BFI 4
Books: Grave of the Fireflies
By Jonathan Clements. Long overdue for inclusion in the BFI’s Film Classics series, Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies finally gets the critical treatment, courtesy of Alex Dudok de Wit. In 100 closely argued pages, he takes the reader through the film’s genesis at Studio Ghibli, the peculiarities of its director, its major themes and […]
Books: Spirited Away
By Jonathan Clements. The BFI Film Classics list has had a number of ups and downs in its lifespan. I remember the original releases in 1992, which attracted real heavy-hitters like Salman Rushdie writing about The Wizard of Oz, and then a series of seemingly random and often contradictory directives, as it bounced from the […]
Seven Samurai
by Jeremy Clarke. Akira Kurosawa’s three-and-a-half-hour epic Seven Samurai (1954) remains to this day a landmark movie in Japanese and world cinema. It is currently streaming on BFI Player as part of the five month long Japan 2020 programme alongside 21 other Kurosawa films together with a much wider selection of Japanese movies including some […]
Hosoda in Wonderland
By Andrew Osmond. “When I have an idea in my mind,” says Mamoru Hosoda, “I can’t help thinking about how I can express it, how can I make it wonderful, to make people laugh… I get this urge to actualise my ideas. It’s the sheer pleasure of making it happen that drives me through the […]