Pardon Us (1931)

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Short Feature Film

Director: James Parrott

Writer: H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: Jack Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, June Marlowe, Wilfred Lucas, James Finlayson, Walter Long, Stanley J. Sanford, Otto Fries

In this sporadically entertaining though rather drawn-out and decidedly patchy Laurel and Hardy film, Stan and Ollie, freshly convicted of boot-legging, find adapting to prison life decidedly difficult, due in no small part to Stan’s loose tooth, which makes a raspberry-like noise every time he speaks, constantly getting him and his rotund chum into trouble with the guards and their fellow inmates alike – as for the escape attempts… Iain.Stott

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The Battle of the Century (1927)

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Clyde Bruckman

Writers: Hal Roach, H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: George Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Noah Young, Sam Lufkin, Charlie Hall, Anita Garvin

After his crushing defeat to 'Thunder-Clap' Callahan, Hardy’s boxing trainer takes out an insurance policy against his fighter (Laurel), and sets out to get a return upon it by carefully placing an errant banana peel for him to slip up on – unfortunately for them, a baker’s assistant comes a cropper instead, spilling his goods onto the street as he does so, and in so doing triggering a mass custard pie fight, in this generally entertaining (though partially lost) Laurel and Hardy short, which starts well with a hilarious boxing scene, but loses its way somewhat when the main action begins. Iain.Stott

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The Hoose-Gow (1929)

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: James Parrott

Writers: H.M. Walker, Leo McCarey

Cinematographer: George Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Tiny Sandford, James Finlayson

Prison inmates Stan and Ollie, digging a ditch on work detail, cause untold havoc – including cutting down a tree housing a look-out guard and lodging a pick-axe in the radiator of a car – when the Governor and other dignitaries come to inspect their site, culminating in a free-for-all custard pie fight (actually rice-and-oil pie fight), in this diverting but rather tired Laurel and Hardy short. Iain.Stott

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Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

Cautiously Recommended

Finland/France/Norway/Sweden

Feature Film

Original Title: Rare Exports

Director: Jalmari Helander

Writers: Jalmari Helander, Petri Jokiranta, Sami Parkkinen, Juuso Helander

Cinematographer: Mika Orasmaa

Composers: Juri Seppä, Miska Seppä

Cast: Onni Tommila, Jorma Tommila, Tommi Korpela, Rauno Juvonen, Per Christian Ellefsen, Ilmari Järvenpää, Peeter Jakobi

When an American funded dig on the Russian side of the Korvatunturi Mountains unleashes an army of Santa’s elves onto the surrounding populace, kidnapping all the local children and stealing their hairdryers and other heat-producing electrical appliances, a small band of Finnish men find that they must stop them or else risk their nefarious leader – Mr. Claus – being thawed out and let loose on the world, in this mildly diverting but decidedly undercooked fantasy, which never quite delivers on the promise of its intriguing premise. Iain.Stott

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Putting Pants on Philip (1927)

Not Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Clyde Bruckman

Writers: Leo McCarey, H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: George Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Sam Lufkin, Harvey Clark, Dorothy Coburn

The be-kilted, lady-killing Philip (Laurel), fresh off the boat from Scotland, draws (with his sartorial elegance) a huge crowd where ever he goes, much to the chagrin of his hugely embarrassed uncle (Hardy), who decides that the best solution to his familial problem is to commit the titular act – a task easier said than done, in this lacklustre and rather uninspired early Laurel and Hardy short. Iain.Stott

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Their First Mistake (1932)

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: George Marshall

Cinematographer: Art Lloyd

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Mae Busch

When Mrs. Hardy warns Ollie (under the threat of leaving him) that he’s not to go out on the town with Stan any more, Stan suggests that he give her a baby to take her mind off their gadding about, which he does that very afternoon, going out with Stan to adopt one – unfortunately, on their return, they are greeted not by a doting mother, but by a process server with divorce papers, and are left holding the baby, in this patchy, low-key, and only sporadically entertaining Laurel and Hardy short. Iain.Stott

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Pack Up Your Troubles (1932)

Recommended

USA

Short Feature Film

Directors: George Marshall, Raymond McCarey

Writer: H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: Art Lloyd

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Donald Dillaway, Jacquie Lyn, Grady Sutton, Muriel Evans, Montague Shaw, Richard Tucker, George Marshall

When Stan and Ollie return from the trenches of The First World War without their army buddy Eddie Smith, they determine to take his daughter from her just-in-it-for-the-money foster parents and deliver her to her grandparents – trouble is they haven’t got the address, and so they begin to systematically (not to mention chaotically) go through every Smith in the phone book, in this hilarious, plot-packed, episodic Laurel and Hardy film. Iain.Stott

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Scram! (1932)

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Ray McCarey

Writer: H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: Art Lloyd

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Richard Cramer, Arthur Housman, Vivien Oakland

With its jails completely full, Judge Beaumont orders a pair of vagrants to leave town in lieu of the charge’s usual 180 day sentence, but instead Stan and Ollie hook up with a drunken millionaire, who offers them a place to stay for the night – cue dropped car keys, lost house keys, mistaken identity, more booze, and an unwelcome reacquainting with the judge, in this hugely entertaining, oft hilarious Laurel and Hardy short. Iain.Stott

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Duck Soup (1927)

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Fred Guiol

Writers: H.M. Walker, Arthur J. Jefferson

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Marcus, Stuart Holmes, Madeline Hurlock, William Austin, Bob Kortman

Attempting to avoid the attentions of a press-ganging forest ranger looking to recruit fire-fighters to battle a large blaze, Hives and Maltravers (Laurel and Hardy), a pair of dishevelled but well-spoken down-and-outs spy an opportunity to stay in a holidaying millionaire’s mansion, albeit one that requires them to pose as master and maid and interview potential renters in order to do so – alas, they don’t bank on him returning home early to fetch his forgotten bow and arrow set, in this enjoyable, prototypical early Laurel and Hardy short, their first real collaboration. Iain.Stott

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The Second Hundred Years (1927)

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Fred Guiol

Writers: Leo McCarey, H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: George Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson, Stanley Sanford, Frank Brownlee, Otto Fries, Bob O'Conor, Ellinor Van der Veer

After their first escape attempt resulted only in them tunnelling up into the Warden’s office, Big Goofy and Little Goofy (Laurel and Hardy) grab the opportunity to pose as painters and walk out of the front gate, pursued only by a mildly suspicious guard, whom they shake by taking on the identities of a pair of French police chiefs who, unfortunately for them, are on their way to the prison for a tour, in this entertaining early Laurel and Hardy comedy, one of their first real collaborations, and the likely inspiration for the superior Will Hay vehicle Convict 99 (1938). Iain.Stott

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Call of the Cuckoo (1927)

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Clyde Bruckman

Writer: H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: Floyd Jackman

Cast: Max Davidson, "Spec" O'Donnell, Lillian Elliott, Leo Willis, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase, James Finlayson

Desperate to sell their home to get away from their sanity-challenged neighbours – the residents of an asylum: Messrs Laurel, Hardy, Chase, and Finlayson – the Gimplewarts accept an offer for a house swap, based on photographic evidence alone, and soon find themselves living in a crumbling, built-in-two-days, should-be-condemned wreck, ill-prepared for their imminent sure-to-be-disastrous housewarming dinner party, in this generally entertaining if unremarkable silent comedy. Iain.Stott

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45 Minutes from Hollywood (1926)

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Fred Guiol

Writers: Hal Roach, H.M. Walker

Cast: Glenn Tryon, Charlotte Mineau, Rube Clifford, Oliver Hardy, Edna Murphy, Stan Laurel

A country rube, in Hollywood to pay off a debt, gets mixed-up with a cross-dressing bank robber, whom he believes to be a movie star, soon finding himself in drag as well and inadvertently coming between a hotel detective and his insanely jealous wife – chaos ensues, in this mildly diverting silent farce, which is most notable for featuring both Laurel and Hardy (for only the second time, though they never share the same screen) amongst the supporting cast. Iain.Stott

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Night Owls (1930)

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: James Parrott

Writer: H.M. Walker

Cinematographer: George Stevens

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Edgar Kennedy, James Finlayson, Anders Randolf

When the Chief of Police admonishes him for his abysmal arrest record, Officer Kennedy convinces a pair of vagrants (Stan and Ollie) to help him stage a robbery at the chief’s house in order for him to intervene and save the day – which is easier said than done when the likes of Messrs Laurel and Hardy are involved, in this entertaining, slapstick-filled L&H short. Iain.Stott

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The Turning Gate (2002)

Essential Viewing

South Korea

Feature Film

Original Title: 생활의 발견

Writer/Director: Hong Sang-soo

Cinematographer: Choi Yeong-taek

Composer: Il Won

Cast: Kim Sang-kyung, Kim Hak-sun, Ye Ji-won, Chu Sang-mi

Featuring some exquisitely composed images and a number of affecting performances, Hong’s restrained and deliberate yet gently funny and hugely moving film depicts the misadventures of a struggling actor, following him as he takes a trip to see an old friend to help forget his woes – a trip which leads to the consumption of much alcohol, to much discussion and argument, and to a number of ill-advised, heart-breaking sexual encounters. Iain.Stott

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In the Cut (2003)

Recommended

USA/UK

Feature Film

Director: Jane Campion

Writers: Jane Campion, Susanna Moore, Stavros Kazantzidis

Cinematographer: Dion Beebe

Composer: Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson

Cast: Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Damici, Kevin Bacon, Sharrieff Pugh

A writer, who splits her time between researching for her new book and teaching English, begins a sexual relationship with a homicide detective, who is investigating a murder in her neighbourhood, and continues to do so even when she begins to suspect that he might actually be the killer himself, in Campion’s much maligned but consummately crafted and decidedly well acted erotic thriller, which proves to be an atypical one by being both erotic and thrilling. Iain.Stott

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Scenes from the Suburbs (2011)

Recommended

USA/Canada

Short Film

Director: Spike Jonze

Writers: Will Butler, Win Butler, Spike Jonze

Cinematographer: Greig Fraser

Composers: Arcade Fire

Cast: Sam Dillon, Zoe Graham, Zeke Jarmon, Paul Pluymen, Ashlin Williamson

Spike Jonze’s stylishly melancholy collaboration with Canadian band Arcade Fire, inspired by their acclaimed 2010 album The Suburbs, enigmatically and affectingly paints a portrait – against the backdrop of a town under martial law – of a disintegrating friendship, from carefree summer days of lads larking around, through miscommunication and alienation, to acrimony and violence. Iain.Stott

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Dolphin Boy (2011)

Recommended

Israel/France/UK

Feature Documentary

Original Title: דולפין

Writer/Directors: Dani Menkin, Yonatan Nir

Cinematographers: Uri Ackerman, Yoav Kleinman, Yaron Levison, Yonatan Nir

Composer: Issar Shulman

Despite an occasionally intrusive and manipulative score and the rather hackneyed sight of a doctor sat at his computer typing away (superimpositions and all) as he explains the case to us, Menkin and Nir’s film proves to be an affecting and uplifting one, capturing a father’s intense love for his son, as it follows (over the course of four years) the progress of Morad, a teenaged boy left in a dissociative state after a severe beating, as he gradually learns to live again thanks to the healing powers of dolphin therapy. Iain.Stott

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I Killed My Mother (2009)

Recommended

Canada

Feature Film

Original Title: J'ai tué ma mere

Writer/Director: Xavier Dolan

Cinematographer: Stéphanie Weber-Biron

Composer: Nicholas Savard-L'Herbier

Cast: Xavier Dolan, Anne Dorval, François Arnaud, Suzanne Clément, Patricia Tulasne, Niels Schneider

With its striking photography and unusual mise en scène, 19-year-old Dolan’s consummately crafted semi-autobiographical directorial debut proves itself to be an assured and stylish work of numerous delights, as it relates to us the story of a tumultuous (and very shouty) love/hate relationship that builds up between a hard working but short-tempered single mother and her even shorter-tempered, hormones-racing 16-year-old son. Iain.Stott

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Perrier's Bounty (2009)

Cautiously Recommended

Ireland/UK

Feature Film

Director: Ian Fitzgibbon

Writer: Mark O'Rowe

Cinematographer: Seamus Deasy

Composer: David Holmes

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Jodie Whittaker, Jim Broadbent, Brendan Gleeson, Michael McElhatton, Don Wycherley, Liam Cunningham, Brendan Coyle, Padraic Delaney, Conleth Hill, Gabriel Byrne

Having missed the deadline to repay the €1,000 that he owes to a vicious local gangster, Michael, chased down by two of his thugs, prepares to say goodbye to his legs, but his suicidal neighbour, about to shoot herself, instead comes to his rescue by turning the gun onto them – cue the eponymous reward for their capture – and so they set out on the run, accompanied by Michael’s sleep-deprived father (who may or may not be about to die), in Fitzgibbon’s well crafted and acted though rather familiar black comedy. Iain.Stott

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The Invisible Woman (2009)

Cautiously Recommended

Brazil

Feature Film

Original title: A Mulher Invisível

Director: Cláudio Torres

Writers: Cláudio Torres, Adriana Falcão, Maria Luísa Mendonça, Cláudio Paiva

Cinematographer: Ralph Strelow

Composers: Luca Raele, Maurício Tagliari

Cast: Selton Mello, Maria Manoella, Vladimir Brichta, Luana Piovani, Fernanda Torres

When his wife leaves him for a German millionaire, Pedro, a thirty-something Rio traffic operator, re-enters the dating pool, but after just a few weeks is ready to give up, until he meets the perfect woman, who (unfortunately for him) turns out to be a figment of his imagination – cue a great deal of air-snogging in the cinema, on the dance floor, and elsewhere – whilst his next door neighbour, who actually does exist and really likes him, may as well be invisible as, in the six years that she has lived next door to him, has never managed to turn his head, in Torres’s mildly entertaining but decidedly fluffy and perhaps a tad overlong romantic comedy. Iain.Stott

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Phenomena (1985)

Not Recommended

Italy

Feature Film

aka Creepers

Director: Dario Argento

Writers: Dario Argento, Franco Ferrini

Cinematographer: Romano Albani

Composers: Goblin

Cast: Jennifer Connelly, Daria Nicolodi, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Patrick Bauchau, Donald Pleasence, Fiore Argento, Federica Mastroianni

The teenaged daughter of a famous American actor struggles to fit in at an elite Swiss boarding school, when it becomes known that she has a strange fondness for (and an even stranger kinship with) the local insect population; and, near enough friendless (barring her roommate who has mysteriously disappeared), she makes friends with a paralysed Scots etymologist, who – bafflingly – encourages her to track down a local serial killer, who has been killing teenaged girls, in Argento’s woodenly acted and ridiculously plotted if often quite stylish horror film, which has a deliriously silly yet ridiculously entertaining ending that can’t quite make up for the dross that precedes it. Iain.Stott

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The Miners' Hymns (2010)

Recommended

UK

Short Documentary

Director: Bill Morrison

Composer: Jóhann Jóhannsson

Accompanied by Jóhannsson’s mournful brass and cathedral organ score, made-up entirely – but for a bookending contemporary helicopter shot – of archive footage (from the likes of Mitchel and Kenyon at the turn of the century to miners-shot footage of police brutality during the 1984 strike) Morrison’s elegiac cinepoem elegantly paints a portrait of coalminers and coalmining in the northeast of England during the 20^th century. Iain.Stott

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Accidental Hero (1992)

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Original Title: Hero

Director: Stephen Frears

Writers: David Webb Peoples, Alvin Sargent, Laura Ziskin

Cinematographer: Oliver Stapleton

Composer: George Fenton

Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis, Andy Garcia, Joan Cusack, James Madio, Chevy Chase, Kevin J. O'Connor

A cynical small-time crook, about to be sentenced for the receiving of stolen goods, reluctantly saves the lives of 54 people from an aeroplane that crashes right before his eyes, but – not wanting any attention (and having stolen the handbag of one of those that he saved) – he avoids taking the credit… that is until a one million dollar reward is offered by a television company for his bravery (and taken by someone else), in Frears’s well paced, amiably acted, and generally entertaining film, which is let down by a somewhat overblown score and a few misjudged Capraesque touches. Iain.Stott

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12:08 East of Bucharest (2006)

Recommended

Romania

Feature Film

Original Title: A fost sau n-a fost?

Writer/Director: Corneliu Porumboiu

Cinematographer: Marius Panduru

Composers: Rotaria

Cast: Mircea Andreescu, Teodor Corban, Ion Săpdaru

On the 16th anniversary of The Romanian Revolution of 1989, a small town television presenter (accompanied by two self-professed revolutionaries) asks the question, “did the revolution happen in our town, or did its residents only take to the streets after Ceaușescu’s titularly-timed abdication?” in Porumboiu’s unhurriedly paced, gently funny, and strangely affecting feature debut. Iain.Stott

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Win Win (2011)

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Tom McCarthy

Writers: Tom McCarthy, Joe Tiboni

Cinematographer: Oliver Bokelberg

Composer: Lyle Workman

Cast: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Alex Shaffer, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young, Melanie Lynskey, Margo Martindale, David Thompson

A financially struggling lawyer (and part-time high school wrestling coach) dishonestly takes on the guardianship of a client in the early stages of dementia in order to pocket the $1,500 that comes with the accompanying (largely shirked) responsibility, but it’s a plan that becomes complicated somewhat by the arrival of the elderly man’s teenaged runaway grandson, who happens to be a very talented wrestler, in McCarthy’s amiable and generally entertaining if rather predictable and somewhat undercooked film, which feels more like the pilot for a promising television series than a fully realised feature. Iain.Stott

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Last Night (1998)

Recommended

Canada/France

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Don McKellar

Cinematographer: Douglas Koch

Composers: Alexina Louie, Alex Pauk

Cast: Don McKellar, Sandra Oh, Callum Keith Rennie, Geneviève Bujold, David Cronenberg, Roberta Maxwell, Robin Gammell, Sarah Polley, Trent McMullen, Michael McMurtry

With his world already feeling like it had ended a few months earlier with the death of his wife, Patrick Wheeler wants nothing more than to sit alone and honour her memory as the actual end of the world approaches, but a stranded stranger (who, herself, wants nothing more than to get home to her husband) soon has him reluctantly changing his plans, whilst his family and friends take their own personal journeys towards oblivion, in McKellar’s affecting, nuanced, metaphor-laden feature directorial debut. Iain.Stott

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Adieu Philippine (1962)

Recommended

France/Italy

Feature Film

Director: Jacques Rozier

Writers: Michèle O'Glor, Jacques Rozier

Cinematographer: René Mathelin

Composers: Jacques Denjean, Paul Mattei, Maxime Saury

Cast: Jean-Claude Aimini, Stefania Sabatini, Yveline Céry, Daniel Descamps, Vittorio Caprioli, David Tonelli

About to be shipped off to fight in the Algerian War, Michel, a young television camera technician, meets two attractive young girls, whom he begins to pal around with, a friendship/flirtation that soon sees the three of them (though they're occasionally joined by a fourth) heading off to a sun-drenched Corsica, as they await the inevitable adieu, in Rozier’s ramblingly entertaining picaresque tale, which makes up with charm and verve what it lacks in polish and refinement. Iain.Stott

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The Martins (2001)

Cautiously Recommended

UK/USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Tony Grounds

Cinematographer: David Johnson

Composer: Richard Hartley

Cast: Lee Evans, Kathy Burke, Linda Bassett, Eric Byrne, Terri Dumont, Lennie James, Paddy Considine

When he fails to win the holiday of his dreams in a competition run by the local newspaper – the latest in a series of life’s disappointments – long-term unemployed Hatfield resident Robert, married with two children, snaps, imprisons the prize’s rightful(ish) recipients, and takes his family on the holiday anyway (a trip to the Isle of Man), all the while waving an unloaded pistol at anyone who annoys him or gets in his way, in Grounds’s sporadically entertaining if ultimately rather sentimental comedy-drama. Iain.Stott

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This Filthy Earth (2001)

Essential Viewing

UK

Feature Film

Director: Andrew Kötting

Writers: Andrew Kötting, Sean Lock, Émile Zola

Cinematographer: Nick Gordon Smith

Composer: David Burnand

Cast: Rebecca R. Palmer, Shane Attwooll, Demelza Randall, Xavier Tchili, Dudley Sutton, Ina Clough, Peter-Hugo Daly

Adapted (with the aid of comedian Sean Lock) from Émile Zola’s 1887 novel La Terre, Kötting’s formally audacious, intensely visceral, and blackly humorous misanthropic masterpiece brilliantly regales us with rural tales of sex, violence, superstition, and ignorance, filled with bodily fluids, guttural Yorkshire explosions, and a great deal of filthy earth. Iain.Stott

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Troll Hunter (2010)

Recommended

Norway

Feature Film

Original Title: Trolljegeren

Writer/Director: André Øvredal

Cinematographer: Hallvard Bræin

Cast: Otto Jespersen, Glenn Erland Tosterud, Johanna Mørck, Tomas Alf Larsen, Hans Morten Hansen

Three student film-makers, out in the Norwegian countryside investigating bear poaching, happen upon a world-weary hunter, the titular character, who (fed-up with his unglamorous [secret] lifestyle) introduces them to a world of trolls, government cover-ups, and grimy caravan parks, in Øvredal’s very well crafted if slightly undernourished (character-wise) and vaguely hackneyed (form-wise) though never less than thoroughly entertaining monster movie, which makes good use of the its locale's oft spectacular scenery. Iain.Stott

For a slightly longer piece, see 1000 Nights in the Dark.

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102 Boulevard Haussmann (1990)

Recommended

UK

Television Film

Series Title: Screen Two (1985-1994)

Director: Udayan Prasad

Writer: Alan Bennett

Cinematographer: John Hooper

Cast: Alan Bates, Janet McTeer, Paul Rhys, Philip McGough, Jonathan Coy, Philip Rham, Michael Wilcox, Peter Geeves, Michael Grandage, Lesley Nightingale

On a rare trip out to a concert performance, the asthmatic, decidedly frail, and near enough bed-ridden Marcel Proust takes a shine to a young viola player (on sick leave from the raging First World War), whom he attempts to befriend through a series of private concert performances, as his devoted maid (McTeer, affectingly restrained) passively looks on, in Bennett’s tender, subtle, and gently melancholic teleplay. Iain.Stott

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From Under My Bed (2005)

Recommended

France

Short Film

Original Title: Sous mon lit

Writer/Director: Jihane Chouaib

Cinematographer: Dylan Doyle

Composers: Mendelson, Los Tres Amigos

Cast: Emeline Becuwe, Clément van den Bergh

As her parents tootle off on their summer holiday thinking that their daughter is about to board a coach for a school-organised trip to London, Mira, a sexually repressed teenaged girl caught awkwardly between childhood and adulthood, instead returns home alone, where her fears, repressions, and anxieties begin to manifest themselves, in Chouaib’s thoughtfully and viscerally stimulating short film. Iain.Stott

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Dry Summer (1964)

Cautiously Recommended

Turkey

Feature Film

Original Title: Susuz yaz

Director: Metin Erksan

Writers: Metin Erksan, Kemal Inci, Ismet Soydan, Necati Cumali

Cinematographer: Ali Ugur

Composers: Manos Hatzidakis, Yamaci

Cast: Erol Tas, Hülya Koçyigit, Ulvi Dogan

Osman, a charmless farmer who covets his younger bother’s comely new bride, builds a dam to prevent his neighbours from receiving water that emanates from a spring on his property – an act that leads to violence, betrayal, and retribution, in Erksan’s diverting, well photographed parable, which generally feels quite rushed and suffers from some rather stilted performances. Iain.Stott

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The Little Tailor (2010)

Recommended

France

Short Film

Original Title: Petit tailleur

Writer/Director: Louis Garrel

Cinematographer: Léo Hinstin

Composer: Grégoire Hetzel

Cast: Arthur Igual, Léa Seydoux, Grand Albert, Sylvain Creuzevault, Lolita Chammah, Evelyne Lequesne, Laurent Laffargue

Arthur, an apprentice tailor with dreams of becoming an haute couturist, is forced to choose between his eighty-year-old dying mentor, who fought in the resistance as a teenager, and Marie-Julie, a beautiful, melancholy young actress who he has only just met, but with whom he has fallen deeply in love, in Garrel’s lyrical, gorgeously shot short film, which features a particularly touching performance from Seydoux. Iain.Stott

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The Housemaid (1960)

Cautiously Recommended

South Korea

Feature Film

Original Title: 하녀

Writer/Director: Kim Ki-young

Cinematographer: Kim Deok-jin

Composer: Han Sang-ki

Cast: Lee Eun-shim, Kim Jin-kyu, Ju Jeung-nyeo, Um Aeng-ran, Ahn Sung-ki, Kang Seok-je, Ko Seon-ae, Na Jeong-ok

Overcome with exhaustion after moving into a new home, and struggling to cope with her domestic duties, a pregnant woman, who spends most of her time diligently working at her sewing machine, encourages her music teaching husband to employ a maid, who proceeds to make their lives a misery, in Kim’s visually arresting and campily entertaining if generally rather overblown thriller. Iain.Stott

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The Mugger (2007)

Recommended

Argentina

Short Feature Film

Original Title: El asaltante

Writer/Director: Pablo Fendrik

Cinematographer: Cobi Migliora

Cast: Guillermo Arengo, Germán de Silva, Arturo Goetz, Maya Lesca, Bárbara Lombardo, Verónica Piaggio

Captured in near-enough real time with claustrophobic hand-held photography, featuring an excellent performance from Arengo, Fendrik’s promising feature directorial debut grippingly follows a seemingly respectable middle-aged man around the streets of Buenos Aires as he perpetrates a series of robberies at a number of plush private schools, before returning to his decidedly more mundane everyday life (allowing us to re-evaluate his actions). Iain.Stott

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Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2010)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Eli Craig

Writers: Eli Craig, Morgan Jurgenson

Cinematographer: David Geddes

Cast: Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk, Katrina Bowden, Jesse Moss, Philip Granger, Brandon Jay McLaren, Christie Laing, Chelan Simmons

Tucker and Dale, whilst vacationing at their new holiday home, save a pretty young camper from drowning – unfortunately, though, her college friends mistake them for murderous, kidnapping hillbillies, and are soon (after one or two freak accidents compound their erroneous theory) laying siege to the unfortunate pair’s isolated cabin, in Craig’s blackly comic, cliché-bendingly funny feature debut. Iain.Stott

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Bad Connection (2000)

Recommended

France

Short Film

Original Title: Faux contact

Writer/Director/Composer: Eric Jameux

Cinematographer: Franck Barbian

Cast: Sylvie Testud, Nasser Cerkoune, Frédéric Leray, Eric Jameux

As a wave of terrorist attacks sweep Paris, a young, unemployed Muslim man – struggling to complete the level of the game he's playing – rings a video game helpline from a phone box for assistance, but a dodgy light bulb, a surprisingly helpful call centre worker, and a vigilant but impetuous police force ensure that he gets more than he bargained for, in this smart, funny, and well crafted short film. Iain.Stott

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Chicken Heart (2002)

Recommended

Japan

Feature Film

Original Title: チキン・ハート

Writer/Director: Shimizu Hiroshi

Cinematographer: Takase Hiroshi

Composer: Suzuki Keiichi

Cast: Ikeuchi Hiroyuki, Imawano Kiyoshiro, Matsuo Suzuki, Mabuchi Erika, Haruki Misayo, Omi Toshinori, Araki Nobuyoshi, Kishibe Ittoku

Three sort-of friends, who eke out a living during the day by scrubbing graffiti off walls, selling toupees, and handing out insurance leaflets on the street, spend their evenings providing a service as a human punching bag to stressed out businessmen, eating and drinking at an illegal food stall, and generally dreaming of a better future, in Shimizu’s hugely likeable second feature, which gradually develops from hilariously bizarre comedy to touching character study as it progresses towards its melancholically tender finale. Iain.Stott

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World's Greatest Dad (2009)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Bobcat Goldthwait

Cinematographer: Horacio Marquínez

Composer: Gerald Brunskill

Cast: Robin Williams, Daryl Sabara, Alexie Gilmore, Mitzi McCall, Evan Martin, Geoff Pierson, Henry Simmons, Lorraine Nicholson

Following a tragic accident, a put-upon single father, whose dreams of literary fame have come to naught, finds his fortunes taking a turn for the (seemingly) better, when his students and fellow teachers suddenly see him in a new light – though his new found popularity soon begins to weigh upon him, in Goldthwait’s cynically and blackly comic yet insightful and strangely moving little film. Iain.Stott

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CFB's Top 30 Films of 1971 (2011)

1. The Last Picture Show (1971)
2. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
3. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
4. Death in Venice (1971)
5. Harold and Maude (1971)
6. The French Connection (1971)
7. Dirty Harry (1971)
8. Walkabout (1971)
9. Duel (1971)
10. Straw Dogs (1971)
11. Play Misty for Me (1971)
12. Klute (1971)
13. Bananas (1971)
14. Le Souffle au Coeur (1971)
15. The Emigrants (1971)
16. Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
17. The Beguiled (1971)
18. Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
19. Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
20. Carnal Knowledge (1971)
21. Get Carter (1971)
22. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
23. Out 1 (1971)
24. The Devils (1971)
25. 10 Rillington Place (1971)
26. Macbeth (1971)
27. The Decameron (1971)
28. A New Leaf (1971)
29. King Lear (1971)
30. Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
31. Trafic (1971)
32. The Andromeda Strain (1971)
33. Anne and Muriel (1971)
34. The Boy Friend (1971)
    Punishment Park (1971)
35. Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)
    The Omega Man (1971)
36. The Merchant of Four Seasons (1971)

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CFB's Top 20 Obscure Films of 1971 (2011)

1. Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971)
2. Love (1971)
3. Juste Avant la Nuit (1971)
4. The Trojan Women (1971)
5. Such Good Friends (1971)
6. Silence (1971)
7. La Region Centrale (1971)
8. Checkpoint (1971)
9. Hapax Legomena I: Nostalgia (1971)
10. The Act of Seeing with One’s Own Eyes (1971)
11. Synchromy (1971)
12. ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (1971)
13. Desperate Characters (1971)
14. Maybe I’ll Come Home in the Spring (1971)
15. Joe Hill (1971)
16. The Salamander (1971)
17. Red Sky at Morning (1971)
18. How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (1971)
19. The Ceremony (1971)
20. Emitai (1971)

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Paul (2011)

Cautiously Recommended

USA/UK

Feature Film

Director: Greg Mottola

Writers: Nick Frost, Simon Pegg

Cinematographer: Lawrence Sher

Composer: David Arnold

Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jason Bateman, Bill Hader, Joe Lo Truglio

Two sci-fi loving comic book nerds from England, fresh from their first visit to Comic-Con, set off on a UFO-hotspot road trip across the US, which is enlivened considerably by their meeting of Paul, a pot-smoking alien on the lam from nefarious government agents, whom they attempt to aid in his plan to return to his own planet, in this amiable, sporadically entertaining, reference-heavy road movie, which is never quite as entertaining as it should be. Iain.Stott

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