December 2009

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Features

#Unexpected tenderness

Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or-winner The White Ribbon is a tale of cruelty set in a north German village in 1913. Despite its monochrome austerity, Catherine Wheatley sees hints of a new softness in the director’s work

PLUS (IN THE MAGAZINE) The Revenge of Children: Geoff Andrew asks the director about the evolution of this disturbing film

#Romantic setting

Jane Campion tells Nick James why she didn't want to make just another 19th-century costume drama with Bright Star, her portrait of Keats in love

PLUS (IN THE MAGAZINE) Too Late for Antique Vows: Bright Star may be based on Andrew Motion's Keats biography, but it is less the poet's biopic than a dreamy evocation of the spirit of his poetry, says Graham Fuller

The devil of detail

As Henri-Georges Clouzot's extraordinary unfinished L'Enfer (Inferno) is resurrected after 40 years, David Thompson surveys the career of the French master of suspense

PLUS Ginette Vincendeau profiles Clouzot's star Romy Schneider

PLUS James Bell talks to director Serge Bromberg about his new film Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno

In a strange land

Last year, Sergey Dvortsevoy beat Steve McQueen to the best debut feature award at the London Film Festival with his steppe saga Tulpan. Kieron Corless meets him

The greatest film-makers you've never heard of

Their groundbreaking movies have struggled to find distribution in the UK, yet the films of husband-and-wife partnership Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet show an unparalleled commitment to intense human experience, says Tag Gallagher

Selected reviews

#Film of the Month: A Serious Man

While true to the Coens' absurdist spirit, 'A Serious Man' - unusually for them - features a realistic, empathetic character in a realistic setting, the suburban Midwest in the 1960s. It's a fascinating mix, says Michael Atkinson

#DVD review: Brigitte Bardot 5-Film Collection

Tim Lucas on an overlooked Brigitte Bardot box-set showcasing some of the French screen icon's less familiar films

#Film review: Johnny Mad Dog

Trevor Johnston admires a vivid, terrifying portrait of African child soldiers that challenges its viewers’ wits and bearings

#Film review: The Informant!

Matt Damon is at his elusive best in Steven Soderbergh’s discombobulating corporate-crime thriller. Take Michael Atkinson’s word for it

Reviews in this issue:

  • Bright Star
  • Bunny & the Bull
  • Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
  • Cold Souls
  • Couples Retreat
  • Cracks
  • The Crimson Wing
  • The Descent: Part 2
  • Disgrace
  • Examined Life
  • Fame
  • The Girlfriend Experience
  • Glorious 39
  • Halloween II
  • The Horseman
  • Film review: The Informant!
  • The Invention of Lying
  • Jennifer’s Body
  • Film review: Johnny Mad Dog
  • Lala Pipo - A Lot of People
  • Made in Jamaica
  • The Merry Gentleman
  • Morris: A Life with Bells On
  • Pandorum
  • Paper Heart
  • Rage
  • Reckoning Day
  • The Sea Wall
  • Séraphine
  • Film of the Month: A Serious Man
  • Surrogates
  • Surviving Evil
  • Taking Woodstock
  • Tulpan
  • Vanishing of the Bees
  • We Live in Public
  • The White Ribbon
  • wmd.
  • Zombieland
  • DVD review: Brigitte Bardot 5-Film Collection
Last Updated: 20 Dec 2011