Heath Ledger RIP

The actor Heath Ledger was found dead in New York earlier today, possibly by his own hand. Sad news. In addition to being too young to go, he was a great talent. His performance as a passionate man lost the closet in Brokeback Mountain (pictured) was what made that film great rather than good. And…

A Blazing Baroque

There Will Be Blood directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, loosely based on Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel Oil!, and out now, is a great piece of baroque cinema. Sharing more than a passing semblance with Erich von Stroheim’s monumental Greed (1924), this is high Hollywood classicism brought through the wringer of idiosyncratic, but grand ambition. As…

Save Storyville!

  It has come to my attention that a petition to prevent the BBC from cutting the budget of their documentary department, Storyville, by c. 60%, has been launched a while back. The BBC has a world-class history of documentary production and remains one of the important guarantors of innovation an quality in the field.…

Arrivederci, Maestro

The clip above is taken from L’Eclisse (1962), showing the place where the lovers (Alain Delon and Monica Vitti) are supposed to meet – but alas, they don’t, and thus the camera has to film something else. 100% Antonioni, don’t fight it – feel it. Michelangelo Antonioni 1912-2007 RIP