Bringing to life a full-scale biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte has been something of an Ahab-like quest for film directors. Stanley Kubrick had a Napoleon film (at one point with Jack Nicholson as the French Emperor) in the works for many years before shelving it due to studio budget concerns. Russian director Sergei Bondarchuk tackled the subject with mixed results in
Read moreHistorical drama Chevalier is a mostly stylish mix of racial politics, romance, music and revolution. The film is based on the true story of 18th Century French composer Joseph Bologne, the illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner who, having displayed a remarkable talent for music, particularly the violin, is enrolled at a Paris conservatory. There,
Read moreThe inevitable challenge for any film sequel is to live up to the expectations raised by the original. When that sequel arrives many years after the first film, so that the original has come to be seen as a minor classic or at least a childhood favourite, the sequel’s task is that much tougher. This is one of the problems
Read moreThe hypnotic but slow-moving First Cow is what might be termed an arthouse western, a film that takes place in the traditional western setting but one that eschews heroic mythology or sanitised views of the past. This story of an unusual friendship and economic ambition in the brutal 1820’s Oregon frontier takes a while to find its footing but delivers
Read moreSet in Australia’s colonial past and focused on the pursuit of an aboriginal man by white police, High Ground plays like a companion piece to Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country. While its plot lacks the nuance and complexity of Sweet Country, its visual artistry is almost as impressive and this confronting story of white brutality and aboriginal resistance is nearly as
Read moreThe Mary Queen of Scots story is given the Game of Thrones treatment with this stern, slightly pompous but generally well-made tale of royal politics, war, treachery and female determination. Mary Stuart aka Mary Queen of Scots was the daughter of Scottish King James V and cousin of English Queen, Elizabeth 1. At the beginning of the film Mary (Saoirse
Read more