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
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’
Now in UK cinemas and by far the finest fiction film I’ve seen this year, About Dry Grasses is utterly characteristic of the longer, more recent works by the great Turkish writer-director Nuri Bilge Ceylan; at the same time it’s so engrossing throughout that it feels remarkably fresh from beginning – a brazenly Ceylanesque long … Continue reading ‘About Dry Grasses’: the superb new film by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
In December 2017 and 2018, I posted brief pieces highlighting some of my favourites movies and music which had been released on disc during the previous 12 months; I hoped they might prove helpful for anyone wondering what to buy for Christmas presents. The posts seemed to go down quite well, so this year I’m … Continue reading Movies and music for Christmas 2019 (and beyond…)
As last year, here are some recommendations for the upcoming BFI London Film Festival. There are, of course, many films in the festival that I haven’t yet seen, some of which I am greatly looking forward to. (For me Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma and Mike Leigh’s Peterloo are merely the most immediately enticing; since posting this piece … Continue reading The 2018 London Film Festival: some personal recommendations
While last year’s Cannes - the 70th edition of the Festival – was a little underwhelming, this year’s event turned out to be pretty rewarding, at least in terms of the main competition. While I wouldn’t claim that it produced any indisputable masterpieces, there were many very good films on offer, and around five or … Continue reading The 2018 Cannes Film Festival: My Top 12 Movies
notes and observations by Geoff Andrew 