Tag: deadpan

The Stranger
(L’Étranger)
(2025)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 10 April 2026
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(L’Étranger)
(2025)
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Director – François Ozon – 2025 – France – Cert. 15 – 120m

*****

A Frenchman living in French Algiers with an attitude of detachment is arrested following a violent incident with an Arab – adaptation of Albert Camus’ existentialist novella is in UK and Ireland cinemas on Friday, April 10th

Albert Camus’ 1942 novella is a character study of a non-conformist to the widely held ideals of the day. Ozon’s film adaptation roughly follows its template, making some subtle changes which alter its overall stance and meaning.

The following synopsis contains spoilers, but, to be honest, given that this is an adaption of a significant work of French literature, and that you’ll get just as much if not more out of it if you read the book beforehand, I’m not convinced that knowing the plot in advance is a bad thing.

The novella has a two-part structure. First, it follows the life of its main, French Algiers-based protagonist Meursault from his receiving news of his mother’s death and taking time off work to attend her funeral, through his embarking on a relationship with the besotted Maria, to his involvement with his friend the local pimp Raymond Sintès and Meursault’s fatal shooting of an Arab, who has been following Raymond with murderous intent after Raymond mistreated his sister.… Read the rest

Tags absurdist world view, adaptation, Albert Camus, apartment building, Arab, Arab name, Arabic, Arabic language, argument, arrest, beats his dog, Benjamin Voisin, black and white, boss, Camus, care home, chaplain, character study, crime, criminal, cruelty to animals, deadpan, death sentence, death sentence of, Denis Lavant, detachment, dog-beating, elderly neighbour, existentialism, existentialist, France, François Ozon, French Algiers, French colonial racism, friend, funeral, girlfriend, going through the motions, grave, headstone, human dignity, imprisonment, Joël Cudennec, Killing an Arab, knife, L'Étranger, lack of ambition, low life, mannered performance, marry, misogyny, moral scruples, mother’s death, mourner, murderous intent, non-conformist, novella, period newsreel, Pierre Lottin, pimp, police, prison, prison chaplain, promotion, punishment, racism, Rebecca Marder, relationship, revisionist, sex scenes, shooting, spiritual matters, testify, The Stranger, time off work, trial, unpleasant sort, violent incident, wronged sister, wronged woman

Features Live Action Movies

Shark Skin Man
and Peach Hip Girl
(Samehada Otoko
to Momojiri Onna,
鮫肌男と桃尻女)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 14 April 2025
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and Peach Hip Girl
(Samehada Otoko
to Momojiri Onna,
鮫肌男と桃尻女)
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Director – Katsuhito Ishii – 1998 – Japan – Cert. 15 – 108m

*****

Arresting and highly inventive thriller is out as a standalone Blu-ray release in the UK from Monday, April 14th 2025, also on digital, having previously appeared as the first disc of the three disc release Katsuhito Ishii Collection from Third Window Films just over a year ago (when the following piece was written for All the Anime).

Deriving its odd title from a literal translation of the leads’ surnames, Katsuhito Ishii’s highly original gangster movie from 1998 is based on a familiar plot: a man runs off with the mob’s money, and a lady companion. Or, as pioneering French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard once put it: all you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.

Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl has much the same strengths as Godard when he’s on form. Ishii demonstrates a similar flair for taking actors or actresses and having them do what they do on camera so that it’s completely absorbing to watch: look no further than the extraordinary title sequence which starts about five minutes in and consists of little more than names and images of all the major cast members against a white background with overlaid black line animation images.… Read the rest

Tags aerial, Akira Wakato, Alan Splet, animation, bank, bombshell, boss’son, car, car crash, car theft, cashier, cigarette, clean driving licence, counter, counter staff, couple on the run, couple on the run movies, David Lynch, deadpan, driver, drugs, enamel posters, fur coat, gangster, gangster movie, God, group sex, guitar solo, Hisaji Yamano, hotel employee, hotel front desk, Information, investment opportunity, Ittoku Kishibe, Jamie Hewlet, Japan, Jean-Luc Godard, Jim McLennan, Jonathan Clements, jump cut, Katsuhito Ishii, killer, Kimie Shingyouji, Koh Takasugi, landscape, lavatory, lighter, manga, Manga Max, Minetaro Mochizuki’, mob, money, mountain, mundane, naked, passbook, phone, punk thrash, Quentin Tarantino, radio ham, reception, receptionist, restroom cubicle, revolver, robbery, savings, security guard, sexual predator, Shingo Tsurumi, shoot out, Sie Kohinata, smell, spectacles, surveillance deranged, Susumu Terajima, Tadanobu Asano, Takeshi Kitano, tape recorder, Tatsuya Gashuin, withdrawn, woods, yakuza, yakuza movie, Youhachi Shimada

Features Live Action Movies

Driving Mum
(Á Ferð Með Mömmu)

Post author By Jeremy Clarke
Post date 2 March 2024
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(Á Ferð Með Mömmu)
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Director – Hilda Oddsson – 2023 – Iceland, Estonia – Cert. 12a – 112m

****1/2

After his mum dies, a man must honour her last wish by driving her to her final resting place… On the way, she talks to him… – out in UK cinemas on Friday, March 1st

The 1980s. Jón (Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson) lives with his mother (Kristbjörg Kjeld) and his faithful dog Brezhnev in a remote part of rural Iceland. Days are spent sitting in the house knitting sweaters and listening to the radio – actually audio cassette recordings of the radio which run out in mid-sentence. These are periodically received in batches in boxes from a visiting trader in a boat in exchange for Jon and his mum’s home-knitted sweaters. Mum regrets never having been to Gullfoss, and Jon points out it’s unlikely to happen now. He is also a keen amateur photographer who operates his own darkroom. Rightly or wrongly, his mum worries about how he will survive after she’s gone.

One morning, he wakes to discover she has died in her sleep. He makes her corpse up as best he can, which leaves much to be desired, since her resultant look is somewhere between a clown and a zombie.… Read the rest