Drama

From the moment Triangle starts, we sense there is something "not quite right".

A seagull cry here, an ominous piano cue on the soundtrack there. A young mother, Jess (Melissa George) hugs her child to comfort him and says he's just having a bad dream. This may seem an odd place to start a film.

And so it is.

The young woman goes on a trip on a yacht called Triangle with her friends, but is caught in a storm and the group take shelter on an old fashioned liner. From here, things start to get really weird. Jess appears convinced she has been on the ship before, yet how could she have been? Has she simply gone insane? Can she trust anyone? She appeared detached and cold for some of the film, and so not totally likeable to me, but we do see the film through her eyes, and are often confused and frightened as she is, wondering what on earth is happening. Perhaps that is the reason for this (and so this can work in the film's favour). Her performance, and those of the rest of the young Australian cast are very good

The use of Groundhog Day/Memento style cues in the film - repeating things yet in a subtly different way each time, gradually revealing more of the story, is splendidly creepy and it also plays with our perception of time.
The mood in the film appears genuinely sinister and unsettling, perhaps dreamlike - even if much of it takes place outside in bright sunlight. In fact, in my opinion this actually adds to the tension - this nature of seeming disquiet is at odds with the warm, brightly lit scenes of the yacht trip, and blue sea (the film was shot in Australia, doubling for Florida). This is also hinted at by style and placing of the music, which ranges from piano music, to a big band.

I was impressed by the way the film made me think about what I'd seen to try and work out the puzzle and how it isn't just a bog standard "horror" film, but more cerebral in tone, like a psychological thriller. In a sense though, this makes the film's jumpy moments seem even scarier.

Extras on the Blu Ray include a 42 minute Making Of (which I honestly don't recommend seeing until you have finished the film, because it goes into some deeper detail about the story, and will spoil things for you).
The Blu Ray transfer is not too bad, but I felt the bright scenes in particular didn't seem very detailed, especially for such a recent film.

This is overall a very good film, a brain teasing and claustrophobic thriller that I certainly believe you should see, but it really is best to go in with a clean slate, knowing as little as possible.

‘Mary and Max' is a 2009 Australian clay-animated feature film directed and written by Adam Elliot and produced by Melanie Coombs. The film is beautifully narrated by Barry Humphries. He has a soothing, Stephen Fry sort of feel, as though telling a story to a child but for adults.

The film deals with multiple themes including childhood neglect, bullying, loneliness, Asperger's Syndrome, over-eating, depression and anxiety. It is Wallace and Gromit meets Alan Bennett.

‘Mary and Max' is reportedly loosely based on a true story. In an interview given in April 2009, writer-director Elliot clarified that the character of Max was inspired by "a pen-friend in New York who I've been writing to for over twenty years."

It is a simple tale taking place over the course of twenty years and spanning two continents. The film follows the relationship of pen pals Mary, an eight year old child from the outskirts of Melbourne in Australia, and Max, a forty four year old Jewish man with Aspergers who lives alone in New York. Through their pen-friend relationship, Elliot explores the film's central themes of loneliness, mental illness, love and friendship with humour and pathos in equal measure. It is subtly observed - poignant, sweet, innocent, funny and slightly depressing - a film full of home-spun wisdom.

This is visually a film of astonishing naive beauty. Like all animation, much of the joy comes from the unexpected detail. It is evocative of a child's eye looking into a treasured museum piece doll's house, marvelling at the attention to trivia and catching sight of a tiny toilet roll holder.

Aesthetically the film is deceptively child-like; visually and narratively it seems like any children's story but the content is adult, the depth and breadth of the topics covered are for the thinking adult.

I loved this film and felt that it was a philosophical tale that just happened to involve a man with Aspergers rather than being exploitative.

‘Temple Grandin' is a biographical film which largely focuses on her life and the effect that autism had on her. It does not really cover how it affected her family and significant others. This film captures her personality and belief in humane livestock husbandry. ?The actress, Claire Dane brilliantly captured the nuances of her speech and her determined and dogged spirit. It is a very watchable film and highlights the many obstacles that society places in the way of neuro-atypicals.

After a happy few early years, Temple Grandin endured a childhood of struggle and ridicule which was mercifully interspersed by the occasional person with compassion and insight, able to see beyond her eccentric behaviour. These individuals enabled her to salvage her life and to find meaning and purpose, something which is all too often denied to anyone unable to conform.

Temple Grandin is a visual thinker and has a visual memory and the film shows how this affected her ability to understand everyday language but also how it enhanced her abilities in many other areas. It is these abilities that she used to understand cattle who are also visual thinkers. Grandin observed the different sounds cows made and quickly differentiated between contented and frightened and was able to see the physical world through their eyes. She observed that they were happiest when moving in circles and would calm down when held firmly by a special container. These observations led her to design handling equipment and also a special box which she used to calm herself.

It was her science teacher at her last school who immediately realised that Grandin was something quite special He helped her to gain confidence and develop her area of aptitude and to realise that she could enjoy a career which encompassed the things she loved to do. As a result, she grew in confidence and later earned huge respect from others who, because of her talent, wanted to mix with her and were willing to accommodate her difference

The film documents what a struggle she had to be taken seriously as a woman. Her autism and sometimes rather inept communication style was an additional obstacle. Through persistence and some lucky breaks she eventually got the opportunity to pitch her ideas and once she focused on the financial benefits to the farmer rather than the humanity of her systems, her ideas were taken seriously. The film to me highlights why we must all learn to see beyond the social awkwardness, otherwise society will lose a lot of ingenuity.

The film is also a useful educational tool as it helps to demonstrate and explain the communication problems and sensory problems and what confuses and overwhelms as well as what calms and excites.

This is a feel good movie with many a lesson to take away. Difference in people can be good. It allows problems in the world to be inspected from a different, fresh angle, often seeing something that no one else could see. Temple Grandin because of her autism brought humanity into the world of husbandry and in her own words ‘nature is cruel but we don't have to be'

This movie originally began life as a 1943 short story, by Philip Van Doren Stern called The Greatest Gift, printed on a Christmas card. After he did some script reworking and added his own ideas, the Director Frank Capra renamed it It's a Wonderful Life, and later cited it as his favourite film he made.

A man named George Bailey (an excellent performance by James Stewart) lives in a small town called Bedford Falls. He contemplates happy times, and adventures exploring, making a name for himself, and travelling with his love Mary (Donna Reed). But on Christmas Eve, because of intense frustration and an impending scandal - he contemplates suicide.

In a story strand that gives the film a sense of fantasy and supernatural, he is visited by a kindly old angel named Clarence (a lovely performance by Henry Travers) who shows him a parallel universe - a vision of what life in Bedford Falls would have been (or perhaps will be) like if he had never been born. Clarence is a 2nd class angel and he hasn't received his wings yet.

During the act with Clarence, the film becomes very dark. These scenes, where George is shown how different life would have been without him have the feeling of a nightmare and are genuinely disturbing. Bedford Falls is now called "Pottersvile" after the Scrooge-like Mr. Potter and James Stewart acts really well here, showing Bailey's descent into sadness, anger and despair when no-one recognises him, not even his mother. The people he loves have become distant, even mean and aggressive. The haunting score used in this act only adds to the sense of unease and desperation.

Everything is different and the whole town has a "bad" air. The bartender is a bad, unfriendly man instead of being personable, and the town is full of sleazy clubs. Even before Clarence shows up, we see George behave in a dark way (for him), shouting at his children, getting drunk and fighting.

Yet the underlying message of the film is simple and uplifting - "no one is a failure who has friends". Even though he appeared to have little significance outside Bedford Falls, George Bailey really was a completely selfless man, who thought himself a failure because he saw his brother Harry become a war hero and his friend Sam Wainwright achieve business success, but George gave up his dreams to help others and didn't realise he was so loved by his friends and neighbours. It shows the good character of a man is just as important, if not more so, than what he does.

I'm not as used to seeing older US films like this but its' still a lovely film, especially to see at Christmas. It probably even gave The Simpsons producers ideas because the horrible Scrooge-like businessman, Henry Potter (Lionel Barrymore) reminds me of the power plant boss, Mr. Burns in the cartoon. There was one episode called "When Flanders Failed" which parodies certain scenes too.

In the film, George is mostly such a nice, honest, friendly guy, who will help all his friends out. This is shown in the scene where he gives his honeymoon money away to help them, until the bank opens.

I did wonder sometimes if Clarence placed too much responsibility on George - I know the message the film wants to get across is more "cometh the hour, cometh the man" and the differences one person can make, but surely the whole town wouldn't have been so different just because of him? Weren't there other nice friendly people around?

But it is overall a beautiful film that has so much warmth and humility, and made me feel happy and sad all at once. It definitely moved me.

It's hard to believe that the film wasn't very successful on it's original release, and its only since its been repeated on TV (since sometime in the 1970's) it's been acknowledged as a classic of American cinema. It was nominated for 5 Oscars (including one for James Stewart as Best Actor) in 1947 but didn't win any.

There are some extras that have been repeated from earlier DVD versions - a making of featurette (in standard definition) and the theatrical trailer which is in HD. Also in this set, there's a colourised version of the film on a separate Blu Ray disc.

The transfer of the black and white version preserves the original 1.33/1 aspect ratio in 1080p, and is fantastic for a film so old.

Enter the Dragon proved to be the last film which Bruce Lee fully completed before his death. It was his entry into Hollywood and was a huge international hit, a Hong Kong and Hollywood co-production featuring a mix of talent from both countries, and shot in Hong Kong directed by the American Robert Clouse, who would ultimately go on to direct Game of Death in 1978.

Thankfully, this is a much better film overall than Game of Death was and I think it's a classic. It shows Bruce at his best instead of exploiting him. It really made Bruce Lee and martial arts more widely known in the West. While it wasn't the first international martial arts hit, it still broke new ground. Enter was the first kung-fu film produced by a major Hollywood studio, made in association with Warner Brothers, Golden Harvest and Bruce Lee's own production company.

I really enjoy this film for many reasons, and while there are some brilliant fight scenes which I will discuss in due course, it's hard for me not to think of the James Bond film, Dr. No, as both stories are quite similar, with the criminal on a mysterious island base. Han even has an artificial hand.

Interestingly, Shih Kien spoke no English on set and his dialogue was overdubbed by the actor Keye Luke.

Enter the Dragon has the kind of plot that audiences of the time would recognise with the structure of a Hollywood movie.

Two other competitors on the island side with Bruce Lee - Roper (John Saxon) and Williams (Jim Kelly), American fighters on the run from the mob and police.

Sporting a very 70's afro, Jim Kelly (who was a US karate champion) is a good fighter and his scenes are certainly impressive - however it is Bruce Lee himself who is the main attraction in my opinion.

Besides Bruce, the film does feature an impressive cast of Hong Kong stars, including Bolo Yeung as one of Han's guards. Bob Wall (who would later turn up in Game of Death) plays a fighter called O Hara, who fights Bruce at the tournament.

Also watch for appearances by Angela Mao Ying and a very young Sammo Hung, who Bruce faces off against in a tournament bout in the opening scene. It's striking to see how skinny Bruce looks in this scene (he had lost a lot of weight when this scene was shot, actually after the rest of filming was finished) next to Sammo.

The scene in the underground bunker (basically Bruce kicking six shades out of what amounts to almost a whole army of guards by himself) is outstanding, with lightning fast moves - this is a master at work, and our attention is always focused on him. The display of martial arts is terrific. He uses a staff to fight with and - in a brief demonstration, nunchaku again.

I also love the scene where Bruce fights about 100 people in Han's army which is amazing. He is so powerful, and thrilling to watch.

It's actually a real shame that Bruce doesn't fight in the film himself more, but as with his Hong Kong oeuvre, he choreographed all his own fights.

The famous "Hall of Mirrors" fight to the death with Han at the climax, is absolutely fantastic and the filmmakers must have worked very hard on this scene to make sure no equipment was visible. Bruce not only shows he could fight but could also use his brain to outwit an enemy. The mysterious, slightly spooky music and reflections in the mirror build tension.

The music in the film is good, but especially the main theme by Lalo Schifrin, surely one of the iconic themes of cinema. It's a mixture of Lee's familiar fighting yells, and Chinese instruments and then it changes to a funky bassline, maybe showing how the movie itself brings together Asian and Western culture, something that Bruce himself certainly wanted to do through his films.

It is interesting that in this film, as well as being an exciting thriller, Bruce brought gravitas and wanted to educate the audience in some way, by explaining about his philosophy of martial arts and Jeet Kune Do, in a scene with his master, the abbot played by Roy Chiao. This scene was originally missing from the theatrical release but has been restored since 1998.

Annoyingly however, Bruce is dubbed by journalist John Little doing an impersonation which does sound odd to me and definitely stands out.

Bruce did get to see the finished movie before he died, and I'm sure he dubbed the scene, so as to why his real voice wasn't used, sadly I don't know the answer.

There are some good extras on this Blu Ray which were previously on the 2 disc DVD edition of the film - a commentary by producer Paul Heller and writer Michael Allin, documentaries and trailers. The main documentary is called Curse of the Dragon and runs for almost 90 minutes, featuring some interviews with James Coburn, Chuck Norris and Kareem Abdul Jabbar among others, who knew and worked with Bruce.

I recommend not watching the trailers until you've seen the movie. I thought the 1080p transfer was decent, not spectacular but as good as it could be, considering the film is almost 40 years old and quite low budget, with an estimated cost of just $850,000.

Even though the story is a simple one, this is an iconic movie and it's so sad Bruce didn't get to make any more after this one. I'm sure he would have gone on to develop as an actor.

I think this is definitely Bruce Lee's best film, actually one of the best martial arts films ever made and I really enjoyed it.

It is a dark film with some amazing fights, and I think Bruce also shows his range as an actor, delivering a really intense performance, evoking both sympathy and anger.

In the film, Bruce plays the fictional character of Chen Zhen, a student of real life martial arts master Ho Yuan Jia at the Jing Wu martial arts school. In Mandarin, the film's title used in Hong Kong "Jing Wu Men" actually means "the gateway to excellence in martial arts".
The real Ho Yuan Jia only lived to 1910, but the action in the film is shifted to Shanghai of the 1930's in order to make the underlying story of the Jing Wu martial arts students facing prejudice from the occupying Japanese work. Also, some things that actually happened to Ho in real life (as an opening voiceover solemnly explains) now happen to Chen over the course of the movie.

Bruce actually choreographed all of his own fight scenes in the film, but out of respect for an elder, Han Ying Chieh rather than Bruce is given full choreography credit. You can tell who did which scenes as Han's scenes have a kind of "swingy-arm/leg" style (for example, in the scene where the students train outside in the yard) and Bruce's scenes are much more powerful and controlled.
Look closely and you'll see a few other familiar faces from Bruce's other films appear as students at the school, Maria Yi, James Tien and - in an un-credited appearance, a young Jackie Chan, who is clearly visible in the training scene.

There are so many brilliant scenes - two especially are significant in a cultural sense - the one in the Japanese dojo when he forces a student to eat the paper from the insulting "Sick Men of Asia" sign, that was given to Bruce's school as a "present" by the slimy interpreter, Wu (Wei Ping Ao) and snaps "We Chinese are not sick men".

Another one which really stands out is the scene where he struck a literal blow against racism by kicking the prohibitive "No Dogs and Chinese Allowed" sign to pieces. When the film played in theatres in Hong Kong, the local audience were said to have stood up and cheered.
In 1972, some people were still old enough to remember the terrible injustice and racism by the Japanese during their occupation of China. Bruce was standing up for the Chinese people and fighting back.

Like many other films of the period, it has a nationalistic slant, and the Japanese in Fist of Fury are portrayed as nasty as possible, but despite this, this film, and indeed Bruce, became extremely popular in Japan. Even some of the music cues use Japanese instruments.

Interestingly, the nunchaku (perhaps Bruce's most famous weapon, which he is seen using for the first time in a film here) is not Chinese but comes from Okinawa (though some say it was originally used as a rice flail in South East Asia).

It's so difficult to choose a stand out scene as my favourite - Bruce desperately scrabbling at the earth that falls on top of his master's coffin, screaming "Master.... master!" refusing to believe he's dead, and the one where he takes on a dojo of Japanese karate students singlehandedly, showing an excellent use of brutal, unarmed combat.

I love the fight with the Japanese master (Riki Hashimoto) at the film's climax.

Jackie Chan actually doubled for him in the part when Bruce kicks him through the window.

Bruce disguises himself a number of times in the film, as an old man and newspaper vendor to fool the Japanese school. This knack for dressing up was referenced in a later film, Game of Death. In a way there is a balancing act going on here - Bruce had to be disguised but at the same time, not disguised so well that the audience didn't recognise him!

I watched the film in Mandarin, which was the original language when the film was released in 1972. Though Bruce spoke Cantonese on set, the rest of the cast spoke Mandarin which was the accepted language for films at that time.

Bruce shows he can really act in this film, as well as showing astonishing power and rage when fighting, he also shows a different side, tenderness and even vulnerability in scenes with a fellow student, whom he is in love with, played by the beautiful Nora Miao. This is the only film in which Bruce ever kissed a girl.

The way those scenes are shot is intriguing, we see tight close ups of their eyes and the pair sitting back to back as they talk, but not looking directly at one another.
Bruce is very focused on his goal of getting revenge for his master's death, almost driven to the end of his rope, and only his girlfriend is able to find a weak point in his armour.

While I said earlier that the nature of good and evil in the film is quite clear with the Japanese being the obvious villains, Bruce has to accept punishment for his deeds too. In the 1970's and 1980's, Hong Kong cinema demanded that if the hero killed anyone, they must be shown being arrested or punished. Even though both sets of characters commit murder, Bruce's character is shown in a much braver and nobler light, as the closing theme song intones.

The music in the film is impressive - particularly the repeated use of the main title theme which really adds to the atmosphere. In different situations, this music can be upright and stirring, yet also touching and romantic when played in its instrumental variation.

This 2 disc Platinum Edition of Fist of Fury has some excellent extras, including an entertaining commentary track by Bey Logan, featurettes (in one, Bey revisits one of the film's locations), interviews with some of the cast, and Hong Kong and UK trailers. The DVD transfer (at the time of release) was made from a new HD master, which has much better colours than the previous Collector's Edition release and looks much sharper.

This is a very important film in the martial arts genre which I love, and essential viewing for fans of Hong Kong cinema in my opinion.

What would prove to be Bruce Lee's last film is a patchy affair, with only a handful of good scenes. This is because between 1972 (when Bruce shot initial scenes) and the eventual release in 1978, not only had Bruce left production to make Enter The Dragon (in 1973) for Warner Brothers, but the proposed storyline Bruce had in mind underwent drastic changes resulting in a film that is mostly an exploitative mess. The film had already been pre-sold to the Japanese market on the basis of existing footage, so the makers had to come up with a complete Game of Death somehow.

Because Bruce was no longer alive, filming was completed using a variety of doubles, including Yuen Biao (for the more acrobatic stunts) and Korean actor Kim Tae Jung. The film also uses shots from some of Bruce's older films.
In Bruce's original storyline, a martial artist (Bruce) was to fight his way to the top of a pagoda, each floor guarded by a master of a different martial arts style. However, the complete film bears little resemblance to this.

Kim Tae Jung is certainly a decent screen fighter in his scenes, but he doesn't have the super fast speed or sheer power of Bruce.

The music and score, however, is excellent and very classy. The title music sounds like it came from a James Bond movie (John Barry composed the music for the film, after all). Even the title sequence itself, with images of the cast appearing on playing cards, dominoes and chess pieces feels rather Bond-like. I liked the repeated use of the score, it added to the atmosphere of the film.
But as a whole the film doesn't feel like a Hong Kong martial arts movie because of its story and structure, its' much more like an international film.

I didn't find the acting very strong. Despite being an Oscar winner (apparently), Dean Jagger doesn't look convincing at all playing the mob boss Dr. Land, looking much too old. Colleen Camp looks nice but is hardly stretched in the role of Billy Lo's girlfriend Ann, a local singer. Maybe I'm more critical of ropey acting here as the film is in English, and Hong Kong cinema shows a different style of acting.

The film can be rather tasteless in places, particularly in a scene showing a supposed "fake" funeral of Billy Lo (Bruce/Kim Tae Jung) - the filmmakers actually used footage of the real Bruce Lee's actual funeral. With newspapers declaring "Billy Lo Is Dead" and mourners lining the streets, this unfortunately mirrors exactly what happened in real life with Bruce Lee's death. I feel this is in very poor taste and insensitive to the Lee family.

Having said that, beneath the mediocrity and rather naff acting, there is still some excitement to be had. My favourite scene not involving the real Bruce, is the fight in the locker room between Kim Tae Jung and karate champion Bob Wall. This is a fantastic fight, and very well choreographed by Sammo Hung. Apparently, when director Robert Clouse was finished shooting for the day, Sammo was allowed to come back and shoot the action to his standard, which is why he shares directing credit on the Asian prints of Game of Death.

Another couple of scenes are quite interesting, in which the Billy Lo character disguises himself first with a beard and dark glasses, and then as an old man to stay one step ahead of the mafia. In one of his earlier films, Fist of Fury (1972), Bruce Lee disguises himself as an old man and a telephone repair man when he tries to find out who killed his master.

The last act of Game of Death is definitely the best, in which we see Bruce's original vision for the film and his scenes (originally shot in 1972) are brilliant and worth waiting for.

On one floor of the pagoda, we see the real Bruce Lee (in the famous yellow tracksuit) fight his student Dan Inosanto in an amazing one-on-one nanchuku fight, Korean Grandmaster Ji Han Jae on the ascending floor (who was using Korean martial arts), and then finally above him, Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

As well as being another of Bruce's own students, he was a former basketball player and towered over Bruce at 7' 2". In the film, Kareem plays a fighter who has no specific style of his own (similar to Bruce's own philosophy of Jeet Kune Do). This fight is amazing, if a bit unusual. Bruce had to think "outside the box" to defeat a much larger, taller opponent, and it's surprising how he does it!

This section of footage shows, to my mind, how Game of Death would have been a far better film had Bruce been alive. I loved the real Bruce's scenes. It's just such a shame that most of the rest of the film is quite poor.
As the credits roll, Colleen Camp sings Will This Be the song I'll Be Singing Tomorrow? (also composed by John Barry), over a montage of clips of Bruce in action from earlier classic films. I have to say, the juxtaposition of melancholy music, and images showing him in his prime felt tinged with sadness and tragedy. There will never be another Bruce Lee.

There are lots of extras on this 2 disc DVD set - the main extra on the first disc is a commentary by Hong Kong cinema writer Bey Logan, which is an interesting, and at times even funny listen.

The second has interviews with cast members and people involved with the film, theatrical trailers (the Cantonese and American trailers) and promo spots for other Bruce Lee films, but the most interesting extra is a feature called "Game of Death Revisited".

It's a 40 minute edit of the pagoda fight sequence, put together in the way Bruce intended (according to his original script notes). It has scenes not shown in the 1978 version of the movie - the fights are longer, with extra dialogue (Bey Logan doing an uncanny impression of the Little Dragon), and characters, and this footage was thought lost for over 20 years in the Golden Harvest vaults. It's great to watch and gives new insight into what the film might have been like. I love the rock version of the Game of Death theme.

Set in the late 1890s this is the tale of a young poet called Christian (Ewan McGregor) who travels to Paris to make his fortune in the Moulin Rouge. He meets with the alcohol addicted Toulouse-Lautrec who introduces Christian to a seedy underground world full of drugs, sex and musical theatre. The innocent Christian is thrown into a passionate but doomed affair with Satine (Nicole Kidman), the star of the show...

Based on the songs featured in this dazzling, inventive musical/romance alone, (Lady Marmalade? Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend?) you would never know this film is set in the 19th century. But the fact the film has scant regard for reality, using some of the most famous songs of the last 50 years or so in the wrong time, really doesn't matter. Only in the hands of Baz Luhrman could such a thing like this be done, yet you never question it.

The costumes, set design and especially music are all fantastic, the film has a wonderful sense of zip and energy bringing to mind the best West End show you've ever seen (check out the scene where a whole medley of songs are sung, it seems). Your Song, Heroes, All You Need Is Love, blended seamlessly together. Ewan McGregor does have a very good voice. In fact both leads do.

There's also the "story within the story" technique, the "penniless sitar player" character in the play McGregor is writing being an obvious metaphor for his own character in the film, and the jealous Duke (Richard Roxburgh, who is also in love with Satine) is obviously the model for the rich "Maharaja" in the play.

Surprisingly, the film doesn't lose anything by being told in a kind of "flashback" either, and having the "outcome" of the film being explained at the beginning as I thought it would. It adds to the romantic element of the story, in fact.

Overall, a hugely enjoyable film.

It was a strange, surreal experience for me to watch this, as I'm very new to silent cinema having not seen any before (The Adventures of Prince Achmed [Director: Lotte Reiniger, 1926] and Nosferatu [Director: FW Murnau, 1922] aside). It took a while to get used to things like the over- exaggerated gestures (since there's no dialogue, there's no way of doing a one-liner), and the Russian title cards, but its' very relevant to many modern cinematic techniques.

Sergei Eisenstein tells the story of a real-life mutiny aboard the battleship Potemkin, with oppressed working class (in this case the enlisted sailors) who refuse to eat the horrible maggot-infested meat they are given. They band together to overthrow their oppressors (the ship's officers), led by proto-revolutionary Vakulinchuk. When he dies in the shipboard struggle, the crew lays his body to rest on the pier, a moody, moving scene where the citizens of Odessa slowly emerge from the fog to pay their respects. As the crowd grows Eisenstein turns the tenor from mourning a fallen comrade to celebrating the collective achievement. The government responds by sending soldiers and ships to deal with the mutinous crew and the supportive townspeople, which climaxes in the justly famous (and often imitated and parodied) Odessa Steps massacre.

As I said it's not really my "type" of film, but I'm glad I saw it all the same.

This is, perhaps, one of the most lavish productions I've ever seen on the BBC and certainly the most visually stunning. It's quality all the way through - the cast is stellar with the likes of Christopher Lee, Stephen Fry, Richard Griffiths, Warren Mitchell, John Sessions and other sundry comedians (including Spike Milligan!); the script is sublime, witty and fast moving (without losing sense of the story) and the music is lush and suitably grand.

The thing I like most about Gormenghast is that it's tremendously quirky -all the characters have their own excessive idiosyncrasies and this highlights just how trapped they all are in their own little worlds. Their trapped by the weight of the past and tradition, whilst Steerpike, who hearkens from the kitchens, wishes he could be more like them. (the irony is that, if given a choice, they would probably wish to be free... or would they?)

Nothings ever what it seems to be - all the characters undergo dramatic changes, and those that are able to adapt to those changes are able to survive -and it's not always the obvious ones. The character of Steerpike is multi-faceted and Jonathan Rhys Meyers' performance captures all of these brilliantly. It's difficult to know whether to loathe or pity him. His actions are dastardly, but in relation to the yoke of tyranny that the Royal Family it becomes harder to judge.

This is a really great tv series and I'm really proud that the BBC gave the novels, by Mervyn Peake the treatment they so rightly deserved.