Browse films by title with CW new film archive.

A manifesto for the imagination

Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton (2010)

Naturally, the moral of Burton’s story is that freedom and imagination must triumph over conformism. As Alice’s father told her, all the best people are completely bonkers. But the moral is no less appealing for being predictable, and there are a few suprises and twists in the telling of the story.

Muslim Cinema: an introduction

With 101 must-see Muslim-themed films

An introduction to Muslim Cinema allows Muslims to take a critical reflection about their own beliefs and culture, as well as providing a window for those who are of other faiths to see who Muslims are. Where does one start?

Why can’t we all just get along?

My Name is Khan, directed by Karan Johar (2010)

While the love story is moving and there are some emotionally powerful scenes, the film’s central message is finally just banal. As a boy, Khan learns from his mother that the fighting between Hindu and Muslim is pointless and wrong since there are only two kinds of people in the world, ‘good’ people and ‘bad’ people. The only result of hatred and intolerance is, we learn, many mothers’ tears.

Embracing the inner Madonna-whore

Women, directed by Vanessa Engle, beginning on the BBC 8 March 2010

Indeed, it’s this ambiguous legacy, seen most clearly in the superficial tension between choice and moral prescription, especially around the family, which points towards a deeper lack of direction that comes through in the present day – where it seems there’s been a return to more conservative gender roles albeit updated - the ‘yummy mummy’, the WAG, even Michelle Obama is considered a sort of fashion icon.

Hamlet rewritten for Mills and Boon

Letter from an unknown woman, directed by Max Ophüls (1948)

Theses have been written about how subversive she is as a character, how her refusal to adopt a conventional role as either seductress or respectable wife is a kind of revolt against social expectations. But if you had a friend who behaved as Lisa does, you would start with a serious talking-to and work your way towards having her sectioned.

A disarming perspective on war

The Burmese Harp , directed by Kon Ichikawa (1956)

This film, while political, is not a slice of realism. It has symbolism and allegory throughout. British racism, as example, towards natives and Indians, is never shown, but it existed. Ichikawa’s aim was to clearly demonstrate the quest for humanity, embodied in Mizushima, but aimed at the viewers.

Film and social change

An exploration of film and social change, along with a personal top 101 films that inspire social change

Films use allegory through symbolic representation to convey a meaning other than the literal. In Charlie Chaplin films, the literal is the story of a tramp and the comedy arising from everyday events. The allegorical is the reflection on the times from the effects of automation to the class difference between rich and poor in films like Modern Times

Is anyone in charge any more?

In Treatment, Season 1, HBO

When it comes to relationship problems, the genie is well and truly out of the bottle. The clash is made stark between a traditional institution like marriage, based on taken-for-granted expectations and obligations, and a therapy culture based on constant reflection and the quest for individual self-realisation.

The man who almost wasn’t

Garbo: the man who saved the world, directed by Edmon Roch (2009)

Whatever the true reasons may be, Juan Pujol walked away from a comfortable life in a neutral country, and, acting entirely on his own, for no discernable personal motive, and certainly without being asked, convinced German military intelligence that he was not only anxious to hasten the Axis victory in Europe, but also in a position to do so.

It’s tough being a man these days

The edge of darkness, directed by Martin Campbell (2010)

The obvious points of reference are films like Taken and television programs like 24. Yet unlike Bryan Mills or Jack Bauer, who never stumble or display weakness, Tommy Craven struggles from the point of his daughter’s death; we see that behind the icy exterior of a man who knows what do and how to do it there is weakness and doubt.

Organising chaos: a natural imperative

The secret life of chaos, BBC 4, presented by Professor Jim Al Khalili

It seemed the end of the Newtonian dream. We could never know the starting point accurately. Scientific certainty dissolved. Chaos was seen everywhere, hard-wired into every aspect of the world in which we live.

Oddly innocent moments

Lust, Caution, directed by Ang Lee (2007)

What’s noticeable in fact is the lack of any deep sense of good and bad beyond what personally affects the protagonists (many have lost those close); there are simply ‘sides’ - and ‘people’.

The obliquity of moment

The Suspended Step Of The Stork (To Μετέωρο βήμα του πελαργού) (1991), directed by Theo Angelopoulos

Many critics saw the film as an allegory of the then contemporaneous fall of the Soviet Union, but, nearly two decades later, the film’s resonance shows, again, how shortsighted most critics are. Mere politics do not define this film, for it is a transhuman essay on loneliness.

‘More is good; more is better’

The Jonathan Meades Collection, BBC DVD (2008)

At the heart of the films is the conflict between the imposed, innocuous, uniform, and sterile as opposed to the bodged, unofficial, irreverent and idiosyncratic. While certainly not a Luddite, Meades is firmly on the side of the latter and for this reason, while both ruminative and discursive – his argument rides tangents like a rafter rapids – a consistently polemical filmmaker.

The Girlfriend Experience – a sex-worker’s verdict

The Girlfriend Experience, directed by Steven Soderbergh (2009)

We praise actors and therapists for their ability to delve into the recesses of their own and other people’s emotional lives and readily accept that, with care, they need not be harmed, despite the fact their jobs put them through the emotional wringer every day. Isn’t it about time we accepted the same could be true of women working in the sex industry?