Films

The revolution introduced me to art, and art, in its own turn, brought me to the revolution.

Sergei Eisenstein

Monday, 20 July 2020 08:31

Building a dissident film culture

Written by Deirdre ONeill

in Films

Deirdre O'Neill, in the latest in the series of Culture Matters/Morning Star articles on the effects of Covid-19 on culture, sketches out the argument for developing a new, dissident approach to film-making ‘For us, film is the most important of the arts’ - Lenin in 1919 The Covid-19 pandemic has…

Monday, 22 June 2020 09:18

Da 5 Bloods: Black Lives Matter Meets Rambo

Written by Dennis Broe

in Films

Dennis Broe reviews Spike Lee's new film Spike Lee’s new film for Netflix, Da 5 Bloods, about the effects of the Vietnam War on African-American soldiers, opens spectacularly. A documentary sequence begins with Muhammed Ali detailing why he chooses not to fight: “My conscience won’t let me go shoot my…

Spike Lee Netflix

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 04 June 2020 18:18

Allegories of the end of capitalism

in Films

Written by Mike Wayne

Mike Wayne reviews Allegories of The End of Capitalism: Six Films on the Revolutions of Our Times, by Milo Sweedler, Zero Books 2020 Milo Sweedler’s book is an unfailingly interesting and indeed fun read from start to finish. Focusing on six films which conjure with various images of revolt against…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 03 June 2020 15:28

Back in Old New York

in Films

Written by Rita Di Santo

Rita di Santo reviews Woody Allen's new film, A Rainy Day in New York, with a good deal of scepticism “Don't you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we're left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes and I live here.”…

Woody Allen Not very good lost the plot

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 04 May 2020 11:41

Challenging and politically-minded: the Visions du Réel documentary film festival

in Films

Written by Phil Hobbins-White

Phil Hobbins-White reports on the Visions du Réel documentary festival Switzerland’s Visions du Réel is one of the country’s oldest film festivals, yet this year, like many other film festivals, it needed to move online in order to happen at all. Featuring films from all over the world, Visions is…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 11 March 2020 13:36

Finding peace through music: Listen To My Song

in Films

Written by Danny Mitchell

Danny Mitchell introduces his new film set in Colombia, where the peace process is under way and Esteban, a rapper in the Colombian FARC guerrilla movement, dreams of becoming a musician but first he must reconcile himself with his family. https://vimeo.com/396672524 Synopsis: Esteban escaped poverty in the ghetto when he…

Monday, 02 March 2020 15:24

'There Is No Evil' wins Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival 2020

Written by Rita Di Santo

in Films

Rita Di Santo presents brief film reviews from the Berlin Film Festival 2020 The 70th Berlin International Film Festival came to a close with There Is No Evil, Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof’s scorching denunciation of the death penalty in Iran taking the top prize, the Golden Bear. Rasoulof was not…

Thursday, 30 January 2020 16:21

Marxism Goes To The Movies

Written by Mike Wayne

in Films

Mike Wayne weighs the influence of Marxism on film culture Marxist filmmakers, Marxist-influenced culture and Marxist theory, have all had a huge influence on world film culture for more than a hundred years, although it is an influence that is often denied. The struggle for control over the cinematic means…

Chaplin Eisenstein Hostiles Alea Watkins

Monday, 23 December 2019 15:18

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Written by Jack Brindelli

in Films

Jack Brindelli offers some lessons for the radical left from an animated skeleton This December is particularly troubling for an unrepentant leftist like me. On top of the usual festival of gluttony and materialism that caps every year, I find myself living a very real nightmare before Christmas. Like many…

Monday, 23 December 2019 15:10

The Decade of Asian Cinema: Top Ten Films of 2019

Written by Dennis Broe

in Films

Dennis Broe reviews the best films of 2019 This is the end of the decade, and it is worth noting that the two most consistently outstanding directors of the last 10 years are both Asian. They are China’s Jia Zhangke and South Korea’s Bong Joon-ho, whose film Parasite is the…