Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di bicyclette, Italy, 1948)

What happens when you watch a ‘classic’ movie – and there are not a lot that are more ‘classic’ than Bicycle Thieves – and you think ‘that was good’;  ‘good’ is not  good enough for ‘classic’. The ‘good’ reaction was the first I had nearly 30 years ago, when I saw the film twice; in [...]

Germany Year Zero (Germania anno zero, Italy, 1948)

Germany Year Zero was director Roberto Rossellini’s third World War II film and it followed Rome, Open City (1945) and Paisa (1946) in filming, on location, the ‘here and now’ of the end and aftermath of the war. While both use melodrama as much as realism, Germany Year Zero is probably the bleakest, which is [...]

Los olvidados (The Forgotten Ones, Mexico, 1950)

This is a fascinating film as it’s obviously heavily influenced by neo realism however it was made by a renown surrealist, Luis Bunuel. How to square the two, apparently, disparate forms? Like his (neo realist) Italian counterparts, Bunuel shoots on location ,however he uses professional actors. Also, similarly, we are offered a ’slice of life’ [...]

The Navigators (UK-Germany-Spain, 2001)

This is a wonderful dramatisation of the stupidity of ‘free market’ economics. As British Rail was dismantled, having been starved of investment for years, the private sector moved in with flashy logos and cut price practices. As ‘headline’ unemployment in the UK barrels over 2 million, it is useful to be reminded of the the [...]

Looking for Eric (UK-France-Italy-Belguim-Spain, 2009)

There can be few more surreal moments than Eric Cantona blasting out La Marseillaise on a trumpet high up on a block of flats in Manchester to have appeared in a Ken Loach film. Loach is renowned as a realist filmmaker so to dramatise a figment of Eric’s (beautifully played by Steve Evets) imagination with [...]

Platform (Zhantai, Hong Kong-China-Japan-France, 2000)

Whilst Xiao Wu focused on one individual experiencing the transition to capitalism in China, Platform follows a theatrical troupe during the 1980s, a period of vast change as Deng Xiaoping instituted economic changes. Jia Zhangke’s second feature is stylistically very different from the handheld realism of Xiao Wu; often the motionless camera observes the action [...]

Xiao Wu (China-Hong Kong, 1997)

Director Jia Zhangke dropped beneath my radar, for some reason, until I saw Still Life (2006); that presented me with the enticing prospect of ‘catching up’ on some terrific films. It’s obvious to go chronologically so, surprisingly, I am; Xiao Wu was his first feature. Heavily influenced by Italian neo realists, and Bresson’s Pickpocket (France, [...]

Shoeshine (Italy, 1946)

Preceded Bicycle Thieves and follows the same tragic pattern – well it had to didn’t it in post-war Italy given the fact this is a neo realist film. Brilliantly done, particularly in the performances and cinematography (much of it shot in a prison). Maybe a tad too melodramatic (well there’s a contradiction in terms) at [...]

Aparajito (India, 1956)

Second of the Ray’s Apu trilogy. Fascinating look into a ‘coming of age’ life in ’50s India. Un/surprisingly not so different in the conflicts as a western life now. Superbly done. (DVD) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048956/

Pather Panchali (India, 1955)

Rightly regarded as a classic, directed by Satyajit Ray. Whilst the content is a realist ’slice of village life’ the visual style mixes observation with telling rhetoric (such as focusing on the water covering the stolen bracelet). The cinematography is great as are the performances. It’s the first part of the ‘Apu’ trilogy, though this [...]