Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others)

A real treat for fans of Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean — and one that will make fans of those who aren’t yet

Career Girls provides evidence that Mike Leigh has been spoiled by success. Or by something. Anyway, he is spoiled. Perhaps it is because he has mellowed politically. This film only has one gratuitous swipe at Margaret Thatcher, and even that seems half-hearted at best. He was better when he was a fulminating leftie. At least…

A highly watchable but somewhat dubious lesson in how not to be a victim — or at least not a victim of fate

[See discussion under “My Diary” for July 19, 2012] Discover more from James Bowman Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email. Type your email… Subscribe

A persuasive and watchable version of the 16^th president makes us not mind too much the reduction in scale of his great story from the epic to a grubby political wrangle

One ought, I think, to be suspicious of films about mental illness. They nearly always call on us to pity and thus to condescend to their characters. Such feelings are not those elicited by great art, which requires us to recognize in the characters an essential likeness to ourselves. But Angel Baby by Michael Rymer,…