New-to-me Directors: Peter Greenaway

After Sergei Parajanov, the next director I chose to turn my attention to was acclaimed British director Peter Greenaway.

When it comes to British directors, most film buffs will immediately think of the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean, Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, Edgar Wright and Danny Boyle.
And while these are all great directors, some more than others perhaps, one name is always left out, sometimes purposefully so it seems.
Take for example Empire's list of the 100 Best British films, all the expected choices are there, although the order they are ranked in is very problematic, with a notable exception. Peter Greenaway is one of the finest British directors, so why is he never mentioned? Why are his films always left off such lists? Surely he isn't overly obscure, he had his moment of fame in the late 80's, with The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover.

The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover is the first Greenaway film I have seen, but I was so amazed that I immediately got hold of most of the rest of his work, and have since seen 3 more of his films, all of which I have loved.
But I will try to write this review in keeping with my initial reaction to the film.

New-to-me Directors: Sergei Parajanov

 With my previous post detailing my aim to see at least one film of the many acclaimed directors I had missed out on, I embarked on a large project. And I've decided to keep track of it through this blog, every time I watch my first film of one of the directors listed, I shall review it here and express my first impressions of the director. This should prove to be a most interesting project and will help me keep track of my progress.
It may also be a rather uneven project, as I have also many other films than those included in this project to watch, as well as various other projects and of course, work. But I'll do my best, and we'll see how this turns out.
I'll also update the original post each time I cross one director off the list, links to the reviews will be found there.

The Colour Of Pomegranates (1968) is the film I chose to mark my first encounter with the work of Armenian director Sergei Parajanov. It is widely considered his masterpiece, as well as one of the most visually magnificent films in Cinema. As this is the first film I've seen of his, I can't comment on the former statement, but the latter is certainly true.

Blockbuster Review: Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes - 2011

The more I grow as a film buff, the further I move away from Hollywood blockbusters, which nonetheless sum up the medium for the majority of people.
I have discovered some wonderful works of cinema over the past couple of years, and yet I am still unable to completely ignore Hollywood blockbusters, I am time and time again disappointed and yet I still persist in seeing most of the major ones each year. And for once, I'm glad I did, for I have finally come across a film that sits squarely within the category of blockbuster and yet is a very good film, proving that while enormous amounts of money doesn't guarantee quality, it does not make it impossible to obtain either.

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes is everything one could want from a blockbuster, and nothing more, it is not a great film by any means, but it is all a blockbuster should be, something that seems increasingly hard for blockbusters to deliver these days.

End Of The Week Post

Sorry for my abscence, these past couple of weeks have been particularly busy for me. But I've decided to get back into blogging now and should keep it up for the whole of September at least.


Films seen since Sunday 14th August :

Blue - 1993 directed by Kryzysztof Kieslowski
8/10
After seeing Kieslowski's The Double Life Of Veronique, I was intirgued by this director's work and decided to watch his celebrated Three Colours Trilogy.
 This first film in the trilogy is an interesting one and is often considered the best. I can't say I fully understood it, but it certainly is a most beautiful piece of cinema, and is the most impressive of the trilogy in terms of it's use of the titular colour.
I realise that it was a film aimed primarily at capturing a state of mind on film, rather than a series of events. Fortunately the central performance by Juliette Binoche is impressive enough for this to work and it makes for an all around good film, that somehow left me slightly underwhelmed.

International/Classic Review: A Bittersweet Life - 2005

Every now and then a film I watch a film that leaves me completely astounded, and occasionally even restores my faith in Cinema. A Bittersweet Life is one of these films, it isn't particularly original as it is made up of elements that will be familiar to most film buffs, it has no monumental performances from it's cast, and makes no major technical breakthroughs. And yet it has something that is not often seen in recent films, it has a deliberate sense of self, an identity that I find lacking in many similar films these days, and more importantly, it has a soul.

This may sound silly, but that is what makes all the difference between this film and the many other vapid and dull "gangster" films released each year.
Perhaps this is because it is a Korean film (original title: Dalkomhan insaeng), and the Korean film industry is a relatively new one that seems to be at the height of it's powers at the moment, producing one great film after another and completely outdoing Hollywood in one of their own staple genres, the Thriller, in particularly the investigative thriller (police vs psychos).

A Bittersweet life isn't really a detective thriller, I'd say if it had to be put into a genre, it would be a gangster film.

Top 50: Directors Whose Work I Need To Explore

After a couple of years of film watching with purpose, I've seen quite a few films and have become familiar with many directors works. But as always (and as is evident by this previous post) there are some directors whose work I have yet to experience. Some are internationally famous directors, other more obscure, but I have been recommended their work many times and feel that the time has come for me to watch at least one of their films.