drama
Cinema Paradiso
Tonight we tackle a perennial favourite of international film, the French/Italian co-production Cinema Paradiso. A bildungsroman dealing with the adolescence of a boy growing up in a small Italian village in the wake of World War 2, Daniel was enraptured by the sweet coming-of-age tale, and correspondingly frustrated by Andrew’s rather cooler response. 36 mins
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Southpaw
This week, at the request of Andrew’s Dad, we take a look at Southpaw, the boxing film that set the internet all aquiver when it saw how shredded Jake Gyllenhaal had suddenly gotten. It’s well-executed and compelling stuff, assuming you’ve never seen a boxing movie before (which, apparently, Daniel hasn’t, so he was enthralled). 38…
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Upstream Colour
In the wake of Mac and Devin go to High School, Andrew sought a way to exact his revenge on Daniel by means of a punishingly obtuse art film. His plans backfired when we both turned out to rather enjoy Upstream Colour’s abstract narrative and challenging imagery. 44mins
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The Shawshank Redemption
If you go to pretty much any popular list like “100 greatest movies” or “Movies to watch before you die”, you are fairly likely to find this movie in the top 10. This film is incredibly popular and for good reason too. An entrancing story, wonderful characters, and brilliant cast is topped of by narration…
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Flame and Citron
Two young people once read a book called They Saw It Happen. One was the director Ole Christian Madsen and the other was the writer Lars K. Andersen. After they met and realised they shared a passion for the story of Flame and Citron, they spent years researching these WW2 resistance heroes to create this…
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Beasts of No Nation
On this week’s episode, we take a look at the movie that bucked the traditional distribution system for movies and emerged all the more noteworthy for it, but it’s a remarkable film no matter how you come to watch it. Cary Joji Fukunaga’s Beasts of No Nation is a sobering look at the plight of…
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Chasing Amy
Taking a break from the testosterone-fuelled insanity of The Warriors last week, we change things up with a rather earnest and sentimental comedy, albeit one livened up by Kevin Smith’s trademark flair for vulgarity. We enjoyed Chasing Amy a lot, although some of its treatment of LGBT issues, which were perhaps more transgressive in 1997,…
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The Warriors
A classic of its time, The Warriors had to contend with real gang violence during filming. Gang problems pursued the movie into the cinema with many gang going to watch the movie upon release and fighting other gangs inside the cinema. Although this movie really hasn’t aged well in certain aspects, it has stood the…
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The Conformist
In an attempt to bring a dash of high culture to Two Friends Watch, Andrew elects to watch Bernardo Bertolucci’s famous anti-fascist classic The Conformist. It turns out we’re in over our head and neither of us have any idea what we’re on about – and we flail around for a while looking for something…
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The last laugh (1924)