brokm Reviews

Io, Don Giovanni (2009)

operatic and beautiful

[9/10 · 26 August 2012]

I approached this film knowing very little about it except that it was directed by Carlos Saura. For me, that was enough,since he has a really beautiful cinematic eye; (his film "Tango" is one of my favorites).

"I, Don Giovanni" provides us with a sumptuous look at both Venice and Vienna in the 1700s while at the same time letting us watch as both Da Ponte and Mozart set to work creating a new version of an old story. We are able to see them as they agree and disagree on the form of the story while behind them and then full screen we watch as the finished story is performed in the King's Court.

Under Saura's direction the cinematography by Vittorio Storaro is simply stunning while the story itself is full of both humour and passion. A film simply too good to miss.

Anthony Zimmer (2005)

Anthony Zimmer Hitchcockian

[8/10 · 27 December 2010]

First I have to confess Alfred Hitchcock is not my favorite filmmaker - perhaps partly due to the somewhat clunky exposition he sometimes used but there are elements of Anthony Zimmer which I enjoyed and which recalled Hitchcock at his best. As so many have said before me Sophie Marceau is very,very good in Anthony Zimmer but , for me, Yvan Attal was the standout. I have liked his somewhat deadpan style since "Les Patriots" (still one of my favorite thrillers) and here, as the 'ordinary' guy supposedly caught up in things beyond his knowledge he plays a much more realistic Cary Grant type than you would usually see in a Hitchcock movie. Sure, you can tell pretty quickly he's not really who he seems to be but then how long did it take you to figure that Grant wasn't all he seemed in "North By Northwest". That's part of the fun of films like Anthony Zimmer. I've seen "Zimmer" twice and I'll be more than happy to watch it again.

Harry's Game (1982)

Short comment about a superb film

[12 January 2004]

I have had "Harry's Game" in my video collection for about 12 years and I have watched it many times. Nothing released by mainstream cinema, British or American, comes anywhere close to touching the fear and desperate tension felt by the troops on the ground of both sides in the Troubles. It is an intelligent, very well made, exciting and despairing film which deserved wide release in cinemas throughout the world - pity it was made for television. Like Mark Leeper I have been strongly recommending "Harry's Game" to anyone interested in first quality film-making.

The Lost Son (1999)

Private eye gets drawn into the dreadful world of the paedophile.

[26 July 2000]

The Lost Son I found to be quite gripping in its first half as we slowly come to the edges of the appalling world the Auteuil character uncovers. The sense of horror we would all feel were we to found ourselves in his situation is well built only to fall apart in the film's latter half. Here there is a sense of the director racing to beat the clock with unlikely action being piled upon even more unlikely action. Shame really - I'm a great fan of Auteuil and I'm sorry his first English film was not better than it is.