Year One (dir. Harold Ramis; 2009)

1/10

Scattershot historical comedy, whose 'plot' is so dull and stupid it's not worth bothering to summarise. It's difficult to say how this could have been worse. Very badly written, and not especially well-directed either. Jack Black and Michael Cera do what they always do, except in a less funny way. David Cross is wasted. There are no laugh-out-loud funny moments - not even one. Films that are this infantile usually raise just a few laughs, even if they're not necessarily intentional. Don't expect that here.

I spent a fiver on seeing this.

4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days (2007)

Director: Cristian Mungiu

1980s Romania: Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) helps her friend Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) arrange to have an illegal abortion. An unflinching, relentlessly bleak film, the Palme d'Or-winning 4 Months... is also utterly engrossing - without sensationalising its subject. Writer/director Mungiu nails human interaction brilliantly, and his formal approach - an unshowy, subdued series of long takes - allows the superb cast ample room to display their considerable talents. Marinca is excellent in the demanding central role.

It comes as little surprise to discover that the cinematographer (Oleg Mutu) also worked on Cristi Piui's The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, since the films noticeably share their look and feel. There are strong similarities in content too; Otilia's desperate struggle to obtain assistance from the hotel receptionists, for example, recalls Mioara's encounters with the hospital staff. Each instance makes for a remarkable portrayal of social breakdown.

A Bout de Souffle (1959)

Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Godard's debut is still captivating. The in-your-face exuberance of Jean-Luc Belmondo's brash bastard and the radiance of Jean Seberg, the liberal use of jump-cuts, the gorgeous b/w photography, the blaring jazz score... Paris...

The Book of Life (1998)

Director: Hal Hartley

Over the course of nine years, Hal Hartley came a long way thematically from his examination of small-town affairs in films like The Unbelievable Truth (1989): the plot of this hour-long feature revolves around the impending apocalypse. Yet in tone The Book of Life is no less intimate, or less characteristic of Hartley, than its predecessors.

For fans, this feeling is perhaps aided by the fact that the roles of Jesus and Satan are filled by Hartley regulars Martin Donovan and Thomas Jay Ryan respectively, and that their personae here bear some similarities to those in previous films. Any fan of innovative American independent cinema, however, whether Hartley admirer or newcomer (as I was when I first saw this masterpiece), can appreciate the intelligent, witty dialogue, which is engaging and thought-provoking without being pretentious; the pitch-perfect performances, which balance eccentricity and poignancy without straining; and the endearingly murky, often slow and washed-out digital camerawork, which works well with the fantastic ambient soundtrack to create a trippy, dreamy atmosphere.

The apparent low budget adds to the sense of intimacy, and shows how a great writer-director can use constraints to their advantage if they are creative enough. Another triumph from one of the most consistently imaginative voices in modern cinema.

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Director: Billy Wilder

B-movie writer Joe Gillis (William Holden) is drawn into a bizarre state of affairs involving desperate, delusional former silent movie star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Sunset Boulevard is weird, witty, biting, cynical, noir, self-referential, and features uniformly excellent performances. It sits right up there with Wilder's best work, and as such represents some of the very best work Hollywood has ever had to offer.

Lust, Caution (2007)

Director: Ang Lee

Lee's film follows the efforts of Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei) to infiltrate the security surrounding high-ranking collaborationist Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) on behalf of the resistance in 1940s Japanese-occupied Shanghai. Long story short: things get sexy.

The movie is more than simply titillation, though. It maintains a measured pace, so that the increasingly intimate scenes between immensely impressive newcomer Wei and the ever-dependable Leung are dramatically electrifying. Lee and his actors manage to generate an atmosphere of considerable tension both erotic and dangerous, as the film's title succinctly suggests; and as the story unfolds, it yields some moving moments.

Silent Light (2007)

Director: Carlos Reygadas

Though it admittedly requires a great deal of patience to get through, Reygadas's third feature is a sensitive, mature film that capitalizes on the virtues of his previous work whilst eschewing its sensationalism and trading its pretentious obscurity for thoughtful complexity and ambiguity.

It focuses on the affair between Johan (Cornelio Wall Fehr), a married member of a religious sect, and Marianne (Maria Pankratz), and its repercussions. As usual with Reygadas, we experience things as the characters experience them, and that simple but affecting storyline means that this quality yields far greater results this time around: in one especially effective and typically understated scene, Johan gives his wife Esther (Miriam Teows) the heartbreaking news during an awkward car journey; the camera stares listlessly from the passenger seat out of the window at the rain as she does.

The meticulous time-lapse photography of dawn breaking in the astonishing opening scene sets the pace and tone: this is a very slow film (virtually static); but rich, and visually considered to a high degree.