Films Indexed

An alphabetical index of films reviewed on Culture Wars, the online review. Choose a letter below to browse by title, and click on any film title below for more information... Or just select one of the five most recent films.

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 The Lives of Others
  • Director: Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck
  • Year: 2006

Stasi surveillance

He is amazed to see not only that information was omitted, but that this operative fabricated the details of a whole play Dreyman and his cohorts were supposed to have written for the 40th anniversary of East Germany’s founding.

Radicalism, past, present and futureArts and IdentityFilm
Thursday, June 24, 2010

 Harlan County, U.S.A. - Criterion Collection (1976)
  • Director: Barbara Kopple
  • Year: 1976

You can’t topple Kopple

The film melds history and drama with pathos and even humour. The scene where strikers go to New York City, and one gets schooled in how poorly they have it by a New York flatfoot, is priceless.

Radicalism, past, present and futureFilm
Thursday, May 20, 2010

 Harry Brown
  • Director: Daniel Barber
  • Year: 2009

Murky Harry

In a sense Harry Brown is a postmodern moral fable. And it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that the gritty ultra-violent and moralising revenge ethos of this film speaks to a significant number of people.

Film
Thursday, May 13, 2010

 Up in the Air (2009)
  • Director: Jason Reitman
  • Year: 2009

A therapeutic Odyssey

Ryan can go home to a sparse Omaha apartment but chooses not to. He lives in hotels 322 days a year spending only ‘43 miserable days at home.’ He doesn’t want a family, preferring one night stands in hotels to any relationship. His aim is the privileges that flow from becoming number seven on the list of people who have flown ten million air miles.

Film
Thursday, April 15, 2010

 Mouchette (1967)
  • Director: Robert Bresson
  • Year: 1967

Tale and performance

The camera always seems to look at its lead character’s life slightly askance, as if it was somehow recapitulating the clearly warped view of life Mouchette owns. In essence, the film called Mouchette recapitulates the point of view of its character Mouchette, which allows the viewer to both ‘feel’ a bit of the character’s warp, while also being able to step back and intellectually distance oneself and ‘understand’ the character’s warp.

Film
Thursday, March 18, 2010

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