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…
For me at least, there could be few BluRay releases more welcome than a new boxed set of four classic crime serials by Louis Feuillade. ‘Louis who?’ you may be wondering, and not without reason, even if the French filmmaker was enormously successful back in the 1910s, i.e. in the years when the cinema was … Continue reading Crime, Conspiracy and the Prospect of Chaos: Four Filmic Triumphs from Louis Feuillade
notes and observations by Geoff Andrew 