Cinema

Articles

• The sounds of Istanbul - Crossing the Bridge
  30 September 2007, by Paul Kirkness

  When Alexander Hacke, a German bass player, reaches the thriving city of Istanbul to find musicians who will help him to compose the music of Head On, he encounters the neo-psychedelic band Baba Zula. He is asked if he will play the bass for them when their own bassist leaves the band. Filmed by Fatih Akin, this documentary is about Hacke and his personal attempts at grasping the full richness of Istanbul’s musical scene.
  The beauty of Istanbul is renowned. Thousands of years of history (…)

• Walter Salles - reaching for South American culture
  12 March 2005, by arthur, Paul Kirkness

  Soundsmag takes a quick glance at the man who contributed so greatly at re-launching Brazilian cinema on a worldwide level...
  “I don’t think we can say what the Latin American identity is, but I think we can try to look for it, and look for the reverberations from it.”
  This could be described as Walter Salles’ goal when he set out to enter the world of film-making. The Brazilian director really spearheaded the return of his countries movies on the international scene in the 1990’s. (…)

• The first in a bloody trilogy
  11 November 2005, by Paul Kirkness

  As children, it is easily enough that we succumb to the tricks of the playground magician. When he pulls out that rabbit from the hat, we do not ask ourselves how this happened, we look upon this as magic. As you grew older and started to understand the tricks, have you never profoundly wished that you could be blind to the conjuror’s methods?
  Now imagine that the fortune teller, the sorcerer’s, the african “marabout” all really had some special powers... Imagine that you were wrong to (…)

• The Steven Soderbergh touch...
  30 September 2007, by arthur, Paul Kirkness

  As Ocean’s Thirteen was hitting the screens worldwide, we thought that the man behind the movie deserved one of our little general reviews. It is safe to say that Steven Soderbergh is one of the greatest American director’s living today. He is the writer and director of such remarked films as Sex, Lies and Videotape and Out of Sight. But it is also him that we must thank for less renowned movies such as Schizopolis, Full Frontal or Kafka... Who are you Mr. Soderbergh ?
  Steven was born in (…)

• The other side of Fatih Akin
  26 April 2008, by Paul Kirkness

  Towards the end of September last year, I wrote an article about a documentary film that I particularly enjoyed - Crossing the Bridge. This film was filmed and edited by Fatih Akin, the son of Turkish migrants who moved to Hamburg. His documentary film-making was, I argued, particularly moving because, as he explored the streets of Istanbul with Alexander Hacke, one could not but get this feeling that the author was both ‘rediscovering’ home as a Turk and ‘discovering’ the marvels of a city (…)

• No Country for Old Men - The return of the Coen brothers
  4 February 2008, by Paul Kirkness

  The Coen brothers are back. And this time with a dark and violent film...
  Clearly, the Coen brothers have developed a great talent for moving from style to style. After the immensely successful The Big Lebowski which was released ten years ago, Ethan and Joel Coen must have realized they were standing before a wall. Indeed, how could they ever match the genius of such a crazy, hilarious and genius film? The truth is that, from The Hudsucker Proxy through Fargo to Lebowski, the brothers (…)

• George A. Romero’s comeback
  26 September 2005, by Paul Kirkness

  1968... It was nearly fourty years ago that George A. Romero wrote and directed what is now considered to be a milestone in horror film history, the sinister and aptly named Night of the Living Dead. Ten years later came Dawn of the Dead, followed by Day of the Dead which were equally frightening... The Dead trilogy is now world renowned and has allowed for Romero to impose himself over the years as the master of horror and gore. Film buffs queue up for hours outside premières of his movies (…)