Favorite films

Recent reviews

• 

  North by Northwest 1959

  ★★★★ Watched 18 Mar 2025

  This is 'Tenet' before 'Tenet'.
  What fascinates me most about Hitchcock's transition from b/w to color is the chromatic brilliance, the lighting and the color grading in relation to the sets and locations used; the composition of the image is astonishing, nowadays it is really difficult to find directors and technicians capable of creating films with such richness without resorting too much to digital (which often, if used invasively, flattens and uniforms every shot). As for the plot, there is…

• 

  All About Eve 1950

  ★★★★½ Watched 14 Mar 2025

  What an incredible film.. crazy to think that the direction and screenplay are the work of Herman J. Mankiewicz's "little brother", Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
  Shot in an elegant black and white 'All About Eve' has a perfect script, with some of the best dialogues I have ever heard, acting performances like few in history, Anne Baxter and Bette Davis are just wonderful; both (like the rest of the cast) demonstrate a rare ability to make every single word they pronounce…

Popular reviews

• 

  Whiplash 2014

  ★★★★★ Watched 08 Mar 2025

  Raw, brutal and very material, 'Whiplash' remains Chazelle's best work so far. Impressive acting and physical performances; without Teller and Simmons we would not have this film, they give us a dualism with few precedents, generous performances and pushed to the limit by a sharp script, with tight and very intelligent dialogues. Chazelle's directing style is perfect, dynamic, - in perfect harmony with Tom Cross's fast and magnetic editing - without drops in pace with the right moments of apparent…

• 

  Portrait of a Lady on Fire 2019

  ★★★★½ Watched 18 Feb 2025 2

  Clearly influenced by Ingmar Bergman's 'Persona' (but not only), Céline Sciamma's 'Portrait de la jeune fille en feu' is a dazzling film, stylistically magnificent and very emotional. Embellished with a simple but sumptuous mise-en-scène, the film is a study on the power of painting, on looking at oneself and being looked at and on the subtle difference between regret and memory; there's not even a need for music here: the sea waves crashing on the rocks, the 'Fugere non possum'…

Following