There is no doubt about my Film of the Week. Not only is Satyajit Ray’s Charulata (1964) profoundly beautiful, it also happens to be hard to find at at a time when cinematic art has become a commodity to pile high and sell cheap. It’s on Channel Four on Friday (19/11) at 03:00. Set your… [continues]

Dune (2021). Directed by Denis Villeneuve. English. 155m. Showing all over. There’s a whole story to be told about the various attempts at making films of Frank Herbert’s epic space opera, but I won’t go into that. Denis Villefranche is a good filmmaker, who has made some interesting films. But this is not one of… [continues]

Don’t Look Now (1973). Directed by Nicholas Roeg, English, 110 minutes. BBC4, Thursday (28/10),  21:00. Situation Vacant: Favourite Film. For 40 years I’ve been telling people that my favourite film is Nic Roeg’s Don’t Look Now. Well, I watched it again the other night, and it is still an extraordinary piece of cinema, but I’m… [continues]

The Guildhall had three barely-publicised showings of the Egyptian film Souad (2021), so I went across to have a look. It proved to be a very engaging and worthwhile feature, by the courageous female director Ayten Amin, who came to prominence with Tahrir 2011: The Good, The Bad and the Politician (2011), a documentary made… [continues]