Roma (1972)

 

A portrait of Rome, described through an autobiographical reconstruction of Fellini's arrival into Rome during the Mussolini years.

A very personal, even autobiographical, always loving portrayal of the city wildly mixes documentary and fictional elements in a seemingly chaotic order, but thoroughly entertaining and amusing.

Halliwell**: "Delightful mix of documentary and autobiography, combining fantasy and reality, artifice  and actuality; it is a record of the director's love affair with Rome, recalled with nostalgic affection for the past and distress for its future."

Maltin***: "Famed director's impressionistic ode to Eternal City of his youth, his adolescence, and the present - complete with fantasy sequence and usual carnival-of-life point of view." 

 

Zoïa Mossour

 

Today's Cat

 

Lauren de Graaf

 

ph: Dimitri Hyacinthe

A day in the life, Jul 31, 2020

 

A day in the life, Jul 31, 2020, objet trouvé

Charlotte Rampling

 

New Stuff: The New Yorker

 

(art: Mark Ulriksen)

Lily McMenamy

 

ph: Benjamin Lennox

New York

 

Waitress, photo by Elliott Erwitt, New York, 1955

Kylie Minogue

First Lines: Evelyn Waugh - Scoop

 

While still a young man, John Courteney Boot had, as his publisher proclaimed, 'achieved an assured and enviable position in contemporary letters.'

Anastasia Kolganova

 

ph: Thanassis Krikis

A day in the life, Jul 17, 2021

 

A day in the life, Jul 17, 2021, swallows' nest

Dora Owusu

 

The Woman (2011)

 

When a successful country lawyer captures and attempts to "civilize" the last remaining member of a violent clan that has roamed the Northeast coast for decades, he puts the lives of his family in jeopardy. 

This well-made horror films starts off as a disquietening and disturbing tale of female suppression and toxic, fascistoid male dominance till it culminates in a wildly gory and shocking finale with some twists and an ambiguous open ending.

 

Pattie Boyd

 

Today's Cat

 

Maty Fall

 ph: Julia Noni

A day in the life, Jul 30, 2020

 

A day in the life, Jul 30, 2020, a smashed bottle

Hana Soukupova

 

ph: Mario Sorrenti

New Stuff: Conversations with Meredith Monk

 

Cari Flowers

 

Yao a yao, yao dao wai po qiao (1995)

 

A provincial boy related to a Shanghai crime family is recruited by his uncle into cosmopolitan Shanghai in the 1930s to be a servant to a ganglord's mistress. 

A carefully and beautifully staged period gangster drama reveals - behind all its splendour - the true deprivations of high-end crime, especially the exploitation of women; the ending is rather depressing.

Halliwell**: "A skilled and colourful account of corruption and betrayal, which avoids on-screen violence for the most part in order to concentrate on its devastating aftermath."

Maltin***: "Absorbing tale...An intriguing companion piece to American gangster movies and another dazzling showcase for leading lady Gong Li." 

 

Ashley Hanson

 

New Stuff: Vanity of Vanities. A Tribute to Connie Converse

 

Danielle Dax

 

Immortals (2011)

 

Theseus is a mortal man chosen by Zeus to lead the fight against the ruthless King Hyperion, who is on a rampage across Greece to obtain a weapon that can destroy humanity. 

Sensationally exciting visuals meet lackluster storytelling in this star-cast mythological action romp; are there any Gods who would approve?

Maltin*1/2: "Clunky, boring film...There's nothing Olympian about the screenplay or the artificial setting in which all the action takes place. Tarsem, noted for his visual innovations in other films, succumbs to the excesses of CGI here, to minimal effect." 

 

Karlie Kloss

New Stuff: The Wire

 

Who's That Girl?

Art: Andrzej Dybowski

 

Find more at:

https://www.artstation.com/dybowski

Yasmin Wijnaldum

 

ph: Hugh Lippe

A day in the life, Jul 16, 2021

 

A day in the life, Jul 16, 2021,a duck on the roof

Susan Holmes

 

ph: Steven Meisel

Epos Dei - Die geheimnisvolle Ordnung hinter den Dingen (2010)

 

Several researchers get explain their look at their work and the related findings.

Pseudo-scientific documentary claims to reveal some hitherto "unknown" or rather "ignored" sensational scientific findings, but basically mixes some well-known facts with wild speculation and lets some self-acclaimed experts babble about their half-baked insights.

 

Carla Bruni

 

ph: Helmut Newton

Today's Cat

 

Hannah Kleit

 

ph: Adam Mont

A day in the life, Jul 29, 2020

 

A day in the life, Jul 29, 2020,Regensburg by night

Kirsten Owen

 

ph: Paolo Roversi

New Stuff: Albrecht Mayer

 

Yumi Lambert

 

ph: Marie Schuller

New York

 

Lee Friedlander. New York City, 1963

Isabella Rossellini

First Lines: Louis-Ferdinand Celine - Journey to the End of the Night

 

Here's how it started.

Twiggy

 

A day in the life, Jul 15, 2021

 

A day in the life, Jul 15, 2021, garbage

Cameron Rorrison

 

ph: Max Thompson

Trouble Every Day (2001)

 

Two American newlyweds in Paris experience a love so strong, it almost devours them.

A cannibal film with a pretense will irritate both genre fans and art house audiences with its unnecessarily slow and elliptical narrative, cold and distanced atmosphere and lots of gore; great soundtrack, though.

Halliwell (no star): "Bloody, risible, emetic movie with an emaciated narrative that has Vincent Gallo looking moody while Beatrice Dalle literally consumes her lovers."

Maltin BOMB: "So bad it's almost funny. Atrocious French concoction...One of those woebegone cinematic mistakes that make you wonder. Tindersticks' score and title song are so good they belong in another movie."