BFI | Sight & Sound | February 2007

February 2007

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Features

Sleeping With The Enemy

Back in 2003 Paul Verhoeven said that he had to leave Hollywood to save his soul. Now Black Book sees him return to his native Holland for a story that injects sex and adventure into the ambiguous realities of World War II resistance heroism. Linda Ruth Williams talks to the director about his obsessions.

African Cinema: Invisible Classics

To coincide with a London season of African cinema presented by Sight & Sound, Mark Cousins surveys the continent's directing talents and the unmissable movies that changed his view of the possibilities of film. Plus Abderrahmane Sissako, director of Bamako, on how he made the personal political.

African Cinema: Africa On Screen

Sight & Sound, Curzon Cinemas and the Ritzy are presenting a season of African films in London from 11 February to 18 March.

Robert Altman: Death And The Maidens

Death stalks Robert Altman's last film A Prairie Home Companion - in the form of a blonde in a white trenchcoat. Here Richard Combs traces the suicides and pregnancies, sisters and doubles, gamblers and shape-shifters that weave their way through the late director's oeuvre.

Under The Weather

Climates, Nuri Bilge Ceylan's follow-up to Uzak, once more has a snow-bound landscape and an emotionally isolated photographer at its centre - but this time he and his young girlfriend are played by Ceylan and his wife. By Nick James. Plus Ali Jaafar chain-smokes with the director and Geoff Andrew reviews a show of his stunning panoramic photography.

African Cinema: White Guides, Black Pain

The Last King of Scotland, Blood Diamond and Catch a Fire are just three recent films that look at Africa through white eyes. Their focus on beautiful landscapes and exotic danger obscures the facts of African lives, says Dave Calhoun. Plus Kevin Macdonald talks to Ali Jaafar about The Last King...