Letterboxd — Your life in film

Available as part of World Noir Vol 1

Though widely considered an American filmmaking style, film noir was first applied by French critics to the visual and thematic darkness of the flood of American films in the post-War period. Those films, often by European emigré filmmakers, were influenced by European filmmaking modes, notably French poetic realism and Weimar cinema. The American noirs that flourished in the 1940s and 1950s in turn influenced cinema around the world again. This ongoing box…

Available as part of World Noir Vol 1

Though widely considered an American filmmaking style, film noir was first applied by French critics to the visual and thematic darkness of the flood of American films in the post-War period. Those films, often by European emigré filmmakers, were influenced by European filmmaking modes, notably French poetic realism and Weimar cinema. The American noirs that flourished in the 1940s and 1950s in turn influenced cinema around the world again. This ongoing box…

Available as part of World Noir Vol 1

Though widely considered an American filmmaking style, film noir was first applied by French critics to the visual and thematic darkness of the flood of American films in the post-War period. Those films, often by European emigré filmmakers, were influenced by European filmmaking modes, notably French poetic realism and Weimar cinema. The American noirs that flourished in the 1940s and 1950s in turn influenced cinema around the world again. This ongoing box…

In their humble two-room apartment, the Maeda family seem ever so self-effacing - but their modest façade hides another truth. Daughter Tomoko is the mistress of a bestselling author with well-lined pockets. Son Minoru embezzles funds with his lover Yukie (Ayako Wakao, Red Angel), who has her own hidden agenda. And father Tokizo (Yunosuke Ito, Ikiru, Lone Wolf and Cub) is a former military man who swears he will never return to the poverty he knew during the war, no…

Spirits lurk everywhere in Ann (Boat People) Hui’s horror-comedy, Visible Secret. Instantly infatuated by enigmatic amnesiac June (Shu Qi, Millennium Mambo) who has the ability to see spirits, Peter is swept into a world where he has one foot in the past, one in the present, and somehow has to figure out which is which. Beautifully shot by legendary cinematographer Arthur Wong (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Iron Monkey), Visible Secret is a slick and sexy horror-comedy that reflects the…

One day the necrophiliac tendencies of Dr Hichcock (Robert Flemyng, The Quiller Memorandum) go too far and his wife dies from an overdose. Bereft, the doctor leaves his house but returns years later with a new wife, Cynthia (Barbara Steele, Black Sunday). The house they return to is eerie and Cynthia hears strange things, meanwhile, she doesn’t realise Dr Hichcock intends to use her body to re-animate his dead wife's corpse. Released at the height of the Italian horror boom…

A serial killer runs amok over London, draining his victims of their blood. A mad doctor performs experimental surgery on his victims, taking them apart limb by limb. A shady organisation from Eastern Europe is involved in some way while intelligence officer Fremont investigates. Bringing together the biggest horror stars of the era in Vincent Price (Witchfinder General), Christopher Lee (Dracula: Prince of Darkness) and Peter Cushing (Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors) Amicus Productions pulled out all the stops to…

Ismael (Karra Elejalde, Timecrimes) breaks into the house of a fine art restorer and shoots the homeowner dead, leaving her daughter orphaned and traumatized for life. Years later Ismael is working in a bar where he sees the daughter again. Paranoid that she has recognised him and will report him, he kidnaps her and holds her hostage, demanding that her hospital pay a ransom for her release. As he spends more time with her a strange bond develops that causes…

Comedy ruled the box office in Italy from the late 1950s to the 1970s where the commedia all’italiana also found critical success. Great talent behind and in front of the camera delivered a series of brilliant films that gave an incredible spin on familiar genres with comedic overtones that often held a dark and biting critique of social mores that would provoke a challenge to a society in need of change. Feted at local awards ceremonies and European festivals as…

Comedy ruled the box office in Italy from the late 1950s to the 1970s where the commedia all’italiana also found critical success. Great talent behind and in front of the camera delivered a series of brilliant films that gave an incredible spin on familiar genres with comedic overtones that often held a dark and biting critique of social mores that would provoke a challenge to a society in need of change. Feted at local awards ceremonies and European festivals as…

Comedy ruled the box office in Italy from the late 1950s to the 1970s where the commedia all’italiana also found critical success. Great talent behind and in front of the camera delivered a series of brilliant films that gave an incredible spin on familiar genres with comedic overtones that often held a dark and biting critique of social mores that would provoke a challenge to a society in need of change. Feted at local awards ceremonies and European festivals as…

Small-time hood Wah Dee (Andy Lau, Infernal Affairs) is enlisted by Triad boss Trumpet (Tommy Wong, The Killer) as a getaway driver for a daring heist that goes wrong. Thinking fast Dee takes Jo Jo (Jacklyn Chien-Lien Wu, The Barefooted Kid) hostage to save his skin, but the bosses order her to be killed. They escape and begin a forbidden relationship while being chased by both sides of the law. Produced by Johnnie To (Throwdown) and Ringo Lam (City on…