ell1981

Haneke if not one of the best living director is undoubtedly the bravest. He continues to defy normal cinema conventions by putting so much trust in the viewer. Key moments that would definitely be portrayed and scrutinised by other filmmakers are not shown in order to magnify it's meaning. At no point does this come across as obtuse as every frame is crafted and exploited to the max. The performances are all in line with the director's meticulous and always precise vision. Due to the incredible commercial success and awards the film received, I wrongly thought that he had finally given in to sentimentality. Not at all! Credit to the general public and indeed the American Academy for supporting and hailing such an exquisite film.

Excellent film that rightly received awards in independent categories. Throughout there was an unpretentious feel to this film that shows the directors craft and subtle methods. Made without a script this simply highlighted the talent of the actors. Considine as ever delivers a simple yet compelling performance and the young Artyom also showed a maturity beyond his years. Again credit must be given to the direction and the subtle use of light that created the feeling of isolation and solace as well as an other wordly dream like paralysis. Really well crafted and paced and beautifully shot. Enjoyable and compelling and worth a watch.

You definitely need to be in the right mood for this-luckily I was and enjoyed it throughout and could have watched for longer. Of course the characterisations of the famous historical figures must be taken with a pinch of salt. Yet it felt like a celebration of these figures and also introduced me to the wonders of alternative filmmaker Luis Bunuel which is certainly not a bad thing. As with many of his films if Allen doesn't play the lead role then whoever does seems to be doing an impression of him. Wilson did do this but had enough charisma and ability to shine through. McAdams also does a good job and of course so does the beautiful Paris.