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Film Reviews
by
Richard Phillips
24 March 2008
Taxi to the Dark Side:
Murder of young Afghan driver exposes US torture policies
29 February 2008
Lust, Caution: political
intrigue in Japanese-occupied China
21 September 2007
The Jammed--the dark side
of Australian immigration
27 December 2006
Nanni Moretti's The Caiman: in the end, a chilling
exposure of Berlusconi
29 September 2006
Iranian
director Tahmineh Milani speaks with WSWS
17 February 2006
"Progressive" Australian film critics denounce
Spielberg's Munich
7 December 2005
A valuable and compelling antiwar film Gallipoli:
The Front Line Experience, written and directed by Tolga
Örnek
17 October 2005
Signs of life
Two new Australian films: Look Both Ways and Little
Fish
11 November 2004
Michelangelo
Antonioni--a flawed legacy Part 2
10 November 2004
Michelangelo
Antonioni--a flawed legacy Part 1
11 October 2004
A sincere and evocative protest
Letters to Ali, directed by Clara Law
13 July 2004
A timely and disturbing drama
Blind Flight, written and directed by John Furse
9 May 2004
A timeless portrait of the anti-colonial struggle
in Algeria
The Battle of Algiers, directed by Gillo Pontecorvo
15 March 2004
An antidote to government lies about David Hicks
The President versus David Hicks, directed by Curtis Levy
and Bentley Dean
2 February 2004
No new insights
Japanese Story, directed by Sue Brooks, script by Alison
Tilson
9 December 2003
Australian
film industry: the futility of calls for "cultural protection"
29 November 2003
"We're
living in strange times"
Marking Time scriptwriter speaks with WSWS
21 November 2003
Love and anti-refugee racism in rural Australia
Marking Time directed by Cherie Nolan, written by John
Doyle
8 September 2003
Sydney Film Festival--Part 4
Courageous and thoughtful cinema
Titicut Follies directed by Frederick Wiseman and The
Spirit of the Beehive directed by Victor Erice
7 August 2003
Sydney Film Festival--Part 3
Two perceptive Indian films
7 July 2003
Sydney Film Festival--Part 1
Classic films a festival highlight
17 May 2003
Simplification of a complex historic figure
Ned Kelly, directed by Gregor Jordan, screenplay by John
Michael McDonagh from Our Sunshine by Robert Drewe
17 December 2002
A haunting portrait of US-backed terror in 1950s Vietnam
The Quiet American, directed by Phillip Noyce, adapted
from the novel by Graham Greene
22 November 2002
Lacklustre re-creation of a vital piece of Australian
history
Black and White, directed by Craig Lahiff, screenplay
by Louis Nowra
9 October 2002
Atmospheric, but lacking substance
Beneath Clouds, written and directed by Ivan Sen
20 September 2002
Racism and small-town bigotry
Australian Rules, directed by Paul Goldman
"A cause worth fighting for"
An interview with Phillip Gwynne and Lisa Flanagan
22 August 2002
The danger of war on the Indian subcontinent
War and Peace, directed by Anand Patwardhan
22 July 2002
Glimpses of daily life for ordinary Palestinians
A Wedding in Ramallah, directed by Sherine Salama
12 July 2002
Grappling
with the plight of immigrants and asylum seekers
10 May 2002
Complacent and emotionally remote
The Son's Room, directed by Nanni Moretti
12 March 2002
A heartfelt but limited work
Rabbit-Proof Fence, directed by Philip Noyce
28 September 2001
A postcard view of history
Captain Corelli's Mandolin, directed by John Madden
7 September 2001
Two fine examples of "direct cinema"
LaLee’s Kin: The Legacy of Cotton and Facing the
Music
16 August 2001
Collaboration and resistance in Vichy France
The Sorrow and the Pity directed by Marcel Ophuls
2 August 2001
"Art wedded to truth must, in the end, have its
rewards"
The Apu Trilogy, written and directed by Satyajit Ray
12 July 2001
An ironic look at some reluctant heroes
Divided We Fall, directed by Jan Hrebejk, script by Petr
Jarchovsky
28 June 2001
A glitzy promotion for Murdoch's Australian studios
Moulin Rouge directed by Baz Luhrmann, script by Luhrmann
and Craig Pearce
4 June 2001
A little known-aspect of Australian history
Serenades, directed by Mojgan Khadem
An interview with Mojgan Khadem
- "Not just to entertain but to take the audience's breath
away intellectually"
30 April 2001
Confused and cold-hearted
The Goddess of 1967 directed by Clara Law
15 August 2000
"The pleasure of seeing should be the moving
force"
A selection of Max Ophuls films
2 August 2000
Recent films from China: Shower and Seventeen
Years
11 July 2000
A sympathetic look at the complexities of old age
Innocence, written and directed by Paul Cox
7 July 2000
A
critical look at aspects of life in contemporary India
15 May 2000
Films from India: The Servant's Shirt and Split
Wide Open
27 April 2000
The Silence and The
Door, two films by Mohsen Makhmalbaf
20 April 2000
Two films from Vietnam: The Wild Field and
Collective Flat
24 July 1999
My Name is Joe
Well-deserved accolades for new Loach film
21 July 1999
Earth, written and directed
by Deepa Mehta
One of this century's human tragedies, as witnessed by a child
17 July 1999
Outskirts and Checkpoint:
two films from Russia
10 July 1999
It All Starts Today: A
work of authenticity, artistic substance and optimism
9 April 1999
A mature film about sexual obsession
Review of Lolita, directed by Adrian Lyne
11 August 1998
Radiance
Directed by Rachel Perkins, screenplay by Louis Nowra
Unhelpful praise for an imperfect film
24 July 1998
Blue Moon, written and
directed by Ko Yi-cheng
A self-assured experiment in film
2 July 1998
First Love, Last Rites,
directed by Jesse Peretz, from a short story by Ian McEwan
A refreshing change from Hollywood's image of youth
6 June 1998
Two Australian films:
The Sound of One Hand Clapping
written and directed by Richard Flanagan
The Boys
directed by Rowan Woods, screenplay by Stephen Sewell |
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