Big was the excitement when in 2016 HBO announced a mini-series which would be directed by the Italian Paolo Sorrentino (La grande Bellezza), one of the greats in contemporary arthouse cinema. Curiosity grew when title and topic were announced: „The Young Pope“. And the confusion was perfect when it was revealed who would play this …
Melodramas are the filmic equivalent to country or arabesque music- they have a history of being stubbornly dismissed by the cultural elites who labeled them as sentimental and fatalistic trash for the simple and stupid people, and intolerably inferior to arthouse. This closed-minded understanding of arthouse cinema was temporarily exposed and suspended when Danish director …
Asian cinema has become a strong, innovative, purposeful and revitalizing beast. Recently, it has earned a unique and unmatched reputation due to its unique way to experiment with different genres. The final products often turn out to be peculiar, strange, violent and elegant. We just need to take a look at the tremendous success of …
Kilink, the Turkish super villain in a skeleton suit, who was inspired by the Italian comic hero Killing, who again was inspired by the other Italian superhero Kriminal, opens the long series of Kilink installments (11 in total*) with this blockbuster cult movie of Turkish cinema. The film’s synopsis reads like this: „Kilink visits Istanbul …
Director: Christian Mungiu Christian Mungiu is one of Romania’s most acclaimed filmmakers and part of the Romanian New Wave of Cinema. This cinematographic movement started in the middle of the 2000’s, generating an international interest in Romanian cinema. Its appearance dates back to a trilogy of essential films, all of them have been acclaimed worldwide: …
Through the years, American filmmaker Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven, I’m Not There, Carol) has created an amazing filmography with own characteristics. Through various genres, he has addressed the figure of “the outsider”- an idea that has permeated all of Haynes’ cinema, whose main theme is the conflict between the inside and the …
A Commentary on Lars von Trier’s The House That Jack Built (2019) Whose house? Which Jack? From the beginning it was a matter of material. After all, all creation, production, and construction must begin with matter. The material Jack uses as the instrument for his first in a series of murders was a car jack. …
Director: Miloš Forman Based on the book by the American writer Ken Kesey and adapted to cinema by the acclaimed Czech director Miloš Forman, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest presents the story of Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), a recidivist in the criminal system, accused of various cases of aggression. Faced with a scientific evaluation …
It would seem to be an odd approach, but playing a prostitute has been one of the surest paths to Oscar glory for many actresses. It’s a technique right up there with an actor gaining or losing tremendous amounts of weight for a role. People just notice these things. Don’t believe me? In 1960 it …
Director: Mike Leigh Mike Leigh is one of Great Britain’s most acclaimed contemporary directors, he is known for crafting monumental and realistic dramas that take place in the daily lives of ordinary British people. Leigh is a great defender of the tragic-comic sense of life, his films represent the passage of time, the importance of …
