russellcraigr Reviews

The Fifth Province (1997)

laughter in the rainy soul

[8/10 · 13 February 2005]

the truth is that 'Fifth Province' is a rarity: a film with its own story to tell, in its own time. though set in the present day, 5P could easily be in the nineteen fifties, or even the 19th century... the humour is self deprecating Irish, the archness is all its own, the cinematography stylish and the rain relentless

I will not spoil any of the plot elements, but you may find it useful to be prepared for the following events MINI SPOILERS: exploding cows... vengeful (ex) wives... worms turning... script doctors... roads leading to Brussels... Sligo Sleet... Mexican tulpas... true love...

it is a lovely, wicked little film

Whispering Pages (1994)

out of nowhere

[26 July 2002]

a very unusual film yes, it is slow but such a simple idea : everybody knows Crime and Punishment, right? so let's just take the wanderings of Raskolnikov before and after the murder and leave out all the main scenes this is a film about the time between events and it is remarkable

Outsiders (1977)

genuine class

[26 July 2002]

the dream of cinema becoming (again) a world language has always seemed to me to cover a sadder loss - which language? almost certainly, mainstream narrative well - watch this film and see another way of doing things it's funny, profound, conversational, slow (??? do the other people mean long takes?? the film is not slow at all) and timeless and the colours and the central position of Woman and - yes - the rigour of Sembene make this (still 30 years on) a landmark of world cinema and so light a man with trousers of fat should not stand close to the fire right

Animals with the Tollkeeper (1998)

Beautiful underviewed first work

[16 August 2001]

Several years ago I had the privilege of reviewing new scripts for a major production company in Europe. Of the 2,000 scripts I read, only a literal handful have stuck in my mind, and only one of those offbeat few actually made it onscreen. That was 'Animals'. For unknown reasons (because this is a wonderful film) no-one has seen Michael di Jiacomo's first work, the limited release it obtained in France was for purely contractual reasons, and occurred in the 'boom' time slot between Christmas and New year when nobody at all goes to the movies. So, the question is not how strongly to recommend this film (which also has its flaws... but so does every director's first feature) but 'where can it be seen?'. Keep your eyes peeled, but I suspect it will take the first success of di Jiacomo (his next film?) to open distributors' eyes for a re-release.