Category Archive: FILM
The Thread
(Directed by Daniel Auteuil, 2024) It was hard for The Varnished Culture to dislike this court-room thriller. After all, it stars the terrific Daniel Auteuil as Jean Monier, a kind of French Rumpole, stepping-in for his overworked barrister wife (ex-wife?) defacto? (Sidse Babett Knudsen), to take over the defence of a befuddled father of five, Nicolas Milik (Grégory Gadebois), charged with the murder of his flakey wife, who tends to go on benders and sleep-it-off at a bench in the heart of their village, but one night turns up dead, throat slashed. Auteuil also directed. The cast is full of…
Continue Reading →The Penguin Lessons
(Directed by Peter Cattaneo, 2024) (Thanks to White Rita, our ‘off-budget’ film reviewer, for this comment). The Penguin Lessons is a beautiful, moving film made all the more poignant by the fact that it is a true story. Set during the “Dirty War” in 1970s Argentina, it revolves around a middle-aged English teacher and the delightful little penguin that imprints itself on him. Steve Coogan delivers a wonderful performance and is supported by a delightful cast of characters. This important story is sad, happy, humorous and at all times, engaging.
Continue Reading →It Ends With Us
There's no end to this...
(Directed by Justin Baldoni, from the novel by Colleen Hoover) (2024) Thanks to Guest Reviewer Rita, for sitting through this so we don’t have to. Her pithy synthesis is below, with our additional comments further on. “What a woeful travesty! This film trivializes and romanticises the very serious subject of domestic violence and is downright insulting to the many true victims of this ongoing crime. It fails in many ways…most notably it neglects to portray the fact that the most dangerous time for a woman entrapped in such an abusive relationship is when she summons the courage to leave. Give…
Continue Reading →Gene Hackman
(30 January 1930 to 17? February 2025) He was Mr. Reliable, and never selector’s choice as a leading man, but after several obscure but worthy performances, he gained stardom in The French Connection as an obsessed, driven narcotics cop. In later decades, he usually slipped into supporting roles, with the odd standout star role, such as in Mississippi Burning and Narrow Margin. The circumstances of his demise currently a mystery, we instead will nominate his best amongst his almost 80 films: Bonnie and Clyde (1967) The Gypsy Moths (1969) I Never Sang for My Father (1970) The French Connection (1971) Scarecrow…
Continue Reading →Heretic
"The wife is shy, but the pie is nigh!"
(Directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Wood, 2024) We who do not live in horror-film-land know that no young woman should ever go into the isolated, charming house at the bottom of a wind-strewn garden during a rainstorm. Unfortunately for them, LDS missionaries Sister Paxton (Chloe East) and Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) do live in that land and did not get the memo. In non-horror-film-land the missionaries would be young men but of course, women are the proper victims of imprisonment, slashings and creepy things in horror-film-land so there it is. Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) lives in that house and…
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