Wong Kar-wai's first export of signifiance is something of a work-in-progress; a softly contagious experience in which we bear witness to Asia's most idiosyncratic filmmaker in the midst of discovering his own cinematic style. Displaying signature themes of time, passing and lost moments, fragmented around interconnecting stories of violence and love, Days of Being Wild remains as a kind of modest post-80's landmark having emerged as an obvious "art" film amongst all the delirium, camp and spectacle of Hong Kong cinema at the time.
» 24.09.03 / Imprints /
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Psychedelic cult Japanese horror that's part Salvador Dali, part Twin Peaks, all Absurdism. Sort of a reaction against the proliferation of high-modernist Asian genre-horror, director Higuchinsky (yet another former music video maker) pulls out all manner of visual eccentricities to enlighten us on small-town evils, populated by Lynchian character archetypes (the pubescent female object of innocence, the sexually repressed Hardy Boy, the demonic father-figure), possessed by supernatural Marshall Macluhan vortexes.
» 07.09.03 / Imprints /
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- The Film Reader is the cinephile arm of The Lumière Reader. It publishes related news and editorials; features, interviews and essays; film and DVD reviews; film festival coverage; and an ongoing series of columns with a preference towards the marginal and underseen. [About Us]

- Lumière's NZIFF coverage has wrapped for 2008. Festival features and reviews can be revisited below. The Editor's Post-Festival Report will conclude proceedings shortly.
- Browse NZIFF Coverage


- Interviews and editorial from the NZ International Film Festivals:
- » Ben Russell on We Can Not Exist in This World Alone
- » Adam Wingard on Pop Skull
- » Yung Chang on Up the Yangtze
- » Benjamin Gilmour on Son of a Lion
- » Kathy Dudding on The Return
- » Gregory King on A Song of Good
- » NZIFF '08 Dispatch #3: New Illustration
- » NZIFF '08 Dispatch #2: Priming the Melbourne International Film Festival
- » NZIFF '08 Dispatch #1: Auckland, and onwards
- » New Directions: the New Zealand International Film Festivals 2008
Rain of the Children: All those years after In Spring One Plants Alone, Vincent Ward has a fine Tuhoe homecoming. The story of Puhi and her son Niki is sad and compelling. The director of River Queen artfully tells another important story. Problematic, but well worthy.- Paris: Gorgeous, contemporary, romantic, Paris. On beauty, youth and romance; mortality, immigration and counselling. This Bohemian treat stars La Binoche, Le Duris and a hilarious diatribe on the perils of academia.
- The Edge of Heaven: Raw and urgent as a bullet to the jugular. Head-On's Fatih Akin plumbs Turkish-German family, politics, faith and love with uncompromising, edgy intensity. In striking contrast to Acid Reflux, aka Ashes of Time Redux, it does much more than look pretty.—Alexander Bisley
Do you love movies and movie memorabilia? We have many kinds of original movie posters and vintage posters for you to browse through online.
- In Praise of The Wire
- » Taika Waititi: The Finest of Homecomings
- » Nina Davenport on Operation Filmmaker
- » Annie Goldson on An Island Calling
- » There Will Be Hope: The Films of Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
- » An Interview with Sarah Watt
- » Film Society 2008: Five Reasons to Join
- » Flight of the Conchords: "definitely in the top 3"
- » Year in Review: The Best of Film, DVD and Posters in 2007
- » Sex and Them: Californication vs Family First
- » Spike Lee's Territory
- » Syndromes of a Century: Spears, Network, and not taking it anymore
- » Fight the Power
- » Script to Screen, the Internet, and beyond
- » How irony killed satire: an earnest investigation
- » La Binoche
- » The Summer of Seth
- » Making Be Sharp, See Flat
- » The Muse of Brazilian Cinema: An Interview with Helena Ignez
- » Sign of the Times: A Struggle No More
- » Janet Goldwater on Rosita
- » Directorial Bandit: Sandor Lau on Squeegee Bandit
- » A Convenient Truth: Jeff Blitz on Spellbound
- » Year in Review: The Best of Film in 2006
- » In Praise Of: Ten Actors and Filmmakers in 2006
- » One-Sheet Wonders: The Best Movie Posters of 2006
- » Notes from the Underground: the V 24 Hour Movie Marathon 2006
- » West Coast Represent: Aunty Gaylene, Greymouth's Finest
- » The Passion of Laurie David
- » Ode to The West Wing
- Browse Film Features


By Brannavan Gnanalingam
- Selected theatrical film releases in New Zealand, rated and reviewed:
- » The Dark Knight ***
- » Dan in Real Life ***
- » I'm Not There *****
- » Rambo 4 **
- » There Will Be Blood *****
- » 2 Days in Paris ***
- » Rescue Dawn ***
- » No Country For Old Men *****
- » The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ****
- » Once ****
- » Mr Brooks ***
- » A Mighty Heart **
- » Death Proof ****
- » We're Here to Help ****
- » Venus, Evening ****/**
- » Eastern Promises ****
- » La vie en rose ****
- » Superbad **
- » Joy Division ***
- » Eagle vs Shark ****/**
- » The Simpsons Movie ***
- » Zodiac ***
- » Scoop ***
- » 28 Weeks Later ***
- » The Host ****
- » The Road to Guantanamo ****
- Short Reviews:
- » Up the Yangtze, Paris; 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
- » The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Get Smart, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Second-Hand Wedding, Charlie Bartlett
- » Street Kings, I'm Not There
- » Lars and the Real Girl, Gone Baby Gone, Four Minutes
- » Goodbye Bafana, Love in the Time of Cholera, Lady Chatterley, I Served the King of England
- » Michael Clayton, 30 Days of Night, Cloverfield, I Am Legend, Rescue Dawn, Red Road, Death at a Funeral
- Browse Film Reviews


- The Films of Carl Theodor Dreyer
- Selected Region 4 DVD releases and reissues reviewed:
- » Allan Wilson: Evolutionary
- » Bubble
- » Eagle vs Shark
- » Jesus Camp
- » Sicko
- » The West Wing: The Complete Series
- » The Wrong Man, I Confess, Stage Fright, Dial M for Murder
- » Rome: The Complete First Season
- » Entourage: Season Three, Part 2
- » The Fred Dagg All-Purpose DVD
- » Rang de Basanti, Volver, Black Sheep
- » Becoming Jane
- » Wordplay
- » Rampage
- » A Scanner Darkly
- » Pan's Labyrinth
- » Sherrybaby
- » Out of the Blue
- » Flags of Our Fathers, Letters From Iwo Jima
- » Kubrick Triple Feature, Straight Time, The Yakuza, Lust for Life, Body Heat
- » The Simpsons: Season 9
- » The Pajama Game, Young Man With a Horn
- » The Queen
- Short Reviews:
- » Underbelly, Donnie Darko: Collector's Edition, The Chaser's War on Everything, The War on Democracy, The Investigator, Secret Diary of a Call Girl
- » Outrageous Fortune: Series Three
- » Mandela: The Living Legend, We're Here to Help, Death at a Funeral, Barking Dogs Never Bite
- » The Sopranos: Season Six, The Final Episodes; I Think I Love My Wife, Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten
- » Severance, La Vie en Rose, Stephanie Daley
- Browse DVD Reviews


By Brannavan Gnanalingam
- Lumière at the New Zealand International Film Festivals 2008
- Features, reviews and columns from the film festival circuit:
- » Not Miffed: Melbourne International Film Festival 2008
- » Postnatal Neglect: A Walk to Beautiful
- » Factory Girls: Maquilapolis—City of Factories
- » Left Alone: Western Sahara—Africa's Last Colony
- » Cannes 2008: Line-up
- » Interiors: Margot at the Wedding
- » Out of Sight: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- » Midnight Cowboy: El Topo, The Holy Mountain
- » Lady-Tramp: An Old Mistress
- » Time-F**K: Southland Tales
- » Mutual Exploitation: Black, White + Gray
- » Crimes Committed: Dry Season
- » Wrong Man: Strange Culture
- » Type-Cast: Helvetica
- » Out of Africa: War/Dance
- » Eastern Promise: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
- » World Cinema Showcase 2008
- » French Film Festival 2008: Ascenseur pour l'echafaud
- » Italian Film Festival 2007: My Best Enemy, Along the Ridge
- » Festival Notes From Abroad: Marrakech, Melbourne, Venice
- Browse Festival Coverage


– Full Coverage Inside –
- Dailies—a monthly roundup of the best and rest in film and DVD:
- » Dailies (Film/DVD), Aug/Sept 2008
- » Dailies (Film/DVD), June/July 2008
- » Dailies (Film/DVD), May 2008
- » Dailies (Film/DVD), Apr 2008
- » Dailies (Film/DVD), Mar 2008
- » Dailies (Film), Feb 2008
- » Dailies (Film/DVD), Jan 2008
- » Dailies (Film), Dec/Jan 2007/08
- Appreciations—writers and critics on memorable and favourite films:
- » Tim Wong on Little Dieter Needs to Fly
- » Chris Knox on Frankenstein
- » Jessica Borrelle on The Loved One
- » Samuel Fuller and Francois Truffaut
- » Caleb Starrenburg on Rumble in the Bronx
- » Brannavan Gnanalingam on The Wizard of Oz
- » Alexander Bisley on Hana-bi
- » Philip Matthews on Planet of the Apes
- » Costa Botes on Fantastic Voyage
- » Andrew Langridge on Scream and Scream Again, and others
- » Robert Smith on O Lucky Man!
- Imprints & Unknown Pleasures—comment on film and television, past and present:
- » The Hollow Men
- » Fay Grim
- » Secret Sunshine
- » Transformers
- » Extras: Series 2 (TV)
- » Girls in Prison, Marie Antoinette
- » Adrift: Open Water 2; They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
- Film Society—dispatches from Wellington's weekly screenings:
- » Driving With My Wife's Lover
- » A State of Siege/In Spring One Plants Alone
- » Time Indefinite
- » Six Classic New Zealand Shorts
- » Persona
- » Charleen/Backyard
- » Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors
- » To Sleep With Anger
- » My Brother's Wedding
- » Killer of Sheep
- » The Glass Shield
- » Cat People
- » The Passenger
- » Zabriskie Point
- » Requiem
- » Pool of Princesses
- » Peau d'Ane
- » The Young Girls of Rochefort
- » Longing
- » Ghosts
- » Jacquot de Nantes
- » The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
- » Bay of Angels
- » Lola
- » Dazed and Confused
- » 13 Rue Madeleine
- » The House on 92nd Street
- » The Murderers Are Among Us
- » The Devil Strikes at Midnight
- » The Bridge
- » Violence des Echanges en Milieu Tempere
- » King of the Hill
- » Les Revenants
- » Waxworks
- » Forty Guns
- » I Wake Up Screaming
- » Park Row
- » Fixed Bayonets
- » Clean
- » Red Light Bandit
- » Macunaima
- » Barren Lives
- » Black God, White Devil
- » Earth Entranced
- » The Irrefutable Truth About Demons
- » Shock Corridor
- » The Naked Kiss
- » L'Esquive
- Why there is only one winner this Diwali
- Bollywood Dispatch—Gautaman Bhaskaran on Indian Cinema:
- » [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [14.5] [15] [16] [17] [18]
Sapna Samant on
Bollywood's holiday movies
Bollywood's holiday movies
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