A review of the classic Italian movie “L’Avventura” (1960)
August 20th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
How would you characterise an art house film? Probably foreign, likely black and white, little action, people behaving oddly, striking visuals, opaque messaging, and s-l-o-w. The Italian “L’Avventura” is then the archetypical art house film.
The story was composed by the director Michaelangelo Antonioni. At first, it looks as if the main character is the wilful Anna (Lea Massari) but she soon goes missing on a remote, rocky island. It is hardly a spoiler to warn that one shouldn’t expect to see any more of Anna, because the remainder of the narrative is about the search for Anna by her lover, Sandro (good-looking Gabriele Ferzette), and her best friend, Claudia (beautiful Monica Vitti in her first starring role).
The picture did win the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and it is loved by most film scholars, so it is an important piece of cinematic history. But I like my movies to have more action and clarity and I find it difficult to care about existential angst among such privileged characters.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the classic movie”Bonnie And Clyde” (1967)
August 19th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Loosely based on the exploits of bank robbers Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker in Depression era America of 1932-1934, this is very much Warren Beatty’s film: be bought the rights to an early script, he made uncredited contributions to the screenplay, he was producer and he took the role of Clyde. Equally look-looking Faye Dunaway was Bonnie and the sensitive relationship between the two – he insists “I’m no lover boy” – is the emotional heart of the movie. Another member of the gang is Clyde’s brother Buck, portrayed by Gene Hackman, and there was a small role for Gene Wilder.
When the film was first released, it shocked audiences, primarily because of the violence, especially in the final sequence. Remember: this was before “The Wild Bunch” (1969) and “The Godfather” (1972). The work was different in being anti-establishment, almost siding with the criminals, presenting them as supporters of the dispossessed and offering car chases to banjo music in the manner of the Keystone Cops.
The movie was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including five acting roles and director (Arthur Penn), but only won two. It was a sleeper hit at the box office which showed the popularity of cinema that ignored the Production Code and it initiated a period in the 1970s known as the ‘Hollywood Renaissance’.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Obama’s missing memoir
August 18th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Long before Barack Obama became President of the United States, I read his two books: “Dreams From My Father” [my review click here] and “The Audacity Of Hope” [my review click here]. Then, more recently, I read Michelle Obama’s work “Becoming” [my review click here]. I’m a huge fan of the Obamas and looked forward immensely to Barack Obama’s memoirs of his time in the White House. “A Promised Land” made ideal reading for the third UK lockdown of the coronavirus pandemic.
Obama was US president for the eight years January 2009 – January 2017. It was September 2020 when he published the first volume of his memoirs “A Promised Land”. It ran to 700 pages but only covered the first half of his first term. Six years later, there is still no sign of the second volume. I’m waiting …
Meanwhile you can read my review of “A Promised Land” here.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the classic Spanish film”All About My Mother” (1999)
August 17th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Internationally, this was the breakout movie for the Spanish Pedro Almodóvar who both wrote and directed it. It won him the Best Director prize at Cannes Film Festival and it won Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. Famously, Aldomóvar is a gay man who adores women. He was brought up in a household full of them and almost all the leading roles in his films go to women. In this particular picture, he explores different versions of motherhood as experienced by women, whether straight, gay or trans. It is an adult melodrama, but laced with humour, and exhibits the director’s trademark use of colour (especially red) and shapes (notably curves).
Set in Madrid and (mainly) Barcelona, much of the shooting is interior scenes with lots of dialogue and there is a lot going on – birth, death, sex, drugs, AIDS – in this richly-textured narrative that covers weeks, then months, and finally years. All the actors are excellent, especially established stars Cecelia Roth as Manuela, the mother of a 17 year old son, and Marisa Paredes as Huma Rojo, whose autograph Manuela’s son is seeking. Looking at the film now, one is truck by the early role for Penélope Cruz (as a pregnant nun!), who has since become an international star.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Does Israel have a written constitution?
August 15th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Israel is one of a tiny number of countries in the world – the others are the United Kingdom and New Zealand – that does not have a written constitution in the sense of a single, codified constitutional document.
On 14 May 1948, as the British mandate was about to expire, the Jewish People’s Council in Palestine promulgated a Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel. The Declaration envisaged an elected Constituent Assembly that would prepare a constitution and elections were held in January 1949 specifically to chose the members of that body. But the Assembly could not reach agreement on fundamental issues such as whether Israel should be defined as a Jewish State, a democratic state, or both.
No constitution was ever adopted and the legal status of the Declaration remains disputed. Instead there are 11 Basic Laws. Between 2003 and 2006, there was a serious effort by a Committee of the Knesset to draft an official constitution based on the Basic Laws – but the project stalled and stopped.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the 1944 classic movie “Meet Me In St Louis”
August 9th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
I’m not keen on musicals and I can’t identify with a rich, white family in the America of 1903, but it’s hard not to be caught up in the exuberance of the Smith family of St Louis, as the city prepares to host the Louisiana Purchase Exposition to celebrate the centennial of the acquisition of territory from France which almost doubled the size of the USA. Remember the film was released as the tide of the Second World War was turning. In his book “Have You Seen …?” film critic David Thompson calls this production “the picture which may be the most satisfying story ever told as a musical in the history of the genre”.
Based on a book and told in four seasonal segments, the technicolour is striking, the costumes are flamboyant and the songs and dancing are lively. We have the stories of one grandfather, two parents, a son and four daughters. The leading character, the second oldest daughter Esther, is played by Judy Garland who suffered all sorts of physical and mental problems while shooting the movie. Director Vincente Minnelli became her lover during production and her husband soon after. The most memorable song is “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, the words of which are sadder than the title.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the new blockbuster movie “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”
August 9th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
Four years have elapsed since the last Spider-Man movie and this film is presented as a reset. A new director, Destin Daniel Cretton (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”), takes over the franchise in a scenario where, thanks to Dr Strange’s powers in the last film, the identity of Spider-Man (once again played by Tom Holland) is no longer known, even to former love interest MJ (Zendaya, now Holland’s wife) and former friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), both back in New York (location shooting was actually in Glasgow!) after obtaining degrees from MIT.
To spot every allusion in this movie, one should have seen every previous “Spider-Man” film (this is the ninth) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and ideally every film in the MCU (this is the 38th segment of that Universe) and perhaps even have read some of the comics, because there are some unexpected appearances here (no spoilers!) which gives the film a rich texture. This time, a more mature but lonely Spider-Man has some new problems: something or somebody is messing with his mind and his web-making powers. The action sequences are genuinely exciting and Holland and Zendaya get to play some emotional scenes (the chemistry enhanced by their real-life marriage) in this splendid adventure.
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)
A review of the 1948 classic film “Key Largo”
August 9th, 2026 by Roger Darlington
What a great cast for this film noir crime drama. Humphrey Bogart and Edward G Robinson in their fifth and final pairing. Bogart’s wife Lauren Bacall in their fourth and final joint appearance. Lionel Barrymore, probably best known for no less than 15 eponymous roles in the “Dr Kildare” films. But it was Claire Trevor who took the only Academy Award won by the movie (Best Supporting Actress).
Based very loosely on a play, director John Huston and writer Richard Brooks created a script which has elements of theatre: lots of sharp dialogue and a rather static scenario (most of the film was shot on the Warner Brothers site). Robinson is a gangster called Rocco (harking back to his role in “Little Caesar” as Rico), based in Cuba but over in Key Largo to do a deal with another gang. Trevor is his much-abused moll. Barrymore is the wheelchair-bound owner of the small hotel on the key, while Bacall plays his daughter. Bogart is Frank, a veteran of World War Two who was the officer of the deceased son of Barrymore’s character and the husband of Bacall’s character.
While this group – doubled in size by Rocco’s henchmen – await the arrival of the Florida gang, a fierce hurricane is brewing. The pacing of the film is excellent: as the tension between the characters rises, so the strength of the hurricane increases, with explosive outcomes on both scores. The two leading characters are especially well-drawn: Rocco is callous and cruel but afraid of the storm and Frank is no outright hero but cautious and calculating. The ending is deliciously satisfying.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the 1977 classic movie “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind”
July 31st, 2026 by Roger Darlington
It is a great title but it is never explained. The first kind is a close visual sighting of a UFO, the second kind is a UFO event with a physical effect, and the eponymous third kind is a UFO encounter with an animated entity. The scale was devised by J. Allen Hynek who makes a cameo appearance near the end of the film.
Written and directed by Steven Spielberg, the engaging story starts with a series of bizarre discoveries such as World War Two aircraft and a cargo ship discovered in deserts (both disappearances based on fact), before following the experience of three UFO ‘believers’: blue collar worker Ray Neary (Richard Dreyfuss from Spielberg’s previous blockbuster “Jaws”), a single mother called Jillian whose son is abducted (Melinda Dillon), and French scientist Lacombe (filmmaker François Truffaut selected by Spielberg in homage to the Frenchman’s work). The pacing of the movie is excellent as there are more and more references to a shape which turns out to be Devils Tower butte in Wyoming and to a five-note tune that acts as a communications device between man and alien. The conclusion is a visual sensation as we encounter the mother ship.
There are so many elements to this wonderful film that became hallmarks of Spielberg’s canon: the inclusion of children and their toys, clips from old movies, the use of light and shadow, suspicion of the authorities, the music of John Williams and, of course, a lifelong fascination with aliens (“E.T.”in 1983 all the way to “Disclosure Day” in 2026).
In 1980, the film was reissued in a Special Edition which I actually preferred: the building of the replica mountain by Neary was cut back and, at the end, we were taken inside the mother ship. However, if you buy the 1997 Collector’s Edition or watch the movie on television, you’ll see the original version.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)
A brief review of a short book, “Narrative” by Amy Jones (2022)
July 31st, 2026 by Roger Darlington
I love storytelling which is why I read so much fiction and see so many films. I’ve even written a book of short stories (“The Rooms In My Mind”). So, I previously read “The Science Of Storytelling” by Will Storr [click here] and “How To Read Literature Like A Professor” by Thomas C Foster [click here]. Now, I really enjoyed reading this slim volume (just 58 pages) subtitled “Telling The Story”.
It summarises the theory of narratology in one diagram headed “WHO tells WHAT story HOW?” The rest of the book proceeds to look at the ‘who?’ (who knew that there are nine types of narration and not just the popular third-person omniscient?), the ‘what?’ (Jones looks at exposition, description, action, dialogue and thoughts), and the “how?’ (she reviews the use of different tenses and the utilisation of a range of narrative structures from framing and Chinese boxes to something called madeleine moments).
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)