Film Reviews Blog

This page only shows films that have a review. By default in date order of reading with newest at top

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      Monday 3rd October 2022

      USA 1987

      Running time: 113 mins

      Angel Heart

      Director : Alan Parker

      Rated by rogerco, Blues Bar, Les Moureous on 03 Oct 2022




      Sunday 2nd October 2022

      UK 2022

      Running time: 98 mins

      See How They Run

      Director : Tom George

      Film Summary :
      The Mousetrap Redux

      Rated by rogerco, Lavelanet Cinema on 02 Oct 2022




      Friday 30th September 2022

      Spain 1999

      Running time: 101 mins

      All About My Mother

      Director : Pedro Almodóvar

      Rated by rogerco, Blues Bar, Les Moureous on 30 Sep 2022




      Wednesday 28th September 2022

      UK 1952

      Running time: 106 mins

      Ivanhoe

      Director : Richard Thorpe

      Film Summary :
      from the Walter Scott novel
      Film Category

      Rated by rogerco, Blues Bar, Les Moureous on 28 Sep 2022




      Tuesday 20th September 2022

      Macedonia 2019

      Running time: 90 mins

      Honeyland

      Medena zemja

      Film Summary :
      In a deserted village in mountainous north Macedonia 50 year old Hatidze keeps semi-wild bees and cares for her mother.

      Reviewed by rogerco, DVD proj @ home on 20 Sep 2022

      Review Summary :
      Extraordinary glimpse of the embers of a dying way of living

      A Honeyed Life

      While watching I wasn't aware that this was a documentary - the narrative seemed to good to have happened accidentally, but much of it looked like documentary - the children clearly weren't actors, and the gaps and moments missed probably wouldn't happen in a fully constructed movie.

      The scenery and people and lives depicted are stunning. The embers of a dying way of living still flickering in the the forgotten corners of Europe, and the fully embodied wisdom that such a life requires seem extraordinary to those of us trapped in a consumer-capitalist culture.

      A major missing element, as a documentary, is any evidence of the relationship between the film-makers and the subjects. They apparently spent three years shooting the film, but in doing so they have erased their own presence. This inevitably raises questions as to the extent to which events were manipulated or reconstructed.

      Hatidze's acceptance of the family passing through her life and their impact on her is an object lesson in the benefits of adaptability and living well based on being true to your self in relation to the world.

      In the end, as in our world, life goes on. The bees return, Hatidze, and the mountains that created her, will persist even as their seasons change. A very affirmative film.