The Illusion of Depth

  Please note that this week's film is in Spanish , with English subtitles   A man wakes up in a strange woman's bed, the morning after a drunken one-night stand. He's groggy and hungover. So is she. Neither of them has a clear memory of meeting, much less... anything else. Everything is extremely awkward. Still, it could be worse. I mean it's not like there's been an alien invasion or anything... Oh. Wait. The Aliens-Invade-Earth genre is practically as old as cinema itself.  Aliens have come in all shapes and sizes. They have come in rockets; they have come in saucers. They have come in peace; they have come in human form.  Sometimes they have come for our women. But one thing has been generally universal. When the aliens come, the story is always about them . Almost always. Extraterrestrial is probably the least alien-invasion film you will ever see. Yes, the flying saucers have arrived, but no, the film isn't about that. Written and directed by Nacho Vigalon...

Regular attendees of my Thursday-night film screenings might remember the season I presented back in 2022 dedicated to Ordinary Ladies . The idea behind the Ordinary Ladies season had been to showcase films featuring female characters who did not fit into any of the usual cinematic "feminine" tropes. They were not the customary sex goddesses or temptresses or damsels in distress; they were (to coin a phrase) Ordinary Ladies with their own personalities and motivations and story arcs. They were (I argued at the time) distinct from the "vixens & floozies & sexy chanteuses" that one often encounters in classic cinema. I selected a dizzying variety of films for the Ordinary Ladies series (and had a lot of fun doing so) but one title I did not screen under that banner is the one I plan to show this week. Gilda is many things, but ordinary is not one of them. As a film it positively drips with sexuality and subtext. As a character , she... positively drips with ...

Imagine a story about a kingdom that is being tormented by a monstrous, fire-breathing dragon. The only way to keep the dragon at bay is to offer up a virgin girl as a sacrifice twice a year. Inevitably there comes a day when the daughter of the king is selected for sacrifice, and it falls to a brave and dashing young hero to slay the dragon and save the kingdom (and the Princess). Does this story sound familiar? Does it sound a trifle clichéd? Does it... remind you of anyone? The story of St. George and the Dragon has been a popular narrative trope for millennia, and of course depictions in the visual arts are legion. The basic elements of the story are generally the same: the imperilled virgin; the fearsome dragon; the brave hero.  Occasionally, there are variations. "So I was out one morning, walking my dragon, when this horrible man comes along..." Given cinema's love for all things beastly, it was inevitable that Hollywood would eventually turn its attention to the ...

The 11th of November is of course Remembrance Day; the day when everyone tries to out-patriotism each other by wearing little plastic poppies to honour all the glorious heroes who murdered someone else's glorious heroes because... "Freedom" or something. My poppy is bigger than yours... Yes, I know. That was offensive. Well you know what? War is offensive. I have always been very uncomfortable with the commemoration of any aspect of war; even if it is just to honour the dead. It can very quickly turn into a rallying-cry for more bloodshed. Too many times in our history has there been a tacit assumption that war is a game , with rules and ethics, and red lines that must never be crossed. That's why you will often hear pundits and politicians talking about "war crimes" and "atrocities" as if war somehow had boundaries and umpires and fouls. Guess what? War is a crime. Any act of war is an atrocity, and if two sides can agree to work within a mutual...