The One-Line Review

France/Romania

Feature Film

Original Title: Ils

Writer/Directors: David Moreau, Xavier Palud

Cinematographer: Axel Cosnefroy

Composer: René-Marc Bini

Cast: Olivia Bonamy, Michaël Cohen, Adriana Moca, Maria Roman, Camelia Maxim, Alexandru Boghiu

An attractive, bourgeois French couple are terrorised in their remote Romanian mansion by a group of hooded, feral youths for no apparent reason, forcing them to flee frantically into the surrounding woods in search of help, in Moreau and Palud’s generally well-crafted and pleasingly understated horror film, which (fatally) lacks any real tension, suspense, or visceral thrills. Iain.Stott

Easy A (2010)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Will Gluck

Writer: Bert V. Royal

Cinematographer: Michael Grady

Composer: Brad Segal

Cast: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Dan Byrd, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Cam Gigandet, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, Aly Michalka, Stanley Tucci

When false tales of a teenaged girl’s loss of virginity begin to spread through her high school, she not only fails to refute them, but she wholeheartedly embraces and embellishes upon them, and before long is exchanging fabricated tales of sexual conquests with geeky classmates for gift vouchers and the like; but, of course, before long things begin to get a little out of hand, in Gluck’s perkily entertaining comedy, which benefits greatly from Stone’s tremendously charismatic central performance and some delightful supporting turns in the adult roles. Iain.Stott

The Pleasure Garden (1953)

Short Film

Writer/Director: James Broughton

Cinematographer: Walter Lassally

Composer: Stanley Bate

Cast: Hattie Jacques, John Le Mesurier, Jill Bennett, Jean Anderson, Maxine Audley, Gladys Spencer

In Broughton’s mildly diverting curio, Le Mesurier’s officious park warden, intent upon banning or sanitising everyone’s fun, and Jacques’s magic stole-carrying pixie, intent upon bringing pleasure to the same, battle for control of an overgrown park. Iain.Stott

Hotel (2004)

Essential Viewing

Austria/France/Germany

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Jessica Hausner

Cinematographer: Martin Gschlacht

Cast: Franziska Weisz, Birgit Minichmayr, Marlene Streeruwitz, Rosa Waissnix, Christopher Schärf, Peter Strauß, Regina Fritsch, Alfred Worel

A young woman, leaving behind the comforts of home, takes a job as a receptionist at a remote hotel in heavily wooded provincial Austria, situated near a cave that once housed a famous 16th century witch – The Lady of the Woods – replacing another girl who had just recently disappeared, and finds adjusting to her new lifestyle and surroundings eerily difficult, in Hausner’s beautifully paced, elegantly shot, and simultaneously alluring and disquieting allegorical mystery. Iain.Stott

Explorers (1985)

USA

Feature Film

Director: Joe Dante

Writer: Eric Luke

Cinematographer: John Hora

Composer: Jerry Goldsmith

Cast: Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix, Jason Presson, Amanda Peterson, Dick Miller, Robert Picardo, Karen Mayo-Chandler

Three social misfits – a sci-fi nut, a science whiz, and a kid from the wrong side of the tracks – band together to build a spaceship, the design of which coming from one of their dreams, and set off into space in search of their alien benefactors, in Dante’s imaginative and generally entertaining if rather underdeveloped feeling kids’ film. Iain.Stott

The Girl Next Door (2004)

USA/Switzerland

Feature Film

Director: Luke Greenfield

Writers: Stuart Blumberg, Brent Goldberg, David T. Wagner

Cinematographer: Jamie Anderson

Cast: Emile Hirsch, Elisha Cuthbert, Timothy Olyphant, James Remar, Chris Marquette, Paul Dano

A well-behaved aspiring politician, about to graduate from high school, competing for a morale fibre scholarship to Georgetown University, falls in love with the girl next door, who just so happens to be an 18-year-old retired porn star, a turn of events which soon puts his previously rosy-looking future in doubt, in Greenberg’s surprisingly sweet and generally entertaining if rather familiar feeling teen rom-com. Iain.Stott

Toy Story 3 (2010)

USA

Animated Feature Film

Director: Lee Unkrich

Writers: Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich

Composer: Randy Newman

Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Don Rickles, Michael Keaton, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, John Morris, Jodi Benson

About to leave for college, Andy must decide which of his possessions (including his childhood toys) he wishes to take with him, which he wishes to store in the loft, and which he wishes to donate to charity; but when fate plays a hand, taking the decision out of his, his old toys find themselves donated to a nursery, which is presided over like a prison camp by an embittered old teddy bear, from which they desperately try to escape, in this generally entertaining though somewhat sentimental third Toy Story film. Iain.Stott

Follows Toy Story 2 (1999).

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Recommended

USA

Animated Feature Film

Director: John Lasseter

Writers: Doug Chamberlin, Rita Hsiao, Andrew Stanton, Chris Webb, Ash Brannon, Pete Docter, John Lasseter

Cinematographer: Sharon Calahan

Composer: Randy Newman

Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, Wayne Knight

When he is stolen by an obnoxious toy collector, woody, who is introduced to his television stardom origins by his fellow collectors items, finds himself torn between returning home to Andy and his old friends (who are in the midst of staging a daring rescue attempt), and joining his new ones in a toy museum in Tokyo, in Lasseter’s inventive, action-packed sequel to his ground-breaking 1995 film. Iain.Stott

Followed by Toy Story 3 (2010).

Toy Story (1995)

Recommended

USA

Animated Feature Film

Director: John Lasseter

Writers: Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, Andrew Stanton, Joss Whedon, Pete Docter, John Lasseter, Joe Ranft

Composer: Randy Newman

Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, John Morris, Erik von Detten

When Andy gets a Buzz Lightyear figure for his birthday, Woody, a toy cowboy who used to be the boy's favourite, becomes filled with jealousy; and so, when said space ranger is knocked out of the window (vaguely accidentally), Woody is ostracised by his fellow toys, who suspect him of foul play, and must stage a daring rescue in order to win back their trust, in Lasseter’s inventive, funny, and slickly animated film, which should appeal as much to adults as to children. Iain.Stott

Followed by Toy Story 2 (1999).

Gaslight (1940)

Recommended

Feature Film

Director: Thorold Dickinson

Writers: Bridget Boland, A.R. Rawlinson, Patrick Hamilton

Cinematographer: Bernard Knowles

Composer: Richard Addinsell

Cast: Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell, Cathleen Cordell, Robert Newton, Minnie Rayner, Jimmy Hanley

A man (Walbrook, deliciously sinister) systematically attempts to drive his sweet natured wife (Wynyard, outstanding) insane, in order to cover up a grisly secret from his past, but, unbeknownst to him, a retired policeman is quietly investigating his nefarious actions, in Dickinson’s stylish, inventively directed, and wonderfully acted 1880s set thriller. Iain.Stott

Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play Gas Light was subsequently adapted as Gaslight (1944).

Strike! (1998)

USA/Canada

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Sarah Kernochan

Cinematographer: Anthony Janelli

Composer: Graeme Revell

Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Gaby Hoffmann, Lynn Redgrave, Rachael Leigh Cook, Thomas Guiry, Vincent Kartheiser, Monica Keena, Matthew Lawrence, Heather Matarazzo, Merritt Wever

If you can palate a bunch of young, attractive, stinking rich, white Americans bemoaning their lot in life, Kernochan’s warm and witty comedy, a tale of private boarding school girls desperately resisting their venerable institution’s intention to merge with a boy’s one, is a film that may just prove to be a diverting one. Iain.Stott

Venice, 2010

Golden Lion
Somewhere (2010)

Silver Lion for the best director
Álex de la Iglesia, A Sad Trumpet Ballad (2010)

Special Jury Prize
Essential Killing (2010)

Coppa Volpi for the Best Actor
Vincent Gallo, Essential Killing (2010)

Coppa Volpi for the Best Actress
Ariane Labed, Attenberg (2010)

Premio Marcello Mastroianni, for the best emerging actor or actress
Mila Kunis, Black Swan (2010)

Osella for Best Cinematography
Mikhail Krichman, Silent Souls (2010)

Osella for Best Screenplay
Álex de la Iglesia, A Sad Trumpet Ballad (2010)

Special Lion for Overall Work
Monte Hellman

Luigi de Laurentis Award for a Debut Film
Majority (2010)

In Competition

Attenberg (2010)
Barney's Version (2010)
Black Swan (2010)
Black Venus (2010)
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010)
The Ditch (2010)
Essential Killing (2010)
Happy Few (2010)
Meek's Cutoff (2010)
Miral (2010)
Noi Credevamo (2010)
Norwegian Wood (2010)
La Passione (2010)
La Pecora Nera (2010)
Post Mortem (2010)
Promises Written in Water (2010)
Road to Nowhere (2010)
A Sad Trumpet Ballad (2010)
Silent Souls (2010)
The Solitude of Prime Numbers (2010)
Somewhere (2010)
Thirteen Assassins (2010)
Three (2010)

The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

Recommended

USA/UK

Feature Film

Director: Grant Heslov

Writers: Peter Straughan, Jon Ronson

Cinematographer: Robert Elswit

Composer: Rolfe Kent

Cast: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Stephen Lang, Robert Patrick

After his wife leaves him for his boss, Bob Wilton, a small-town journalist, goes to Iraq with the idea of proving something or other to her, but ends up wandering the desert with Lyn Cassady, a self-confessed psychic warrior, who regales him with tales of super powered soldiers and dead goats, in Heslov’s satirical, unpredictable, and frequently hilarious shaggy dog story. Iain.Stott

The House of the Devil (2009)

USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Ti West

Cinematographer: Eliot Rockett

Composer: Jeff Grace

Cast: Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, Greta Gerwig, AJ Bowen

West’s slowburn, ‘70s set (and styled) horror film does a good job of setting the scene for its bloody finish, as it follows Donahue’s cash-strapped university student to a babysitting job, which turns out to be not quite what she expected; but when said finale does arrive, it all feels rather rushed, and much of it is decidedly nonsensical. Iain.Stott

The Crazies (2010)

Recommended

USA/UAE

Feature Film

Director: Breck Eisner

Writers: Scott Kosar, Ray Wright, George A. Romero

Cinematographer: Maxime Alexandre

Composer: Mark Isham

Cast: Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker

Following the outbreak of a virus that leaves its victims irrationally and homicidally angry, the military swoops down on the small town at its epicentre determined to wipe-out every last trace of it, leaving the few remaining unaffected townsfolk with two sets of blood thirsty animals to run from, in Eisner’s polished and worthy remake of Romero’s 1973 film. Iain.Stott

Under the Bombs (2007)

Recommended

Lebanon/France/UK

Feature Film

Original Title: تحت القصف

Director: Philippe Aractingi

Writers: Philippe Aractingi, Michel Léviant

Cinematographer: Nidal Abdel Khalek

Composers: René Aubry, Lazare Boghossian

Cast: Nada Abou Farhat, Georges Khabbaz, Rawia Elchab

After the declaration of the UN monitored ceasefire following Israel’s 33 day bombardment of South Lebanon in 2006, a wealthy expat (Abou Farhat, outstanding), who is having marital troubles, returns to her hometown in search of her 6-year-old son, who was staying with her sister at the onset of hostilities, aided by an opportunistic taxi driver, who dreams of one day opening a restaurant in Germany with his brother, in Aractingi’s painfully authentic film, a potent and affecting mix of documentary and drama. Iain.Stott

Jonny Vang (2003)

Norway

Feature Film

Director: Jens Lien

Writer: Ståle Stein Berg

Cinematographers: Philip Øgaard & Erling Thurmann-Andersen

Composers: Calexico

Cast: Aksel Hennie, Laila Goody, Fridtjov Såheim, Marit Adeleide Andreassen, Bjørn Sundquist, Nils Vogt, Anders Ødegård

When a number of attempts are made on the life of loveable loser Jonny Vang, a budding worm farmer who is having an affair with his best friend’s wife, he finds it very difficult to get anyone in his tiny, rural hometown to take his plight seriously, leaving him to vainly plough on with his dream alone, in Lien’s entertaining and unpredictable if rather lightweight black farce. Iain.Stott

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

UK/USA

Feature Film

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Writers: Stanley Kubrick, Frederic Raphael, Arthur Schnitzler

Cinematographer: Larry Smith

Composer: Jocelyn Pook

Cast: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack, Julienne Davis, Rade Sherbedgia, Vinessa Shaw, Todd Field

A chance meeting with an old pianist friend, a late night fight with his beautiful wife, and the death of a patient all combine to put Tom Cruise's wealthy Manhattan doctor on a path towards a mystery filled with sex, intrigue, and dead hookers, in Kubrick’s frequently brilliant, often baffling, and at times really quite silly final film. Iain.Stott

CFB's Top 20 Obscure Films of 1978 (2010)

Knife in the Head (1978)
Satiemania (1978)
Remember My Name (1978)
Les Rendez-vous d’Anna (1978)
Vertical Features Remake (1978)
Hell Without Limits (1978)
Stevie (1978)
King of the Gypsies (1978)
Movie Movie (1978)
Without Anesthesia (1978)
Moliere (1978)
China 9, Liberty 37 (1978)
Ringing Bell (1978)
A Walk Through H (1978)
El Paso Wrecking Corp. (1978)
Alexandria … Why? (1978)
No Man’s Land (1978)
Les Mains Négatives (1978)
Northern Lights (1978)
Scared Straight! (1978)
Special Delivery (1978)
The Lion’s Share (1978)
Lmno (1978)

CFB's Top 30 Films of 1978 (2010)

The Deer Hunter (1978)
Days of Heaven (1978)
Autumn Sonata (1978)
Interiors (1978)
Halloween (1978)
Superman (1978)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Death on the Nile (1978)
Midnight Express (1978)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Coming Home (1978)
Pretty Baby (1978)
An Unmarried Woman (1978)
The Silent Partner (1978)
The Last Waltz (1978)
Straight Time (1978)
Animal House (1978)
Grease (1978)
Preparez Vos Mouchoirs (1978)
The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)
Blue Collar (1978)
Watership Down (1978)
A Wedding (1978)
Coma (1978)
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith (1978)
Perceval le Gallois (1978)
La Cage aux Folles (1978)
Who’ll Stop the Rain (1978)
In the Year of the 13 Moons (1978)

On the Streets (2010)

Recommended

Television Documentary

Director: Penny Woolcock

Composer: Rob Manning

Film-maker Woolcock spent eight months following and interviewing members of London’s homeless community to make this powerful documentary, gently teasing out their back stories – some painfully believable, others laughably not (but no less revealing) – attempting to find reasons for their continuing plights, from self-confessed Reggie Perrins and environmental activists to abuse victims and suicidal Eastern Europeans. Iain.Stott

Winter's Bone (2010)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Debra Granik

Writers: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Daniel Woodrell

Cinematographer: Michael McDonough

Composer: Dickon Hinchliffe

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Kevin Breznahan, Dale Dickey, Garret Dillahunt, Shelley Waggener, Lauren Sweetser

A tough 17-year-old, who has become the sole means of care for her two younger siblings and her mentally ill mother, desperately searches for her bail jumping father when it becomes apparent that he has put up their house for his bond, but meets with nothing but resistance from her family and neighbours, in Granik’s understated, well acted, and decidedly downbeat thriller. Iain.Stott

Chicken Run (2000)

UK/France/USA

Feature Film

Directors: Peter Lord, Nick Park

Writers: Karey Kirkpatrick, Peter Lord, Nick Park

Cinematographers: Tristan Oliver, Frank Passingham

Composers: Harry Gregson-Williams, John Powell

Cast: Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha, Miranda Richardson, Tony Haygarth, Benjamin Whitrow, Timothy Spall, Phil Daniels, Jane Horrocks

Though hamstrung considerably by the horribly inexpressive faces of its feathered protagonists, Lord and Park’s stop motion feature debut, which follows the escape attempts of a coop full of chickens, aided by a brash American circus rooster, who hope to escape the nefarious Mrs. Tweedy's new pie machine, still makes for some good, parodic entertainment. Iain.Stott

El Topo (1970)

Recommended

Mexico

Feature Film

Original Title: El topo

Writer/Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky

Cinematographer: Rafael Corkidi

Composers: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Nacho Méndez

Cast: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Mara Lorenzio, Brontis Jodorowsky, Robert John, Jacqueline Luis, Julien de Meriche, Paula Romo

A wandering gunslinger abandons his perma-naked seven-year-old son to be with a woman that he has just met, who challenges him to kill the desert’s four greatest gunfighters in order to earn her love, before becoming a Christ-like figure to a mountain dwelling community of incest-induced cripples, in Jodorowsky’s frequently hilarious, irony-drenched, and generally rather bonkers allegorical western. Iain.Stott

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Best Avoided

USA/UK

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Wes Craven

Cinematographer: Jacques Haitkin

Composer: Charles Bernstein

Cast: Heather Langenkamp, Ronee Blakley, John Saxon, Johnny Depp, Robert Englund, Amanda Wyss, Nick Corri

Filled with crummy dialogue, hammy performances, and dodgy effects work, Craven’s admittedly stylish tale of a murdered serial killer enacting vengeance upon the children of his killers through their dreams provides, in some parts at least, good, camp, unintentionally funny, post-pub entertainment – in other parts, though, it is merely embarrassing. Iain.Stott

Pieces of April (2003)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Peter Hedges

Cinematographer: Tami Reiker

Composer: Stephin Merritt

Cast: Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, Oliver Platt, Derek Luke, Alison Pill, John Gallagher Jr., Lillias White, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Sean Hayes

April, the black sheep of the family, now living in a rundown area of New York, is busily preparing dinner for her soon-to-arrive parents and siblings when she realises that her oven isn’t working, leaving her to search desperately amongst her neighbours for a spare one to use, hoping to make what may be her mother’s final Thanksgiving (she is suffering from cancer) perfect, despite the fact that they have never got on together, in Hedges’s gentle, affecting, and (despite its somewhat hokey premise) generally quite delightful comedy-drama – some of the humour misses a little, though. Iain.Stott

Heartbreaker (2010)

Not Recommended

France/USA

Feature Film

Original Title: L'arnacoeur

Director: Pascal Chaumeil

Writers: Jeremy Doner, Yohan Gromb, Laurent Zeitoun

Cinematographer: Thierry Arbogast

Composer: Klaus Badelt

Cast: Romain Duris, Vanessa Paradis, Julie Ferrier, François Damiens, Héléna Noguerra, Andrew Lincoln, Jacques Frantz

Against his better judgement (the case doesn’t strictly meet with his usual criteria), but made necessary by financial need, Alex, a man who offers a service to break up relationships by seducing the female party, agrees to come between a beautiful heiress and her handsome English fiancé, but matters are complicated somewhat when he gradually finds himself falling for her, in Chaumeil’s charmingly played and sporadically entertaining yet horribly predictable and decidedly lightweight rom-com. Iain.Stott

A Colt Is My Passport (1967)

Recommended

Japan

Feature Film

Original Title: 拳銃は俺のパスポート

Director: Nomura Takashi

Writers: Nagahara Shuichi, Yamada Nobuo, Fujiwara Shinji

Cinematographer: Mine Shigeyoshi

Composer: Ibe Harumi

Cast: Shishido Jō, Kobayashi Chitose, Fujio Jerry, Fukae Shoki, Yamada Zenji, Esumi Eimei, Hongō Jun

After killing a gang boss at the behest of a rival, Shuji, an expert hitman, and Shun, his more naïve accomplice, find the act of leaving the country particularly difficult, a task made even more so when the two gangs join forces, leaving them (but for a kind maid) all on their own, in Nomura’s stylish and suspenseful gangster film-cum-pseudo western. Iain.Stott

Being John Malkovich (1999)

USA

Feature Film

Director: Spike Jonze

Writer: Charlie Kaufman

Cinematographer: Lance Acord

Composer: Carter Burwell

Cast: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich, Orson Bean

A talented but struggling puppeteer, forced to take a job as a file clerk, discovers a portal that leads directly into the brain of John Malkovich, allowing whoever travels through it to see the world through the eyes of the renowned actor for 15 minutes, which he, along with his wife and an attractive work colleague (whom they both fall for), look to exploit, in Jonze and Kaufman’s intelligent, imaginative, and often hilarious existential comedy-drama. Iain.Stott

Brazil (1985)

UK/USA

Feature Film

Director: Terry Gilliam

Writers: Terry Gilliam, Charles McKeown, Tom Stoppard

Cinematographer: Roger Pratt

Composer: Michael Kamen

Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Katherine Helmond, Robert De Niro, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin, Ian Richardson, Jim Broadbent

A mild mannered records clerk, the only child of a wealthy and powerful family, reluctantly finds himself on the way to the top when his mother finagles him a promotion to Information Retrieval; but after meeting the girl of his dreams, a suspected terrorist, his future suddenly seems quite bleak, in Gilliam’s frequently hilarious, hugely visually imaginative, and ever relevant dystopian fantasy. Iain.Stott

The Song of Lunch (2010)

Recommended

Short Television Film

Director: Niall MacCormick

Writers: Niall MacCormick, Christopher Reid

Cinematographer: Jan Jonaeus

Composer: Srdjan Kupjel

Cast: Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson

Adapted from Christopher Reid’s 2009 narrative poem, a pathos-laden look at the horrors of middle-age, MacCormick’s sensual short film depicts a boozy, acrimonious lunch between a cynical book editor and an old flame, whom he has not seen for fifteen years, in one of their old haunts. Iain.Stott

Clean, Shaven (1993)

USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Lodge Kerrigan

Cinematographer: Teodoro Maniaci

Composer: Hahn Rowe

Cast: Peter Greene, Robert Albert, Megan Owen, Jennifer MacDonald, Molly Castelloe

A schizophrenic ex-con, desperately searching for his estranged daughter, and a grizzled detective, searching for a the killer of a young girl, arrive in a small coastal town at about the same time, with their paths seemingly destined to cross, in Kerrigan’s disquieting and horrific yet compassionate portrait of severe mental illness. Iain.Stott

Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

USA

Feature Film

Director/Composer: Clint Eastwood

Writers: William Broyles Jr., Paul Haggis, James Bradley, Ron Powers

Cinematographer: Tom Stern

Cast: Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, John Benjamin Hickey, John Slattery, Barry Pepper, Jamie Bell, Paul Walker, Robert Patrick, Neal McDonough, Melanie Lynskey

Three US Marines, captured in an iconic photograph of a flag raising in the midst of the battle for Iwo Jima, cope markedly differently with the fame and attention heaped upon them by a war weary nation during a war bonds fundraising tour, in Eastwood’s horrific, affecting, and painfully authentic feeling exploration of propaganda, the myth of heroism, and the multifaceted tragedies or war and its aftermath. Iain.Stott

Slave of Love (1976)

Recommended

Soviet Union

Feature Film

Original Title: Раба любви

Director: Nikita Mikhalkov

Writers: Fridrikh Gorenshtein, Andrey Mikhalkov-Konchalovskiy

Cinematographer: Pavel Lebeshev

Composer: Eduard Artemiev

Cast: Yelena Solovey, Rodion Nahapetov, Aleksandr Kalyagin, Oleg Basilashvili, Konstantin Grigoryev, Nikolai Pastukhov

Whilst the 1917 revolution rages across the country, Olga a popular silent film star, in balmy southern Russia filming her latest opus, falls in love with the production’s cameraman, a covert revolutionary who awakens her political consciousness, and becomes increasingly involved in the uprising, in Mikhalkov’s stylish and wistfully romantic period piece. Iain.Stott

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

USA/UK

Feature Film

Director: David Yates

Writers: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling

Cinematographer: Bruno Delbonnel

Composer: Nicholas Hooper

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Alan Rickman, Tom Felton, Helena Bonham Carter, Bonnie Wright, Frank Dillane

There’s more romance and humour, and the starry cameos continue to rack up, but this sixth Hogwarts film, in which we learn more about Lord Voldemort’s past and of his potential weakness, sees Harry Potter (and the film series) essentially treading water, patiently setting up the climactic battles set to follow in the final films. Iain.Stott

The Prestige (2006)

Recommended

USA/UK

Feature Film

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writers: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Priest

Cinematographer: Wally Pfister

Composer: David Julyan

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Piper Perabo, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Samantha Mahurin, David Bowie, Andy Serkis

Nolan’s gorgeously shot, expertly structured, and slyly entertaining adaptation of Priest’s late 19th century set science fiction novel depicts the obsessive rivalry that builds up between two successful magicians, former friends and colleagues, after the onstage death of one of their wives, following their increasingly desperate attempts to one-up each other. Iain.Stott

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

USA/UK

Feature Film

Director: David Yates

Writers: Michael Goldenberg, J.K. Rowling

Cinematographer: Slawomir Idziak

Composer: Nicholas Hooper

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Imelda Staunton, Gary Oldman, Helena Bonham Carter, Evanna Lynch, Alan Rickman, Jason Isaacs

With the ministry disinclined to believe his account of the return of Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter spends the majority of his fifth year at Hogwarts fighting bureaucracy, wilful ignorance, and political backbiting rather than evil, in this latest instalment of the popular series, its darkest and most accomplished episode to date. Iain.Stott

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

USA/UK

Feature Film

Director: Mike Newell

Writers: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling

Cinematographer: Roger Pratt

Composer: Patrick Doyle

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Robert Pattinson, Miranda Richardson, Timothy Spall, David Tennant

When Harry Potter becomes the surprise fourth competitor in The Triwizard Tournament, a potentially deadly magical contest between three schools to find the year’s champion wizard, not everyone (including Harry himself) is overly pleased by the perplexing and vaguely troubling turn of events, in this pleasingly dark and relatively scary fourth Hogwarts film. Iain.Stott

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

USA/UK

Feature Film

Director: Alfonso Cuarón

Writers: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling

Cinematographer: Michael Seresin

Composer: John Williams

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, Timothy Spall, Emma Thompson, Tom Felton

When convicted murderer Sirius Black escapes from Azkaban prison, rumours of his allegiance to Lord Voldemort and hatred of Harry Potter begin to circulate, leaving one and all to fear for the life of our bespectacled young hero, in this playful, imaginative, and stylish third Rowling adaptation. Iain.Stott

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

USA/Germany/UK

Feature Film

Director: Chris Columbus

Writers: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling

Cinematographer: Roger Pratt

Composer: John Williams

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris, Robbie Coltrane, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Tom Felton, Jason Isaacs, Christian Coulson

Though the effects and juvenile performances have largely been improved upon, this second Harry Potter adaptation is generally less entertaining than the first one, due in no small part to the interminable, gooily sentimental final ten minutes; never the less, its gently humorous, adventure laden core makes it, in the main, diverting enough. Iain.Stott

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)

USA/UK

Feature Film

Original Title: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Director: Chris Columbus

Writers: Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowling

Cinematographer: John Seale

Composer: John Williams

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris, Robbie Coltrane, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Ian Hart, Tom Felton

After living the first eleven years of his life with his non-magical aunt and uncle, following the death of his witch mother and wizard father, Harry Potter, unaware of his mystical heritage, is whisked off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he is soon making new friends and enemies, and getting into various scrapes and adventures, in this amiable, mildly diverting adaptation of Rowling’s popular children’s book. Iain.Stott

The Kids Are All Right (2010)

Recommended

USA/France

Feature Film

Director: Lisa Cholodenko

Writers: Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko

Cinematographer: Igor Jadue-Lillo

Composers: Carter Burwell, Nathan Larson, Craig Wedren

Cast: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson, Yaya DaCosta, Kunal Sharma, Eddie Hassell, Zosia Mamet

In the summer before she is due to start at university, Joni, along with her 15-year-old brother, Laser, the children of a pair of bourgeois lesbians, seek out their sperm donor father, Paul, an earthy restaurateur, forming a relationship that will lead to numerous ups and downs, in Cholodenko’s warm, witty, and thoroughly compelling family drama. Iain.Stott

Eloge de l'Amour (2001)

Recommended

France/Germany/Switzerland

Feature Film

Original Title: Éloge de l'amour

Writer/Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Cinematographers: Julien Hirsch, Christophe Pollock

Cast: Bruno Putzulu, Cecile Camp, Jean Davy, Françoise Verny, Audrey Klebaner, Jérémie Lippmann, Claude Baignières, Rémo Forlani, Mark Hunter

Perhaps his most affecting film, Godard’s Eloge de l'Amour, a vaguely esoteric and contentious exploration of love, history, and globalisation, is presented in two parts: the first, sumptuously shot in black and white, concerns a young Parisian’s attempts to understand what it means to be an adult through a project he is preparing; the second, set two years earlier and filmed with strikingly unconventional colour photography, details a Hollywood company’s purchasing of an elderly couple’s wartime resistance memories. Iain.Stott

Pat and Margaret (1994)

Recommended

Television Film

Series Title: Screen One (1989-1994)

Director: Gavin Millar

Writer: Victoria Wood

Cinematographer: John Daly

Composer: Colin Towns

Cast: Victoria Wood, Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Duncan Preston, Thora Hird, Don Henderson, Deborah Grant, Shirley Stelfox

Two sisters – one the biggest soap star on American television, and the other a motorway services restaurant worker – are reunited (thanks to a live television programme) after 27 years apart, a turn of events more welcomed by the latter than the former, who is not so keen on the idea of having her closets searched for skeletons, in Victoria Wood’s laugh-out-loud funny culture clash comedy, which features a number of excellent comic performances, though its various plot strands are, perhaps, resolved a little too tidily. Iain.Stott

Ponyo (2008)

Cautiously Recommended

Japan

Animated Feature Film

Original Title: 崖の上のポニョ

Writer/Director: Miyazaki Hayao

Cinematographer: Okui Atsushi

Composer: Hisaishi Jō

Cast: Noah Cyrus, Frankie Jonas, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Cloris Leachman, Lily Tomlin, Betty White

In Miyazaki’s imaginative, good natured animated film, a five-year-old boy, whose father is always away at sea and whose mother is more than a tad batty, falls in love with a fish-girl hybrid who longs to be human; but when she gets her wish, the natural order is pushed out of balance, and the world’s oceans begin to rise, threatening to engulf humanity. Iain.Stott

Three Times (2005)

Recommended

Taiwan/France

Feature Film

Original Title: 最好的時光

Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien

Writers: Chu T'ien-wen, Hou Hsiao-hsien

Cinematographer: Mark Lee Ping Bin

Cast: Shu Qi, Chang Chen, Lee Pei-Hsuan

Hou’s ravishingly photographed and strongly acted film relates three love stories featuring the same protagonists from three different years: the first, set in 1966 against a backdrop of smoky snooker halls, is a delightfully gentle and romantic boy-meets-girl tale; the second, set against the Wuchang Uprising of 1911, depicts a sort-of-romance between a courtesan and a philanthropic client; and the final part, set in present day Taipei, portrays a torrid affair between a photographer and a singer. Iain.Stott

The Circle (2000)