The long way back to normality: Shohei Imamura’s The Eel
After serving eight years in prison for the murder of his wife, Takuro Yamashita (Koji Yakusho) is released on probation…
Recent Posts
Time for Tweed: Julie Christie in Don’t Look Now
“Eschewing the normal rules of commercial entertainment, Roeg’s films deal in raw emotion, shaking our preconceptions about civilisation and cinema….
Human fragility: Sang-il Lee’s Unforgiven
Sang-il Lee’s Unforgiven (Yurusarezaru mono, 2013) bears many similarities with Clint Eastwood’s eponymous masterpiece from 1992. The storyline and narrative…
Big Picture contributors’ top 5 films of 2018
2018 has been another great year for cinema. Read on for our regular contributors’ eclectic top 5 lists, in which…
Toshiro Mifune – Intense acting and inventive spirit
When I began working on Akira Kurosawa, the pivotal role for his cinema of Toshiro Mifune (b. 1 April 1920…
The taste of humanity: Tampopo
At the core of Juzo Itami’s Tampopo (1985) is the ambition of the central character, Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto), to produce…
New Releases: Crazy Rich Asians
I recently saw Crazy Rich Asians, and afterwards joked that it’s one of the most interesting of the Disney cartoon-princess…
Seeing race through a new lens: how a 22-year old filmmaker is challenging identity in America
While countless college freshman spent their days deciding which clubs and societies to join and whether they should major in…
Gloria Grahame’s best film noir performances: Part II
Human Desire (1954), directed by Fritz Lang “It seems that Jean Renoir and Fritz Lang had in common a taste…
