Welcome to ‘Have You Seen….’ a regular column exploring an interesting film that is worthy of greater attention – for good or for ill. The focus is on the underseen, the undersung or the underrated – or just those films you just need to write about. The focus is analysis more than evaluation so, expect … Continue reading Have You Seen… Meeting the Man: James Baldwin in Paris (1971/2021)?
Category: Films
Overseas (Review)
A vital and affecting exposé of a horrifying system. The filmmaker takes us inside a centre where Filipino women are trained to work as maids overseas, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). The whole situation is horrible, the women are preparing to be sent off into slavery - given a meagre wage for exploitative contracts that they … Continue reading Overseas (Review)
Josep (Review)
Art can do so much, especially when intersecting with reality. It is so tempting, when presenting reality, to slip into the objective and the strictly realist - thinking it adds reality and truth. Of course, none of us experience the world objectively and art that explores reality is at its best when it takes advantage … Continue reading Josep (Review)
Citadel (Review)
The short film shot from a filmmaker’s room during lockdown has already become somewhat of a cliché (Mati Diop’s In My Room being a highlight of the genre). This view out of a London window during Covid lockdown fits firmly into that category, but filmmaker John Smith adds a political edge that makes this stand … Continue reading Citadel (Review)
Psycho Goreman (Review)
Horror-comedy Psycho Goreman is exactly the kind of film you expect from something called Pscyho Goreman. The title is a wonderful litmus test: if you hear it and want to watch it, it will scratch the itch you’re looking for; if you are the kind of strange being not excited by a film called Psycho … Continue reading Psycho Goreman (Review)
Have You Seen… Samurai Rebellion (1967)?
Welcome to ‘Have You Seen….’ a regular column exploring an interesting film that is worthy of greater attention – for good or for ill. The focus is on the underseen, the undersung or the underrated – or just those films you just need to write about. The focus is analysis more than evaluation so, expect … Continue reading Have You Seen… Samurai Rebellion (1967)?
Have You Seen… The Girlfriend Experience (2009)?
Welcome to ‘Have You Seen….’ a regular column exploring an interesting film that is worthy of greater attention – for good or for ill. The focus is on the underseen, the undersung or the underrated – or just those films you just need to write about. The focus is analysis more than evaluation so, expect … Continue reading Have You Seen… The Girlfriend Experience (2009)?
Hamilton (Review)
The concrete legacy of Hamilton will always be important: giving starring roles to people of colour and putting them on the biggest broadway stage, a stage that was hitherto dominated by whiteness and homogeneity. Though this is no saviour of theatre, and has done little to inspire similar shows in its wake, it did provide … Continue reading Hamilton (Review)
About Endlessness (Review)
Nobody makes films like Roy Andersson. The only issue with this is that Roy Andersson repeatedly makes films like Roy Andersson, and his style is so specific that its utter uniqueness becomes, paradoxically, repetitive. Each Roy Andersson film is like nothing else but, since 2000’s Songs from the Second Floor, each following film has been … Continue reading About Endlessness (Review)
Rocks (Review)
This pitch perfect evocation of teenage life (specially teenage girls and primarily people of colour) ends with this statement in the credits: ‘The cast and many other young Londonds collaborated with the writers and filmmakers to create the characters and world of our film.’ This collaborative approach, an ethos further enforced by the want to … Continue reading Rocks (Review)
Assorted Opinions 