Claude d'Anna is an obscure (pardon my French;) arthouse French director. I have not seen any film of his until this one. I guess this is also a curio in his filmography, it is obvious this is not a thriller / genre director at work here.
Youtube just put this film in front of me (scroll down), with a cover still of Dennis Hopper. So, obviously I took a look...it's dubbed in French. Some small passages though, his real voice can be heard...(he does not talk much ;)
A very ecclectic cast: Marie-France Bonin (as Laure Dechansel, also co-writer, her real job) , she is the lead and the weakest element of the ensemble, Bruno Cremer (picked probably after Friedkin's Sorcerer). Gabriele Ferzetti, Dennis Hopper, Donald Pleasence (his part is barely a cameo), Joseph Cotten (petty cool as the big boss), Michel Bouquet (mosltyl on the phone), Pierre Santini and Vernon Dobtcheff as the Receptionist ! The names of the characters are cool too, Richter, Herzog, Rothko, Medford, Lehman, Muller, Kauffer and Foster Johnson (Cotten), serious names if you ask me, but you don't ;)
Cool pre-credits intro, also interesting title sequence, after which you would expect more to come, but...
A time capsule, some of it very tiring, heavy verbally plotted- An African nation, American companies, banking, capitalism, industrial espionage, colonialism, natural resources, . Mostly talking heads, people on telephones, train trips, based on a premise of mistaken identity -pasports swap- and a McGuffin of a secret dossier.
The train goes Zurich -Belfort-Paris. There's a chase between Cremer and Hopper, pretty well done. That's about all the action you get. And a downbeat ending, very much a la maison in the French, Italian films of that time.
Most interesting of course today to see for Hopper, who is at his most menacing as Medford, the mercenary in pursuit of the dossier. He sits many scenes on the train, in the back, a silhouette, chain-smoking.
He looks like a psycho, black leather jacket, cool haircut, and nasal spray. He's a like a younger version of Frank Booth. Hopper did some European fares at the time (The American Friend), then he went to do Apocalypse Now in the Philippines.
#Music by Claude Nougaro and Maurice Vander, with a cool (but sad) song on the end credits (Nous n'avons pas de passeport).
Romanian version here. I was aked to to piece for the TIFF 25 retrospective in AperiTIFF and here it is.
"They're Filming Midgets..."
Heaven, hell or purgatory? It's Bruges!
An extraordinary debut by Irish filmmaker Martin McDonagh (Seven Psychopats,Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri), In Bruges is one of the very best films of 2008—and much more than that. A cult film par excellence, it becomes more valuable every time I revisit it. I am still astonished that, after premiering at Sundance, it failed to win any major awards there. It did go on to win Colin Farrell a Golden Globe and earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, a category it won at the BAFTAs.
I like to think, however, that it did for tourism in Bruges what Roman Holiday did for Rome!
I, for one, spent a day there in 2014, and my impressions matched Ray's point of view exactly, as opposed to Ken's.
The Colin Farrell/Ray – Brendan Gleeson/Ken pairing is fabulous, and McDonagh reunited them fourteen years later in another extraordinary film, The Banshees of Inisherin(2022).
And Ralph Fiennes as Harry is impeccable, ferocious—an irresistible character.
You can tell that McDonagh is also a playwright, and that his literary influences stem from the Theatre of the Absurd, yet the film remains intensely cinematic.
First and foremost, it owes a great deal to Harold Pinter's 1959 play The Dumb Waiter. In turn, Pinter's play was inspired by Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot (1953). Add a touch of British gangster cinema—Irish, in this case—a hint of Bruegel landscapes in Bruges, nihilism, a fatal trauma, an improbable love story, and black, absurd humour turned up to eleven.
Other clues: Touch of Evil, Don't Look Now, Carlito's Way, the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch.
Carter Burwell's score most likely came into McDonagh's world via the Coen Brothers (see Fargoin the same TIFF retrospective of black comedies), with whom McDonagh began a wonderful collaboration that continued throughout all of his subsequent films.
LikeFargo, In Bruges was never released theatrically in Romania at the time.
Beware !!! (literally stay away from this Fake Fear)
Max Cady is Back ! And this time he is Javier Bardem with a goat-e and Udo Kier type of Blue Eyes -actually Green lenses!)
The new Cape Fear is here...on Apple Tv + (premiered June 5th)
Episodes 1 and 2 were cool and atmospheric, but will it have enough breath to do Ten ?
we'll see...
well, now it's over and what was originally published on June 8th overstayed its welcome -as expected !!! here are the August 1st conclusions of this bloated overbearing season !
Bardem, best thing about him, his Panama hat (which he took from Mitchum's Cady, but Mitchum had a cooler one-and in black and white)- does not get even close to his Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men or even the blonde eyed psycho Silva from Skyfall. No my faved, his best psycho and most fun is the one from Perdita Durango, Romeo !. Basically Bardem is ripping off De Niro's Max Cady at a nec plus ultra grand guignol style. Efficient but pastiche...
Very little from the original book John D. MacDonald's The Executioners (1957) stays on.
Also not much of the 1962 J. Lee Thompson original adaptation as Cape Fear in glorious Black and White.
cool tittle lettering, cool ideas from the Scorsese 1991 remake and homage (the shots on the negative, camera moves), and most of all the music stays the same. Bernard Herrmann's score, now redone by Jeff Russo. This is the only asset imo, I think I watched it for the score alone, this being one of the best I ever heard, and tops some of Herrmann's work with Hitchcock.
Exec prod by Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and showrunner Nick Antosca.
Wasted Ted Levine and Ron Perlman in the obvious baddie daddy roles.
***
1st episode, 'Fingers and Toes' directed by Norwegian Morten Tyldum (Headhunters, Passengers).
Ep. 2 'Why Would I Want to Hurt You?' directed by S.J. Clarkson (Jessica Jones, Madame Web), features a cameo by screenwiter Wesley Strick (who wrote the 1991 remake of CF).
Ep. no. 3 on June 12th: Phantom Sensations
already feeling the nausea
Ep. 4 Pierced. June 19th.
some lgbtq happens before the two daughters.
ep.5 Faith -June 26.
loss of breath, mambojambo and a sinister Juliette Lewis.
Ep. 6 Possum -July 3rd.
that's when I feel like quiting, don't really wanna see how they're gonna mangle this beyond belief.
Ep. 7: Mongrel -July 10th
by episode seven it's becoming such a grand guignol caricature with storytelling of a bad telenovela, I switched it of. They take a road trip and ouch, and the soundtracks goes from BOC's Don't Fear the Reaper to Alice Cooper's Eighteen.
Ep. 8 ∙ Los tiempos de Dios son Perfectos -July 17. Telenovellas quickens.
Ep. 9- The Scar -July 24. More mambojambo, rednecks and swamps. We don't need a bigger boat ;)
Ep. 10: The Executioners. July 31th. Hurricane arrives. Leaving open season two ? C'mon !!!
The first time I saw Fargowas on VHS at Nae Caranfil's home. It was a memorable evening for all of us who were there. Some time had already passed since the premiere, the film had become famous (we're talking about the pre-download era, when films were still hard to get hold of), we were all devoted Coen Brothers fans, and we passionately debated the story and the mise-en-scène in a way that nowadays only happens in the excitement surrounding premieres or film festivals.
Oddly enough, Fargo was never released theatrically in Romania, so the TIFF.25 screening was a royal treat, giving you the chance to see it the way it should be seen.
Its premiere was at Cannes, in the Official Competition, where Joel Coen won the Best Director Award. Then came the Oscars (2 awards from 7 nominations). It was the Coens' Academy Award (everyone knows they direct together, although Ethan is officially credited as producer), the Best Picture of the year, and Frances McDormand's first Oscar (Best Actress—she has three now!). Who had ever seen a pregnant police heroine wearing a Siberian-style earflap hat?
Fargo- thirty years later: an absolute cult film and an ultra-influential one (#185 on the IMDb Top 250). Its biggest admirer: Noah Hawley, who in 2014 created the TV seriesFargo, whose first season is directly connected to the original while also retelling it. Five seasons inspired by the Fargo universe have been produced—an anthology unlike anything television had ever seen.
The poster is brilliant, embroided on a hoop, with the words "A homespun murder story" stitched in red. The title comes from the town of Fargo, North Dakota, on the border with Minnesota, where the events are supposed to take place, marketed as a true story—but of course that's another Coen Brothers gimmick, and everything is invented. It's winter, there's a blizzard, there's snow, and the South Dakota/Minnesota accents are absolutely wonderful. All the characters have Nordic names, just like the origins of the area's inhabitants (Gustafson, Gunderson, Lundegaard). William H. Macy is a sad and utterly pathetic figure, the car salesman who sets an absurd domino effect in motion.
Two of the Coens' longtime collaborators make a major contribution to this unique universe. Roger Deakins' cinematography condenses this immense white landscape, while Carter Burwell's score adds a sense of space and drama; it was later used as the theme for the television series.
But without the Steve Buscemi/Peter Stormare tandem, the film would be in vain...
"I'm going crazy down there at the lake." Ja.
Alin Ludu Dumbravă
This article was published in Aperitiff | June 12, 2026
Prima oară am
văzut Fargo pe casetă video la Nae Caranfil acasă, a fost o seară-eveniment
pentru noi toți cei prezenți. Trecuse deja ceva timp de la premieră, filmul era
celebru (vorbim de pre era download, cînd încă era greu să ai acces la filme),
eram cu toții fani dedicații ai fraților Coen, am dezbătut aprins povestea și
mizanscena așa cum azi nu mai faci decît în febra unor premiere sau
festivaluri.
În mod ciudat Fargo
n-a rulat niciodată la noi în cinema, deci proiecția de la TIFF.25 a fost un
Regal 😊 și a fost prilejul să-l vedeți așa cum trebuie.
Premiera a fost
la Cannes, în Competiția Oficială, unde Joel Coen a primit premiul pentru cel
mai bun regizor. Au urmat Oscarurile (2 premii din 7 nominalizări). A fost și
Oscarul Coen-ilor (se știe că ei regizează împreună, desi Ethan e trecut ca
producător), cel mai bun film al anului, și primul premiu Oscar pentru Frances
McDormand (cea mai bună actriță, acum are trei!), cine a mai văzut o eroină
polițistă gravidă cu căciulă cu urechiușe tip siberian?
Fargo după treizeci de ani: un film-cult
absolut și ultra influent (locul # 185 în topul 250 IMDb). Cel mai mare fan: Noah
Hawley, care în 2014 a creat serialul Fargo, al cărui prim sezon are legătură
directă cu originalul, dar este și e o repovestire. S-au produs 5 sezoane
inspirate de Universul Fargo, o antologie cum nu s-a mai văzut în TV.
Afișul/posterul e
genial, țesut pe gherghef, pe care scrie cusut cu roșu, ”A homespun murder
story”. Titlul vine de la orășelul Fargo din Dakota de nord/ la graniță cu Minnesota,acolo
unde se întîmplă evenimentele, marketate ca o poveste adevărată, dar normal, e
un gimmick al fraților Coen, și totul este inventat. E iarnă, e viscol, e
zăpadă și accentele de South Dakota/Minnesota sunt absolut superbe. Toate
personajele au nume nordice, la fel ca originea locuitorilor zonei (Gustafson,
Gunderson, Lundegaard). William H. Macy este o figură tristă și absolut
patetică, vînzătorul de mașini care pune în mișcare un absurd domino.
Doi colaboratori
fideli ai Coen-ilor contribuie major la acest univers unic. Imaginea lui Roger
Deakins condensează această imensitate albă, și muzica lui Carter Burwell
adăugă spațialitate, dramatism, ea a fost folosită și ca temă a serialului
ulterior.
Dar filmul fără
tandemul Steve Buscemi/ Peter Stormere e pustiu…”I’m going crazy down there
at the lake”. Ja.
The Nicolas Cage is back with something cool in black and white (and color) but I'd rather see it Noir as in the title, Spider-Noir. Premieres May 27th on Amazon Prime as in in collaboration with Sony, who's only Marvel character they got rights too...
I published this in February 2026 but since I can't go back to the post to-date I republished it today !
From the looks it's more of a Sin City / Frank Miller, The Spirit / Will Eisner. And The Shadow.
Breendan Gleeson is the villain.
Hopefully this will rock, as game based Fallout TV series did, or DC / HBO recently two interesting spinoffs, The Penguin and The Peacemaker and Marvel/ Disney did mega meta Wonder Man.
July 15th Updates:
Well, I saw it all 8 episodes and gotta say I switched from B & W to color, gorgeous colors that is. Advertised as "Authentic Black and White,” or “True Hue Full Color.” ! It's a pity to see this as simplistic as Black and White when the costumes, sets and cinematography are doing their best in Color. Cues to Edward Hopper and Lily Furedi, as well to Roy Lichenstein.
The whole thing happens in 1933's New York city and it develops slowly. I mean I was about to give up as a pastische of private dicks and some fanatstic elements underveloped until episode Four !
Alos took me a while to settle with Nic Cage's style here. He is channelling all sorts of Noir heroes, from Humphrey Bogart to Edward J. Robinson and James Cagney, in his voice and manierisms. His Ben Reilly alchy PI is funny, dark, and bitter sweet all at once, swinging from cynical and satirical tones to looney tunes overtones.
It is his 1st foray into TV, or TV series, which he said he'll never do. Glad he did. After voicing the character Noir (Spider, not the Noir from The Boys ;), in the Spider-verse animated film in 2018 he was asked to do this and the whole project changed completely with Cage on board (also budgetwise!).
Great title sequence and opening song, Saving Grace sung by Kirby, Bond like tune. Plus swingin' songs of the period (Dream a Little Dream of Me), Lil Jun Li as Cat Hardy, the singer femme fatale from the Alcove Club.
The series ends with Amy Winhouse's You're No Good, which, these days is covered by The Rolling Stones on their new Foreign Tongues album.
Spider-Nor is nominated for 11 Emmy Awards but none for Cage's acting chops. Liked best his de-aging acting in the WW1 flashbacks and Spider transformations.
Jack Huston is as always good as Flint Marko (aka The Sandman) and Andy Robinson (Scorpiooo?!!!) shows up, I kept asking myself why does that guy look so familliar. Gleeson's Mr. Silvermane is used more as a McGuffin, and there is a smart black journalist named Robbie Robertson (a cool Lamorne Morrison) who works at that age's Daily Buggle. There's also references of the films and the shows of that day and age.
Maiorul si moartea (The Major and Death, 1967) is a forgotten gem, and a one of a kind / one-off UFO Romanian thiller written by the great Ion Baiesu (Balanta/The Oak), based on his eponymous 1965 short story. It was made later on into a radio play with Enil Hossu as the major.
Directed by the Documentarian Alexandru Boiangiu in his feature film debut, it's a Black and white black and bleak comedy, film noir -policier, shot by maestro DOP Nicu Stan (Rascoala, Diminetile unui baiat cuminte -see references below, Toate Pinzele sus !). The film made a BO of 1.352.078 in Romanian cinemas in 1967.
It is also Gheorghe Dinica's 1st major leading part. (as the major, sic!) Great part too.
The other jewel of the cast is veteran theatre actor Ion Stanescu as retired safe cracker Solomonica, his only part on the big screen except a bit in O noapte furtunoasa (1943).
Supporting: Vasilica Tastaman, Marin Moraru, Mircea Crisan, Jean Constantin, Stefan Mihailescu-Braila (artist emerit;), Peter Paulhoffer, Constantin Rautchi, Ion Anghel, Florin Scarlatescu, Draga Olteanu (before she was Matei ;) and a very young Carmen Galin in her second film part after Diminetile unui baiat cuminte (see last paragraph).
Atmospheric music by Mircea Istrate (Strainul, Haiducii series), played by the Symphonic Cinema Orchestra (Orchestra simfonica a cinematografie- oh, what dayz, when musicians were employed just to score Romanian films...) and conducted by Silviu Panțiru and a cool and absolutely weird song, sung onscreen by Marina Voica, Criminal Tango, by P. Trombetta (actually Kriminal Tango by Piero Trombetta, originally released in 1959 and the title song of a German film of 1960). Another song sang by Voica, is an uncanyAve Maria Lola in bossanova rhythm (min. 66 in the film, just before Crimanl Tango -a request ;). Maria Voica, a superstar of Romanian Pop music of the Communist age, might be the only one left alive from this film. She is 89 now.
Another gem are the opening credits, Saul Bass 60's funky style. Very cool, have no idea who did them, it's not credited (sic).
They include a caption of the Militia consultant (MAI/Ministerul Afecerilor Interne) of the film, as all films of the time needed one. This one is a Lt. Col. (Lieutenat Colonel) called Alexandru Manuși, meaning Gloves !
The film starts surreally with a pre-credits scene in which an Insurance salesman trying to sell a Life policy to the Major. I won't spoil more about the plot, suffice to say it deals with a hidden treasure, a murder and surreal threats signed Death !
There's a scene where Major Tache plays Checkers with ¬Death¬, it can be interpreted as a Pun to Bergman's chess with death in The Seventh Seal. Or not, one can only fabulise ;)
I's say it's sort of Romanian Ladykillers maybe ? Style-wise and humour. It's a bit of a satire of the system too. Scenes in achurch, at a Religious procession, not likely to be seen in the Regime directory.
Great poster above ! Love also this Czech poster with a nod to Vertigo, saying Major & DEATH / Major A Smrt !
Napinave meaning suspensful !!
It seems M & M travelled a bit in the Socialist haven cinema distribution .)
Deutsche version:
The film can be seen in its entirety in multiple youtube versions, mostly taken from a TVR2HD broadcast.
As a fun note, a 'sopirla' / polticial subversive innunedo, one of the characters (Peter Paulhoffer, a German Romanian actor, nicknamed 'the Romanian Paul Newman', that left for BDR- West Germany-later in the '70's), is reading a newspaper in Gara de Nord/ Bucharest railway station. The paper says: The modern profile of a Director's calification !!! On the left is seen a review of another Romanian film from that year: Diminetile unui baiat cuminte/The mornings of a nice boy, by Andrei Blaier, a sort of New Wave manifesto, not a very socialist film as intended to be. The film can be found on youtube from Cinepub.ro here. I am not sure the newspaper existed or if it waas made up for the film as an inside joke.
Psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, therapists. Group therapy or one-on-one. Mentalist, alienist, psychoanalyst, shrink.
Speaking of the original HBO series In Treatment, which itself comes from the Israeli BeTipul, I thought of no better way to wrap up this series of rankings, especially since I had my share of shrinks in my time. :-)
The number one “psychiatric” film would be One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975, Milos Forman), but the psychiatrist there is merely window dressing; Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) is the one who embodies the oppressive system. And then there’s virtually any Woody Allen film, especially the Gene Wilder episode from *Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972), featuring the doctor who falls in love with Daisy the sheep, which I previously discussed in my ranking of performances in Woody Allen films.
K-PAX (2001, Iain Softley), in which Jeff Bridges plays Dr. Mark Powell, treating an alien—or merely a psychotic patient? (Kevin Spacey)—and the Argentine counterpart Hombre mirando al sudeste (1986, Eliseo Subiela), are really about the patients, much like Nash (Russell Crowe) in A Beautiful Mind (2001, Ron Howard).
There’s also Dr. Marc Chabot (Yves Montand) in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970, Vincente Minnelli), who hypnotizes Barbra Streisand and discovers she has lived previous lives. Barbra herself tried being a doctor in The Prince of Tides (1991), attempting to cure Nick Nolte.
But my personal favorite is Klaus Kinski as Dr. Hugo Zuckerbrot in Buddy Buddy (1981), Billy Wilder’s remake (and final film) of L’Emmerdeur (1973, Édouard Molinaro), unfortunately only a supporting role, complete with a fondness for nudist therapy.
And then there’s Dr. Elliot (Michael Caine) from Brian De Palma’s thriller Dressed to Kill (1980), whom I would call the “cross-dressing” variation.
Still, I decided to give the place to the illustrious Dr. Caligari. To paraphrase Siegfried Kracauer’s From Caligari to Hitler, this ranking goes from Caligari to Freud...
10. Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss) in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920, Robert Wiene)
Variation: creepy
Dr. Caligari runs an asylum and uses the somnambulist Cesare for various dirty jobs. Similar to Edgar Allan Poe’s The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether and its idea that the inmates have taken over the asylum.
Its descendants include Asylum (1972, Roy Ward Baker), as well as the opening and cover art of In the Mouth of Madness (1995, John Carpenter).
Successors: Fritz Lang’s Dr. Mabuse, Dr. M, the mega-villains of the James Bond franchise beginning with Dr. No, etc.
Caligari controls Cesare, in a scene set to music by Lacrimosa.
(The full film can be found on YouTube.)
9. Dr. Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) in Spellbound (1945, directed by Alfred Hitchcock)
Variation: mysterious
A thriller populated by psychiatrists, fascinated with psychoanalysis—a fairly new concept in Hollywood at the time—partly inspired by producer David O. Selznick’s own experiences in therapy.
Psychiatrist Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) treats the amnesiac John Ballantine (Gregory Peck), accused of murder.
Based on the novel The House of Dr. Edwardes by Francis Beeding, the pseudonym of John Palmer and Hilary St. George Sanders, screenplay by Ben Hecht.
Memorable above all for its dream sequence designed by Salvador Dalí, and for a recurring skiing sequence.
Successor:Gothika (2003, Mathieu Kassovitz), with Halle Berry as an amnesiac psychiatrist committed to an asylum for a murder she cannot remember committing.
Trailer! (The full film can be found on YouTube.)
8. Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson) in Anger Management (2003, directed by Peter Segal)
Variation: out-of-control!
Jack Nicholson, usually the patient :-) (with the exception of “The Specialist” in the musical Tommy (1975), Ken Russell’s adaptation of The Who), plays an anger-management therapist—or whatever the proper term may be; the closest translation I found was “treatment for controlling one’s temper”—in a mediocre film that deserved a much better director.
A vehicle for Adam Sandler, who, when placed face to face with Jack’s explosive personality, is completely eclipsed.
Best scene: Adam, backed up by Jack, singing I Feel Pretty from West Side Story on the bridge!
7. Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence) in the Halloween series
Created by John Carpenter for the landmark 1978 film.
The name was borrowed from Psycho, from the character played by John Gavin, Sam Loomis.
Dr. Loomis is Michael Myers’ nemesis. He treated him at the institution from which Myers escaped. He is also the commentator, the voice of reason, and the only character besides Michael Myers himself to appear throughout the series: five films, including Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, released shortly before Pleasence’s death in 1995.
Played by Malcolm McDowell in Rob Zombie’s remake.
On the nature of evil!
6. Dr. Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal) in Analyze This (1999, directed by Harold Ramis)
Variation: sleeps with the fishes!
Mob boss Vitti (Robert De Niro) has problems and decides to see a psychiatrist. But nobody must find out. Otherwise Vitti might end up sleeping with the fishes too, Luca Brasi style.
Nemesis: Chazz Palminteri, to whom the meaning of the word “closure” has to be explained.
The dramatic TV version:The Sopranos, released the very same year. Which came first? Only they know who inspired whom, but Analyze This is the parody version, a kind of sitcom blown up to feature-film proportions.
Sequel:Analyze That (2002), also directed by Harold Ramis.
Explaining the Oedipus complex! “Fuckin’ Greeks!”
5. Dr. Bill Capa (Bruce Willis) in Color of Night (1994, directed by Richard Rush)
Variation: it’s so bad, it’s good!
The most improbable psychiatrist ever.
Color-blind, traumatized by the color red, trapped in a Hitchcockian thriller inspired in part by Vertigo. Someone starts killing off his patients.
The patient roster is practically a compendium of cult actors: Lance Henriksen, Brad Dourif, Lesley Ann Warren, Kevin J. O'Connor.
Steamy sex scenes with the then-young Jane March (The Lover).
Bruce also played a psychiatrist, Dr. Crowe, in The Sixth Sense (1999, M. Night Shyamalan), but I left him off the list for objective reasons: he belongs to the spirit world. :-)
A fan-made video clip for the title song (super-cheesy), performed by Lauren Christy!
4. Dr. Martin Dysart (Richard Burton) in Equus (1977, directed by Sidney Lumet)
Variation: equestrian
A drama written by Peter Shaffer, adapted from his own play, in which Harry Potter himself (a.k.a. Daniel Radcliffe) is currently appearing nude on Broadway.
Burton delivers a magnificent performance as a doctor determined to cure an extremely disturbed young man obsessed with horses (Peter Firth).
Nominated for three Academy Awards (Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay) and winner of two Golden Globes, for Best Dramatic Actor (Burton) and Best Supporting Actor (Firth).
In the original Broadway production (1974–75), Anthony Hopkins played Dysart.
Trailer!
3. Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss) in What About Bob? (1991, directed by Frank Oz)
Variation: funny
Bill Murray is Bob, the patient who relentlessly torments Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss).
The Romanian title used on television (since it never received a theatrical release) was The Psychiatrist on Vacation.
Similar: the Burt Reynolds / Dom DeLuise pairing in The End (1978, directed by Burt Reynolds).
The “Gimme Gimme, I Need I Need...” scene. (The full film can be found on YouTube.)
2. Col. Vincent Kane (Stacy Keach) in The Ninth Configuration (1980, directed by William Peter Blatty)
Variation: red herrings!
Based on William Peter Blatty’s novel Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane (The Exorcist).
How Do You Fight A War Called Madness?
A new commander arrives at a castle where he applies shock therapy to former soldiers suffering from mental illness.
An entirely male cast: Jason Miller, Stuart Wilson, Neville Brand, Robert Loggia, Joe Spinell.
A film about post-war trauma—in this case Vietnam—one of the greatest unknown films ever made, although it enjoys a loyal cult following. Now available in its longer director’s cut.
Packed with references to The Exorcist, also written and produced by Blatty.
Filmed in Hungary. The castle is Burg Eltz in Germany.
Successor:Shutter Island (2010, Martin Scorsese).
Part One: the opening sequence set to “St. Antone” by Denny Brooks. (The full film can be found on YouTube.)
1. Dr. Freud (Alan Arkin) in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976, directed by Herbert Ross)
Variation: Freudian :-)
The film in which Dr. Freud (Alan Arkin) treats Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson), brought to him by Dr. Watson (Robert Duvall) for cocaine addiction—hence the film’s title.
Based on the novel by Nicholas Meyer.
Laurence Olivier plays Professor Moriarty and Vanessa Redgrave is the romantic interest, Lola Deveraux.
A special, one-of-a-kind film that clearly influenced Alan Moore’s graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Predecessor: Freud had appeared on screen before, from John Huston’s 1962 biopic Freud, starring Montgomery Clift, to the less likely incarnation played by Jamie Elman (his co-star from California Dreaming!) in the film where Armand Assante portrays Nietzsche, When Nietzsche Wept (2007, Pinchas Perry).
This is Film Noir, dark comedy, thriller, and most of all an homage of Kind Hearts and Coronets (1959), the classic Ealing comedy with Alce Guiness es ;), based on the novel , it says on the credits. "Insiperd by" those two.
Also has an 80's air, it's cynical and politically incorrect, stylish and crisp.
Finally a good part for Glen Powell as Becket Redfellow (cool names in this family !), after the huge misfire of new Running Man-Liked the guy in his SNL episode, I think he has more comedic potential than action chops, definetly romantic too.
Jessica Henwick is the romantic interest, Ruth. Bill Camp has a nice part as Warren Redfellow, also Topher Grace as one of the Redfellows (Steven) and Zach Woods (from Sillicon Valley) another one (Noah). Also Ed Harris' part as the patriarch Whitelaw Redfellow is more like a cameo, but he's effective as ever.
Amazingly enough this was shot in South Africa instead of New York and New Jersey !!!
Great score by Emile Mosserri and effective soundtrack-The Clapping Song (Shirley Ellis) , the Brazilian classic Take Me Back to Piaui by Juca Chaves, No Fear by Inflo, etc.
Crime 101 is a little LA neo-noir gem directed by the Brit Bart Layton (American Animals). Heist, angst, existentialism, it's based on a novella by Don Winslow (Savages). The title refers to the 101 Freeway in Southern California, entering Los Angeles, and the faved heist location of the blue-eyed Thief Davis (Chris Hemsworth, reminiscent of another Michael Mann pic, Blackhat).
The ensemble casting is cool: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, and Halle Berry, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Jennifer Jason Leigh (more like a cameo cos she has only one scene, surely cut for time), and Nick Nolte in a part sim lliar with Jon Voight's in Heat.
Produced by Working Title Films, Crime 101 was bought by Amazon MGM, outbidding Netflix,. which is great cos they also distributed in Theaters (through Sony).
Mostly a Heat homage, plus elements from Mann's Thief, Walter Hill's The Driver, even a scene fromTrue Romance ;)
A nice conversation on Steve McQueen and the iconic Mustang from Bullit add on.
See in in the cinema, it's great widescreen and sound and score- Blanck Mass.
Islands is an odd piece, film noir under the sun, actually much at dusk. Shot all in location in Corralejo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain, it premiered at Berlinale 2025 as a Special Presentation.
The director is German, Jan-Ole Gerster (also co-writer), the actors are Brits, Sam Riley, Stacy Martin and Jack Farthing. Shades of Ripley (Highsmith's) and Hitchcock. Well acted, existential slowburn anti noir ;). Atmospheric score and sound design.
Tough cookie, lost count of how many films I've seen. Less than probably any year. Over 200, less than 300 ? More ? I started to put them on Letterboxed starting late October but still didn't catch up with the rest.
***
Top of the series is here and films from 2024 are again a problem, The Brutalist and The Substance should've make the 2025 list, as there still are some of 2025 which I haven't seen yet (Hamnet,-saw it,. did not like at all- Resurrection, Sound of Falling ?). Marty Supreme would make Top 5 but I've seen it in Januaray 2026.
Just caught up with Park Chan-Wook's No Other Choice that makes the list. It's limited in Romanian Cinemas now, so try to see it on the big screen, it's worthy.
Kinda disappointed with Romanian Cinema this year too. I liked Kontinental '25 and that's it. Could 've been also Jude's Dracula but he made it such an intentional mess and duration wise a whole calvary...
Finalmente l'alba - Saverio Costanzo -2023, on which I wrote:
Rome and Cinecitta 1953. More like a drreamlike story, a false thriller, homage to Fellini and La Dolce Vita, Notti di Cabiria, and linked to a real muder cold case known as the Italian Black Dahlia. Interesting slow film, in the Venice Competition in 2023. Modern beat score, strange and eerie. Song Last Nite by The Stokes (2011) on the end credits.
Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett wrote it at the time of their legendary partnership. Ketti Frings wrote the novel on which story, the dynamic duo have much improved it. Boyer tries to make it his own, especially as a Foreigner with a lovely accent (his own, which he kept all his life !). For Romanians it's a blast, cos' he is a crook / gigolo from Bucharest named George(s) Iscovescu !!!
Studio man Mitchell Leisen directed it professionally. The year was 1941 and immigration was at its WW2 boom. Iscovescu wants to get in the USA and he needs a passport and a citizenship and in order to get those he needs to marry an American. The film premiered on September 11th 1941, just three months before Pearl Harbor !
The two women in the film are opposites, each with its role, Paulette Goddard as the femme fatalish Anita and Olivia de Havilland the innocent Ingenue Mrs. Brown.
Supporting characters, from Curt Bois as Bonbois, to Walter Abel's Inspector Hammock, Victor Francen as Vander Lucken and Nestor Faiva as hotellier Flores, the story is told in a flashback from the stage / set of a film at Paramount, on which Iscovescu/ Boyer went to see to director Dwight Saxon, played by none other than director Mitchell Leisen in order to see this story (maybe the most modern aspect of the film, predicting Sunset Boulevard ?) !!!
Very long for those day's standards (116 mins.) and heavilly plotted, it has a bleaker tone for a romantic melodrama and a downbeat immigration angle. And a small dose of film noir (esp. for the self-person narration). The dialogue is sharp and some witty and cynical one-liners are already trademark Wilder. Brackett and Wilder were very dissapointed with the result and Boyer's refusal do do a dialogue with a cockroach, they cut off most of his lines, giving them to Paulette Goddard. Also I read this was the last film Wilder wrote without directing it (even though Ball of Fire for Hawks opened in December 1941...).
Hold Back the Dawn was nominated for 6 Oscars back in 1941, including best film, best screenplay and best cinematography (in Black&White, Leo Tovar).
3 1/2 out of 5 ! 7 out of 10 !!! (loses steam due to the duration, otherwise would've been an Eight!)
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