as part of a childcare stint. But rules is… Continue reading
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The Father, After Love, A Quiet Place Part II and others – Screen Time June 2021
Strong central performances were the most notable feature of June’s best films. But first let’s get the exception out of the way. Peter Rabbit 2 (Will Gluck) is the very worst sort of children’s film: cynical, unfocussed and completely uninspired. It has no clue who its audience is, and very little interest in attempting to… Continue reading
2021, A Quiet Place part ii, After Love, Aleem Khan, Aneil Karia, Anthony Hopkins, Ben Whishaw, Diane Lane, Emily Blunt, featured, film, film review, Florian Zeller, Joanna Scanlan, John Krasinski, Kevin Costner, Lesley Manville, Let Him Go, Olivia Colman, Peter Rabbit 2, Screen Time, Surge, The Father, Thomas Bezucha -
Nomadland, Mogul Mowgli, Akira and others – Screen Time May 2021
May 2021 will forever be remembered as the month when cinemas re-opened. So perhaps it was fitting that the first post-lockdown release I enjoyed on the big screen was Nomadland, Chloe Zhao’s much-lauded meander through the unsettled lives of the USA’s itinerant ‘community’, as seen through Frances McDormand’s complex, loveable central character. All films should… Continue reading
2021, Agnieszka Holland, Akira, Andrea Riseborough, anime, Bassam Tariq, Charlatan, Chloe Zhao, cinema, Covid, Delia Derbyshire, Doctor Who, featured, film, film review, Frances McDormand, Frankie, Ira Sachs, Isabelle Huppert, Ivan Ostrochovsky, Jan Mikolasek, Japan, Katsuhiro Otomo, Lisa Rovner, Luxor, Marisa Tomei, Mogul Mowgli, Nomadland, Riz Ahmed, Servants, Sisters With Transistors, Tokyo, Zeina Durra -
News Of The World, I Care A Lot, Mank and others – Screen Time February 2021
Looking back at the list of films I managed to notch up in February, I’m struck by how many of them veered towards the bizarre. For instance, there was The Prom, Ryan Murphy’s colourful film version of the Broadway musical about celebrity types injecting an acceptance of diversity into small-town America. The shopping-mall-set rendition of… Continue reading
2021, Adam Curtis, Barb And Star Go To Vista Del Mar, Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, cinema, Dear Comrades, featured, film, film review, I Care A Lot, Les Miserables, Mank, movie, News Of The World, Nose, Possessor, Quo Vadis Aida, Screen Time, Shirley Valentine, Simple Passion, The Capote Tapes, The Dig, The Prom -
Le Mans ’66, The White Tiger, Assassins and others – Screen Time January 2021
Seven films in one month is quite a poor achievement for me, and as I type these words, I’m trying to work out why I didn’t treat myself to more in-house cinematic outings. But the reasons aren’t forthcoming. Was it all to do with the extra-grey, Covid-enhanced January malaise by which so many of us… Continue reading
Adarsh Gourav, Alex Thompson, Annemarie Jacir, Assassins, Christian Bale, cinema, David Osit, featured, film, film review, Fran Lebowitz, Israel, James Mangold, James Reed, Le Mans 66, Martin Scorsese, Matt Damon, Mayor, movie, My Octopus Teacher, Netflix, Palestine, Pippa Ehrlich, Pretend It's A City, Ramallah, Ramin Bahrani, Ryan White, Saint Frances, Screen Time, The White Tiger, Wajib -
My Favourite Films Of 2019 + The End Of The Reviews
The year ends, and so does my little film review project. It started with a pope so perhaps it’s appropriate that it finished with two. Many thanks to those of you who took the time to read these little scribblings. Below I’ve put together a list of my favourite movies of the year. As I… Continue reading
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2019 Film Reviews – 71: The Two Popes [dir. Fernando Mereilles; 2019]
![2019 Film Reviews – 71: The Two Popes [dir. Fernando Mereilles; 2019]](https://dariushalavi.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/3a13f66f-0db3-463b-b2ac-c16cbfad2417.png?w=1019)
If theatre is better at exploring ideas than film is, perhaps that’s why The Two Popes feels as though it would have been slightly more comfortable at The National. Or maybe it’s because it consists of little more than conversations between Pope Benedict and the soon-to-be Pope Francis as they wrestle with their differing views… Continue reading
About Me
I am a writer and award-winning perfume critic currently living in the south of England and working on a novel. For my perfume-related writing, please visit Persolaise.com.
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DARIUSH ALAVI 