BFI | Sight & Sound

June 2006

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Features

Women, Windmills And Wedge Heels

With Volver Pedro Almodóvar has made a welcome return to comedy, the country and his favourite actresses. By Paul Julian Smith

Shimura Takashi: The Last Samurai

Kurosawa is best known for his director-actor partnership with Mifune Toshiro, but his relationship with Shimura Takashi started earlier and lasted longer. Alex Cox celebrates the actor who embodied the contradictions of post-war Japan.

The Silvio Lining

Nanni Moretti's Il caimano presents a passionate criticism of the outgoing Italian prime minister and an Italy fashioned in his image. By Lee Marshall. Plus Guido Bonsaver on political comedy Viva Zapatero!

Auteur Heaven

This year's Cannes competition offers an impressive roster of big-name directors. S&S previews four films sure to generate a buzz on the Croisette including Paul Greengrass' United 93, which recreates events on the 9/11 flight that fought back. By Jessica Winter

Kind Hearts and Bayonets

In The Wind That Shakes the Barley Ken Loach offers a partisan view of the birth of the IRA. By Nick James

Torture Garden

Films where subjects are tied up and tortured are no new thing, but Hostel raises the stakes by having its American kids the victims of resentful Europeans. Kim Newman marks the point at which the horror genre turned political. Plus S&S selects five films where it helps to keep your eyes closed