Mike Leigh’s first venture into the musical and out-and-out costume drama, this is the story of how playwright W. S. Gilbert (Jim Broadbent) and composer Arthur Sullivan (Allan Corduner) created The Mikado (1885), the comic opera that saved their careers. It brings to life the nature of creative partnerships, the world of musical theatre, and the wider… [continues]

 Blue Velvet, which is on Sunday at 23:15 on Film4, is David Lynch’s early, eerie masterpiece. It is the story of a young man (Kyle McLachlan, who was later to appear in Twin Peaks) who becomes obsessed with a nightclub singer (Isabella Rossellini), who is herself in the grip of a gang of criminals who have kidnapped… [continues]

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]