'The supernatural potential of a horror film'
Given the content of most horror films, it’s not always a genre easily squared with the Catholic tradition. However, there is one horror film on the Vatican’s list of 45 significant films – Nosferatu (1922). The film is director FW Murnau’s unauthorised adaptation of Dracula and an important trend-setter in the realm of horror cinema.
With the location moved to Germany and the vampire-hunter character of Van Helsing removed, the film begins with…
The Vatican film list from 1995 contains two films that Pope Francis declares to be his favourites. The first I’ve reviewed, Babette’s Feast; the second is an Italian film famed Italian director, Federico Fellini, his 1954 Oscar winner La Strada.
‘Fellini-esque’ is an important descriptor in film criticism these days. It denotes something whimsical, comic and fantastical, in a manner akin to dreams, where reality becomes porous, vivid and – in my view – deeply self-indulgent.
La Strada comes at…
In a small tent in a desert, thousands of years in the past, the seed of modernity is sown by the aged patriarch of a small tribe. From this seed sprouted first Judaism, then Christianity. However it may be denied, here begins the West, far away in the East: all that followed and continues to follow is the imitation of this first story. All that follows is the result of that first fall.
Olmi mixes the impressionistic with the realistic…
What a central performance! Sam Rockwell carries a stuttering, but stylish, sci-fi drama about a "man" on his own in a space station. Despite having no other actor to play off (Spacey's voice was recorded in post), Rockwell maintains such high levels of energy. His ability to create such dissimilar, yet engaging, characters is a credit to his acting ability, and also to Duncan Jones' direction. He's a bit of an unsung hero in my view: his film "Source Code"…
