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Watched on Tuesday June 10, 2025.

Watched on Monday June 9, 2025.

Watched on Sunday June 8, 2025.

A Kafkaesque allegory of totalitarian regime, often evocative of the current reality in Serbia, ‘Luxury Hotel’ is told from the wry perspective of a young restaurant manager, Alex (Valentin Popescu), struggling with the mad, reactionary ways of the Employer who owns the titular place. Deliberately unsparing and increasingly absurd, the film reaffirms the viewer’s disdain for authority, and navigates us – in a fever dream-like daze – across the extravagant lounges, damp utility rooms, a dusty library, and a crowded prison, rarely providing a breather. Through the gates of a freight elevator moving slowly from one floor to the next, we are introduced to the hotel’s (ever-crumbling) model of class stratification, bearing witness to the metastasis of despair in a stifling atmosphere of paranoia emphasized by a number of restrictive medium shots and closeups, as well as by the VHS surveillance footage.

Watched on Friday June 6, 2025.

It’s hard to say anything new about highly acclaimed classics such as Truffaut’s feature debut, but it is even harder being a child surrounded by a bunch of dysfunctional adults, or worse, a child in a grown man’s body disoriented in a dysfunctional society, but that’s a whole different story... Anyhow, Jean-Pierre Léaud plays the central role of a troubled kid, Antoine, with a fascinating blend of natural talent and the conviction of a versed actor, carrying the bittersweet, quietly poignant film on his still frail shoulders. Under Truffaut’s taut, unwavering direction, he is assisted by Henri Decaë who starkly captures the grit and melancholy through the keen eye of his camera, with Jean Constantin’s wistful score softening the edges of Antoine’s unenviable coming of age, as the themes of rebellion and never-ending search for freedom resonate as strong as they did more than six decades ago...

Watched on Wednesday June 4, 2025.

“This fucking world is so disgusting now.”

And yet, Magariños manages to find some exquisite if bleak beauty in a story of two strangers transporting a corpse across Mexico in his fiction feature debut. Initially, Mara (firsttimer Tania López) and Daniel (Diego Calva) are bound only by the promise of the payment they’ll receive once the job is done, but after a routine police check goes awry, their partnership grows stronger, and more intimate. As the two misfits open up to each other, sharing their perspectives on life, purpose and death, secrecy is traded for sincerity, and their odd, somewhat Beckettian journey creates a space for the viewer to reflect upon. The locations they use as stops are far from the postcard-perfect imagery, but they all appear inviting in their brooding remoteness, largely by virtue of DoP Carlos de Miguel’s picturesque framing. Although the pacing could’ve been tighter here and there, ‘Beautiful Losers’ is a solid effort – a minimalist road movie carried by melancholic visuals and unaffected performances.

Watched on Tuesday June 3, 2025.

Watched on Monday June 2, 2025.

In a postmodernist throwback to the early 1930s, the vampire horror is revitalized with a lively blues twist, introducing the incredible, viscerally velvety baritone of Miles Caton in his outstanding silver screen debut. A perfect choice for someone with a legendary gift of ‘piercing the veil between life and death’, as shown in the anthological scene of ‘conjuring spirits from the past and the future’, he is partnered by Michael B. Jordan in a twin role played smoothly, and with indelible charisma. Actually, it is the entire cast that leaves a lasting impression, making you forget that what you’re watching brims with all-too-familiar bloodsucking tropes, seamlessly blended with elements of crime, musical and action genres. Also lending gravitas to the proceedings is Coogler’s gripping direction, and his keen sense of suspense and mise-en-scène, beautifully ed by Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s crisp cinematography, and Ludwig Göransson’s brilliant score.

A quirky (read: tonally chaotic) genre mashup of the shlocky kind, ‘Minore’ pits a bunch of unlikely heroes against a Lovecraftian threat in a small coastal town in Greece. Fighting tentacled monsters, among others, are a sailor searching for his bouzouki-playing father, a tavern-owner with a racketeer issue, a metalhead-bodybuilder-sucker for the Conan-esque lore, and a dancing, often shirtless waiter who sets unrealistic beauty standards for men. It takes an hour of premonitory dreams, ‘character development’ through a family drama and some romance, strange fog and earthquakes for the creatures to appear, and once they do, the film goes all bonkers, involving decapitation, dismemberment and face-flaying, all accompanied by the Old Ones’ goo. The humor which ranges from goofy to black to lost-in-translation doesn’t always work, and the SFX betray the low, SyFy-ripoff budget, yet the film manages to entertain (and look pretty) in all of its delirious WTFness and ‘Mars Attacks!’-aping. Konstantinos Koutsoliotas is actually a visual effects artist, but he also has two more features and a TV Special (neither of which I’m familiar with) under his directorial belt.

Watched on Thursday May 29, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 29, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday May 28, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday May 28, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday May 28, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday May 28, 2025.

A fanfic medium-length film I accidentally came across is – unsurprisingly, and despite its shortcomings – head and shoulders above the 2010 Hollywood take on Dylan Dog. It relocates the eponymous ‘nightmare investigator’ from London to Rome, and does a good job at creating a befittingly spooky atmosphere, with Luca Vecchi having a whale of a comic-relief time as Groucho. Valerio Di Benedetto is a tad too serious, and not the right sort of melancholic as his comic book counterpart, but then again, who could ever fill the shoes of Rupert Everett? Director Claudio Di Biagio and his visual department team make the most of the crowdfunded budget, delivering some pretty shots, whereby the cast is strengthened by a couple of veterans – Milena Vukotic as Madame Trelkovski and Alessandro Haber as inspector Bloch.

Watched on Wednesday May 28, 2025.

Watched on Monday May 26, 2025.

In one of the most fascinating (not to mention feminine) drag performances, Akihiro Miwa commands every scene (s)he’s in, as the titular mastermind criminal who runs a nightclub adorned with Aubrey Beardsley’s art, has a thing for shiny jewels, and owns a secret living doll museum in which one of the ‘statues’ is played by THE Yukio Mishima. The latter’s stage adaptation of Rampo Edogawa’s novel serves as the foundation for Kinji Fukasaku’s psychedelic noir – a sparkling confluence of comic book-like pulp and classy camp aesthetics that turns a cat-and-mouse battle of wits into a dreamlike cinematic delight. A bizarrely romantic ode to beauty, ‘Black Lizard’ is a feast for the eyes, whether it is soaked in deep shadows, awashed in vivid colors, or both at once, providing a fitting backdrop for Miwa’s compelling melodramatics.

So, it seems like ‘Theorem’ and ‘Swimming Pool’ have a child baptized by Yorgos Lanthimos in a secret queer chapel haunted by Yoshishige Yoshida’s spirit. As odd (and off!) as it gets, Justin Anderson’s feature debut marries deliberate emotional inertia with uncanny formal austerity into a surrealist drama that wears absurdity and alienation proudly on its sleeves. ‘An acquired taste’ label easily applies to pretty much every aspect of this film, from the weird framing that emphasizes detachment, to Coti K’s discordantly unnerving score pulling you into an opaque dream, to mannered performances from the ensemble cast orbiting around always reliable Ariane Labed in the role of a mysterious, ‘toxic’ stranger. Even nudity / eroticism is treated in a way that makes one more puzzled than titillated, adding to the (inspiring) sense of disorientation. Now, that is a good fix of unconventional cinema!

Watched on Saturday May 24, 2025.

Watched on Friday May 23, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 22, 2025.

"They say there's just enough religion in the world to make men hate one another, but not enough to make them love."

Quite possibly the sweatiest, dirtiest, rainiest, and most shadowy throwback to the 50's that ever graced the silver screen, 'Angel Heart' is a brilliant piece of Faustian cinema; a grimly attractive, technically and aesthetically accomplished neo-noir whose dark soul lies in Robert de Niro's cynically chilling, gentlemanly seductive turn as the Mephistophelean figure, with the film's heavy heart worn by Mickey Rourke, charmingly disheveled in the role of a streetsmart detective unknowingly descending into hell.

Spicing up the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale with possessed wolves, forced C-section, opera acts, incestuous (under)tones, bits of necromancy, class tension, unbridled blasphemy, higher body count, and a paralyzing sleep (locked-in-syndrome) that hints at the heroine being buried alive, ‘A Tale of Terror’ is one of my favorite takes on the ‘Snow White’ story. Filmed at beautiful (and very gothic!) locations in Czech Republic, complemented by sumptuous medieval costumes, and state-of-the-art makeup for the old crone disguise, it brims with autumnal atmosphere so dense you can cut it with a knife. Gone is prince charming, so taking his place is a young doctor, Peter Guttenberg (David Conrad), with a rugged outcast miner, Will (Gil Bellows), acting as a No. 1 contender for the same position. 18-yo Monica Keena is a great choice for the fairest of them all (named Lilliana after her mother), showing some spunk in the face of a tough challenge – Sam Neill as her father, Frederick Hoffman, and Sigourney Weaver who keeps stealing scenes as the initially not-so-evil step mother, Lady Claudia. Micheal Cohn directs at a brisk pace, with cinematographer Mike Southon (Gothic) capturing the velvet darkness with a keen eye, and composer John Ottman providing a score packed with gloom, mystery and enchantment.

In one of the most stunningly framed thrillers (hats off to cinematographer Dante Spinotti!), the immersive, chilling austerity of visuals finds a perfect match in the psychological tension that simmers under the surface. Suspense is built and maintained through an expert use of cinematic language, and is sometimes strongly felt when you least expect it, the scene of petting a sedated tiger being a great example. Even the watching of home videos is enveloped in a menacing aura largely emanating from Tom Noonan in the role of a deranged killer dubbed ‘the Tooth Fairy’. Although his screen time is limited and none of the heinous crimes is shown, what is left to the viewer’s imagination is nauseating enough. And that gives a pretty good idea of the mental strain under which the hero of the story – adapted from Thomas Harris’s novel ‘Red Dragon’ – operates, as he tries to enter the perpetrator’s mind, with William Petersen approaching his character in a similar fashion. Mann has a firm (at times, perhaps, too firm) grasp over the material, providing us with a somewhat bizarre, ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ catharsis.

Watched on Sunday May 18, 2025.

Watched on Sunday May 18, 2025.

A testament to costume designer or rather, artist Eiko Ishioka’s unparalleled creative vision, as well as a gentle ode to storytelling, ‘The Fall’ is also fascinating for its gorgeous location photography, transforming the breathtaking real-life places into the out-of-this-world setting of a whimsical, self-reflexive fantasy. Told from a dual perspective of a five-year-old immigrant with a broken arm, Alexandria (Catinca Untaru, in one of the most unaffected child performances to hit the silver screen), and a paralyzed stuntman, Roy (Lee Pace, breathing melancholy into the role with subtlety and conviction), their hyper-stylized fairy tale is a reflection of his disenchantment turned into white lies, and of her wide-eyed curiosity veiled into soft candidness. The colorful, and not to mention unforgettable figment of their combined imagination is a marvel to behold, even when the sensitive themes of depression, manipulation and assisted suicide begin to distort it... Finding a compromise between the innocence of infancy – emphasized by a lovely stop-motion dream sequence – and pain-inducing issues of adulthood, Tarsem Singh creates a virtually uninterrupted stream of dazzling images, and impregnates them with ion and poignancy.

Kafka meets Jeunet, and Cronenberg es by to say ‘hi’ in a surrealist mystery of absurd proportions, with the leading man Crispin Glover amplifying eccentricity via both his strong presence and superb performance. His magician protagonist’s desire to escape is at a weirdo heart of an existentialist allegory / a meditation on (metaphysical) loneliness set in a decrepit but extravagant hotel whose labyrinthine, charmingly vintage, and ever-shrinking interior establishes a dense atmosphere of claustrophobia. Broom closets are turned to secret ageways, and of brass orchestra emerge from small wall openings, as things go from irrational to ludicrous, all tucked into exquisite, green-and-brown-dominated designs by Manolito Glas and Maarten Piersma. The ‘impossible architecture’ of the place appears to reflect Mr. K’s growing confusion, or rather living and breathing nightmare, whereas the pacing – along with the quirky inhabitants unwilling to change status quo – works against his efforts to find the exit. Not much is disclosed about this character, and yet his unenviable situation feels relatable, the inexorable vagueness of the narrative compelling the viewer to root for him. I’m not familiar with Schwab’s earlier directorial efforts, but being a sucker for Kafkaesque cinema, I can’t wait to see what she has in store next.

Watched on Friday May 16, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday May 14, 2025.

Watched on Tuesday May 13, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday May 14, 2025.

A nightmare of nightmares, ‘The Beyond’ is a strikingly irrational descent into (the inevitability of) hell; a headfirst plunge into the void of metaphysical hopelessness and relentless evil. Its lurid portrayal of death – eyes gouged out, faces melted with quicklime or acid, flesh violently torn to shreds – reflects the miserable fragility of human life or rather, matter, going as far as to suggest that even phantasms bleed, and that agony never ends. However, the film is by no means a mere Grand Guignol – yes, its bloody depictions do have an entertainment value, especially for the gorehounds, but they burrow much deeper than that, into whatever lies beyond our grasp. It is a densely atmospheric piece of (horror) cinema, largely by virtue of DoP Sergio Salvati’s stunning framing in anamorphic widescreen, with the symphony of shadows putting an emphasis on mystery.

A spiritual successor to Coralie Fargeat’s acclaimed sophomore flick ‘The Substance’, ‘The Ugly Stepsister’ is one of the boldest takes on the ‘Cinderella’ story, amping up the gruesomeness of the Grimm Brothers’ version, and adding a dash of kink. Set in a fictitious kingdom of what appears to be the 19th century, the film is told from the twisted perspective of Elvira (Lea Myren, a tour de force in her first big-screen appearance), whose daydreaming of marrying prince Julian (Isac Calmroth) – charming only in her imagination – sets her on a painful, self-destructive path of meeting the cruel beauty standards. Assisted by her toxically ambitious mother, Rebekka (Ane Dahl Torp), and challenged by the original protagonist turned mean-spirited blondie (Thea Sofie Loch Næss), she subjects herself to inhuman procedures of Dr. Esthétique, and her tutoress, ranging from eyelash sewing (evocative of the iconic ‘Opera’ scene) to a tapeworm diet (!) with a sickening epilogue.

Add to that the rotting corpse of Cinderella’s father that plays a sort of a stand-in for the fairy godmother, and the infamous toe-cutting depicted in all of the practical SFX g(l)ory, and you have yourself a squirm-inducing reading of a fairy tale that puts Emilie Blichfeldt on a map of filmmakers to keep an eye on. What elevates her feature debut is the empathy she feels for her (anti)heroine, as well as for other deeply flawed (and largely opportunistic) characters, embodying it in another stepsister, Alma (Flo Fagerli, lovely!), and eliciting it from the viewer. Her sense of style, pacing, dark humor, and edgy satire are also commendable, complemented by sumptuous set and costume designs that convey the period, without taking away from the contemporaneity simmering under the surface.

“Hate is contagious. More so than any plague. And it spreads by chain reaction.”

I have seen great many films that are beautifully shot, but Jan Kalis takes B&W cinematography to a whole new level of stunning, the party scene being the standout, with its brilliant blocking and the subtlest (i.e. not once showy) use of camera angles and movements. Making the meticulous framing even more compelling is Zbynek Brynych’s art of transmuting those images into a mesmerizing if dread-inducing portrait of paranoia that permeates Nazi-occupied Prague, and – in an anachronistic twist – actually represents the city under the stern Stalinist regime. The sublime expressiveness of the visuals is accentuated by uncanny silences, and Jiří Sternwald’s sparsely, yet cleverly deployed score – discordantly disquieting as the epitome of mental strain caused by oppression which is best reflected in the ‘nervy’ performance from Miroslav Machácek as a tragic hero, Dr. Armin Braun. The undercurrent of Kafkaesque absurdity adds another layer of nightmarish depth to the story that seems unfortunately relevant today.

Watched on Saturday May 10, 2025.

Watched on Thursday May 8, 2025.

Watched on Wednesday May 7, 2025.

Introducing bob to hero fashion three decades before He-Man, hawk-eyed Prince Valiant (Robert Wagner) excels at swimming, tree-climbing, and unhorsing knights with rocks, but his courting skills could use some improvement. Striving to become a significant part of the Arthurian legend, and restore his exiled father to his rightful throne, this young Viking is taken under Sir Gawain’s wing, though a mysterious black knight and his henchmen keep meddling with Val’s plans. A delightfully quaint piece of swashbuckling melodrama and action – based on the eponymous comic strip conceived in 1937 – the film may often appear corny as hell, yet its technical prowess gives the viewer quite a lot to enjoy, particularly if you’re a sucker for old castles none of which were matte painted. The fairy tale-like locations of England captured in magnificent Cinemascope are, however, outshined by the dazzling beauty of Janet Leigh and Debra Paget cast as royal siblings, Aleta and Ilene.

Filmed in glorious Technicolor, with a resplendent score adding to the magic, ‘Houdini’ is a snappily paced, partly fictionalized biopic on one of the greatest illusionists portrayed by Tony Curtis whose good looks are matched by innate charisma, dedicated performance, and sparkling chemistry with his then wife Janet Leigh, also great. Breezy, zesty, and crackling with life-affirming energy, the movie can be seen as a celebration of following one’s dreams at any cost; its eye-pleasing set and costume designs beautifully framed by Ernest Laszlo who previously collaborated with Joseph Losey on his version of ‘M’.

Watched on Sunday May 4, 2025.

With its heart (and attitude) in the right place, the latest offering from Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck (Captain Marvel) brings a delightful concoction of (dark) humor, action, drama and fantasy all neatly packed in four interconnected stories of Oakland’s underdogs. Teen punks defend their hangout zone from skinheads, a rap duo is immortalized after a local stage duel, a weary debt collector is given a chance for redemption, and a basketball player releases his inner ninja on a racists’ den. A pulptastic love letter to the 80’s, cinema, music, comics, and the town of Oakland where Fleck grew up, the film wears its various influences – from ‘Heavy Metal’ and ‘Scanners’ to ‘Blue Velvet’ and ‘Pulp Fiction’ to ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’ – on its sleeve, gluing them with edgy social commentary or rather, keen sense of poetic justice, and blurring the boundaries between myths and memories. Its nostalgic hyper-reality is beautifully framed in academy ratio by Jac Fitzgerald, and sprinkled with a pinch of VHS artifacts in post-production, whereby the mixtape vibes of the narrative structure are reinforced by the soundtrack’s eclecticism. Lending gravitas to this charming, fun-filled romp is the solid cast, the standouts being Dominique Thorne and Normani (in her big-screen debut) as empowered besties, Pedro Pascal brooding in the role of an ex-henchman, Tom Hanks in a movie-connoisseur cameo, and Ben Mendelsohn with his pitch-perfect take on a slimy police sheriff.

Watched on Saturday May 3, 2025.

Watched on Friday May 2, 2025.

“I think the whole world is a madhouse... an extended madhouse... As long as the dialogue goes on, there’s a chance of rationality.”

During an engine check-up, a hitchhiker decapitates the driver with a car hood, sews his head back on, and the victim miraculously comes to life with no memory of what happened. Later on, the unnamed (anti)hero –portrayed by singer and actor Paul Jones (credited as Central Figure), and showing no signs of psychopathic behavior whatsoever – gets the invitation to the mysterious Committee, when the elements of Kafkaesque reality start kicking in. In the so-called Lodge where Central Figure is summoned along with many others, including his amnesiac Victim (Tom Kempinski), people socialize in a rather relaxed (holiday) atmosphere that is at one point heated up by the wild, out-of-nowhere performance of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Pink Floyd is also featured on the psychedelic soundtrack, and the dialogues vary from absurdly comical to (pseudo)philosophical to metaphysical, touching upon dichotomies such as individual vs. society, authority vs. its rejection, impulsiveness vs. ivity, and providing you with a mind-titillating experience. Anchored in cinematographer Ian Wilson’s keen lensing, with certain angles emphasizing the ‘offness’ of the goings-on, Peter Sykes’s hour-long debut is a cool, charming cinematic oddity, something like Cocteau’s ‘centaur in reverse’ that is initially mistakenly referenced as ‘senator in reverse’ during a mod party. The real question is: “Do you play bridge?”

Featuring everything but the kitchen sink of post-2000 cinema - predominantly 2023 and 2024 releases - that I was introduced to during this year, the following list encomes a wide variety of genres and subgenres, ranging from f-rated body horror and cyberpunk animation, to an African folklore-inspired drama and martial arts extravaganzas, to boldly erotic queer flicks and the first adaptation of Bulgakov's masterpiece novel The Master and Margarita that I could sit through without any regrets. And let's not forget a deeply personal project of delightfully chaotic nature, a zero-fucks-given experiment in eye-popping visuals, and a triumphant return from the retirement by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki. Mini-reviews for the great majority of these films can be read through monthly compilations at my blog:

ngbooart.blogspot.com/

1. The Substance
2. Poor Things
3. Mami Wata
4. Mars Express
5. The Zone of Interest
6. She Is Conann
7. The Peasants
8. The Beast
9. The Return
10. Only the River Flows

...plus 40 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Dominated by the 60’s cinema, as well as by B&W films, and arranged in chronological order, my list of 30 favorite vintage premieres is just a small part of dozens of great ‘discoveries’ made in 2022. Here, you will find everything from a stunning noir classic (Double Indemnity) to a hidden gem of the Czech New Wave (Squandered Sunday) to a surreal psychological drama (Almost a Man) to a couple of experiments years ahead of their time (Limit & No More Fleeing)...

• Salomé
• Limite
• Dancing Lady
• Double Indemnity
• Fleeing No More
• Ship of the Dead
• Bronze Magician
• Girl with Green Eyes
• The Ashes
• Almost a Man

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

(... from 20 different countries, according to the current geopolitical situation.)

• Night Tide
• Amphibian Man
• The Sea
• The Doll
• The Depths
• The Golden Fern
• Bronze Magician
• Current
• Men and Women
• The Girl and the Echo

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Squandered Sunday
• The Other Side of the Underneath
• Freak Orlando
• Magdalena Viraga
• Book of Days
• Ra: The Path of the Sun God
• The Complaint of an Empress
• The Juniper Tree
• Mirror of the Planet
• Fire-Eater

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

To introduce myself to people who don’t know me (or think to know me, though I’m not quite sure even I know myself anymore), I have compiled a list which is an attempt to reflect on my life, hint at or maybe unveil certain personality traits of mine solely through the English / international titles (and not necessarily the content) of films which I love(d), in no particular order. Of course, there are many more pieces of cinema that affected me deeply, but their names aren’t suitable for the occasion... and I certainly forgot to mention some which actually are fitting. Anyhow, don’t be surprised by contradictions, because people are just like that...

• Luminous Void: Docudrama
• The Kingdom Of Shadows
• A Ghost Story
• Ritual in Transfigured Time
• Love Torn in a Dream
• The Trouble with Being Born
• Survive Style 5+
• Grass Labyrinth
• Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life
• The Silence

...plus 60 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.