Category Archives: Film
Distractions and Denouements:
Final Thoughts on NZIFF 2011
As ominous clouds gathered both on and off the screen at the New Zealand International Film Festival, nothing could deny the quality of cinema, nor for that matter the event’s staying power and relevance.
Die Mitte (The Centre, 2003);
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
This week at the Wellington Film Society: The heart of Europe; Lubitsch’s touch.
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Pia Marais on At Ellen’s Age
The director of The Unpolished confronts the dilemmas of ageing and belonging in her unpredictable new film.
The Story of Me (2009)
This week at the Wellington Film Society: Brazil in the spotlight.
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The Woman with the Five Elephants (2009)
This week at the Wellington Film Society: The weight of history; the power of language.
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Post-Festival Report 2011, Part 3:
Still Lives
Further dispatches from the New Zealand International Film Festival.
Fraught Families: Elena, A Separation
At the New Zealand International Film Festival: Duty, morality, and class intersect.
Sexuality and Speed:
Sleeping Beauty, Senna
At the New Zealand International Film Festival: Julia Leigh’s erroneously marketed “erotic thriller”; plus, Ayrton Senna’s fast times.
The Remembrance of Things Past:
Mysteries of Lisbon
At the New Zealand International Film Festival: Raúl Ruiz’s sprawling, magisterial epic.
Ti West on The Innkeepers
The director of The House of the Devil continues to finesse the horror genre with his latest throwback.
Post-Festival Report 2011, Part 2:
Life, Love and Death
At the New Zealand International Film Festival, reflections on the beginning and end of things.
Calypso Kings: Fire in Babylon
At the New Zealand International Film Festival: The Windies' blaze of glory.
Morgan Spurlock on
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
The affable documentarian famous for an all-McDonald’s diet turns his attention to the world of product placement in movies.
Time Crimes: Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
At the New Zealand International Film Festival: Ceylan’s rich, contemplative crime movie.
Two From Japan: 13 Assassins, Arrietty
At the New Zealand International Film Festival: Miike’s ferocious swashbuckler; Ghibli’s latest animated triumph.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: Viva Riva!
At the New Zealand International Film Festival: Gangsters and floozies in the Congolese Republic.
Post-Festival Report 2011, Part 1:
Meat, or Poison?
At the New Zealand International Film Festival, pleasure can be a polarising force.
Dictating History: The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu
At the New Zealand International Film Festival: Fragments from the rule of a Romanian Communist leader.
Send in the Clowns: The Last Circus
At the New Zealand International Film Festival: Álex de la Iglesia’s circus of horrors.
The Year in Review:
The Best of Film in 2011