The Big Picture MagazineAda writes the blog Classiq, where she funnels her lifelong passion for cinema and her interest in fashion in film, of which she is a fervent proponent as one of cinema's most far-reaching influences. She is an optimistic by nature, but she hates forced happy endings. Maybe that’s why film noir is her favourite genre. She regards it as a prime contributor to restoring the balance disrupted by the traditional notion of a Hollywoodian happy ending.
Wes Anderson’s films dispose of a rich scale of forms of expression and an astounding artistic freedom. He is the kind of director who has a true, artistic visual vision and he needs hand-picked, incredibly talented production designers who can speak the same language and bring his vision to life. This is creative filmmaking and […]
East Germany, 1980. Barbara is a doctor who works in a hospital in a small provincial town. This is her punishment for attempting to emigrate to the West. She used to work in the biggest hospital in Berlin. Now she is kept under constant surveillance, secluded in the country, with nobody to trust. She does […]
There are few things I appreciate about a film more than its sense of place. That’s what Peter Weir achieved in The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). The mood and the recreation of the Indonesian locale are so extraordinary (he used Manila and the Philippines as a stand-in for Djakarta and Indonesia) that they give […]
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) is at its 50th anniversary this year and it deserves to be celebrated. It’s one of the films that made me aware of the creative process that is filmmaking, one of the films that made me love cinema. It remains my favourite Rainer Werner Fassbinder film. Seductive […]
Is Katharine Hepburn playing herself in Bringing Up Baby (1938)? And if so, why not? Katharine Hepburn turned Hollywood on its head. She fearlessly and uncompromisingly set out to become a star in an industry that wanted greatness on its own terms, an industry that often tried to destroy the original few. She wanted greatness […]
In one of the best films of last year, The Lost Daughter (2021), Maggie Gyllenhaal, in her directorial debut, explores the complexities of motherhood. The film is an adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel by the same name and has as center character a terrific Olivia Colman as Leda, a middle-aged university professor in Cambridge, Boston, […]
In Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), Faye Dunaway is a fashion photographer with a penchant for sensationalism and stylised violence in her imagery. But between the luridness of the fashion and the precision of her photography, there is something indistinct, unknown and unexpected that takes her to the edge. Director Irvin Kershner plunges viewers into […]
I’ve made a habit of watching Three Days of the Condor (1975) over the holidays. It’s a Christmas classic. But the word Christmas doesn’t even spark a line of dialogue. The jolly music heard over the radio or on the streets is the only indication of the time of year. Even the snow-barren streets, although […]
There is something sordid about the atmosphere of a small-time, small-town carnival. Comedians trapped in tragic roles. The performers may be under the limelight, but it is the dim light of a would-be only in hope, because they are always on the way towards something bigger but are often left bitter beyond any hope of […]