Until the recent release of a three-disc BluRay set on Criterion’s ‘Eclipse’ series, most of the films by the late, very great Iranian writer-director Abbas Kiarostami made before his 1986 breakthrough feature Where Is the Friend’s House? have been almost impossible to see, surfacing only at occasional retrospectives around the world. With the sole exception … Continue reading Kiarostami at Kanoon: Early Jewels from a Cinematic Giant
It is our loss that Michael Haneke, undoubtedly one of the most important writer-directors of recent times – and, in my opinion (for what that’s worth) probably our greatest living filmmaker – seems no longer to be at work. Before Covid hit, the Austrian had apparently written a television series about the effects of globalisation … Continue reading More Gems from Michael Haneke: the TV Films
I have always failed to understand why the films of the Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have seldom attained the box-office success they’ve deserved in the UK. I had been totally knocked out by the first film of theirs I saw – La Promesse - when it played in the 1996 London Film Festival, … Continue reading Modest but Masterly: the Dardennes’ Brilliant ‘Young Mothers’
There are currently a couple of very fine French movies playing in and around London and the UK, but since each is what many in the industry regard as a ‘small film’ – lasting a mere 100 minutes or so, with no stars, dealing with more or less ordinary people leading more or less ordinary … Continue reading Two Very Impressive New French Films: Catch ’em While You Can…
While little contemporary American filmmaking is to my taste – most of it’s not made for people of my age – there are a number of dependably rewarding directors whose new movies I always make a point of catching; one such, undoubtedly, is the prolific Steven Soderbergh. Since I first saw sex, lies and videotape back … Continue reading Black Bag and Steven Soderbergh: a talent to treasure
I’ve been posting my ‘best of the year’ lists since I first started writing here in 2016, and on each occasion I felt a need to mention in passing the state of the UK and of the world. Well, we may have got rid of the wretched Tories, but what with Trump, Musk et al, … Continue reading My Best Movies, Music, Books, etc, in 2024
Back in 2008, a couple of days after Clint Eastwood’s Changeling had premiered in Cannes, I interviewed him about the film. During the small talk before we discussed the movie, I mentioned in passing that I’d been sitting just in front of him the day before at the Festival’s tribute to the great Portuguese director … Continue reading Another Fine New Eastwood Movie – See It While (If?) You Can
No longer a programme advisor to the BFI London Film Festival, I haven’t yet seen many movies in this year’s edition (now underway and continuing until Sunday 20th October), but there are a few films I've already caught which I feel I should recommend. I’m sure there are others well worth investigating (I myself am … Continue reading Four Recommendations for the London Film Festival
In early 2021, writing about Godfrey Cheshire’s book of interviews, Conversations with Kiarostami, I bemoaned the fact that there were so few decent books (in English, at least) about the late and very great Iranian filmmaker, photographer, poet and artist Abbas Kiarostami (1940-2016). Several years on, the situation has hardly changed, which is why I’m … Continue reading Cinematic Genius Surveyed: ‘In the Time of Kiarostami’
When, in early 2020, I wrote a piece about a rather marvellous installation by the great Spanish-Basque filmmaker Víctor Erice, I wasn’t, I confess, very optimistic that we’d ever see any more movies by him. Imagine my pleasure, then, when I learned a couple of years later that he was about to embark on the … Continue reading ‘Close Your Eyes’ – the latest film from the great Víctor Erice (this one you can certainly see!)
notes and observations by Geoff Andrew 