Tag Archives: author cinema

an Iron Curtain drama (film: Perla – Alexandra Makarová, 2025)

‘Perla‘ (2025) is the second feature film by director Alexandra Makarová. She also wrote the screenplay, drawing inspiration from events within her own family—specifically from her mother and grandmother’s biographies, both of whom share many traits with the film’s titular … Continue reading →

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humans and assassins (film: Wild Horse Nine – Martin McDonagh, 2026)

Martin McDonagh is a wonderful playwright, screenwriter, and director; his success in both theater and cinema is, in my view, partly due to his masterful command of the tools of both art forms. His characters possess life and complexity, his … Continue reading →

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clash of cultures (film: Fjord – Cristian Mungiu, 2026)

Cristian Mungiu does not shy away from bringing complex and controversial phenomena and events to the screen. He did so in ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days‘—the film that launched his international career and earned him his first Palme … Continue reading →

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an empress corseted by her era (film: Corsage – Marie Kreutzer, 2022)

‘Corsage’, the 2022 Austrian film written and directed by Marie Kreutzer, is not just another entry in the “Sissi-mania” genre. True, the central figure is Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) of Austria-Hungary—Franz Joseph’s wife and a tragic figure who continues to fascinate … Continue reading →

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Raskolnikov in Paris (film: Pickpocket – Robert Bresson, 1959)

1959 was a year of great changes in French cinema. François Truffaut and Alain Resnais shook up the Cannes Film Festival with ‘The 400 Blows ‘and ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour‘, respectively; Chabrol won the Golden Bear in Berlin with ‘The Cousins‘; … Continue reading →

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life and love in the convenience store (film: Clerks – Kevin Smith, 1994)

One of the significant cinematic phenomena of the 1990s was the success of several independent American films made on very low budgets. These films launched filmmakers who would go on to become household names, well-integrated into the industry, created interesting … Continue reading →

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Almodóvar faces a crisis … and survives it with another wonderful film (film: Amarga Navidad – Pedro Almodóvar, 2026)

Almodóvar in crisis? Almodóvar repeating himself? Did Almodóvar make a boring film? What are you talking about? ‘Amarga Navidad‘ (‘Bitter Christmas‘ in the English distribution), the most recent film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, is interesting, profound, colorful, strange, … Continue reading →

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the great Catherines (film: Sage femme – Martin Provost, 2017)

The 2017 ‘Sage femme‘ (the title of the English distribution was ‘The Midwife’) by Martin Provost was a pleasant surprise and it is not clear to me why the film was underappreciated at the time by part of the public … Continue reading →

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between Luis Buñuel and Wes Anderson (film: Le testament d’Orphée – Jean Cocteau, 1960)

Those who are, like me, admirers of the cinematic style practiced by Wes Anderson in the last decade, of fantasies with a surrealist touch, bringing together on screens formidable casts in stories where reality melts into legends and imagination, will … Continue reading →

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a polish mother (film: Mama – Or Sinai, 2025)

The fate of economic migrants from the ‘second’ Europe, men and especially women who leave their countries in search of a source of income that will ensure not only their survival but also the future of their family and children, … Continue reading →

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