Another Ken Loach effort, quite similar to the later The Wind that Shakes the Barley, about a revolution gone sour. The inspiration is clearly George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia.

By the way, it seems that the complete works of George Orwell are available at that website. Never be bored again.

Clearly Ken Loach saw Dirty Pretty Things and thought he could improve it. I don't think this movie needed to be made.

A quite funny early-90s Ken Loach effort. Some of the actors reprise similar roles in Trainspotting (Swanny and Begbie in particular). Structurally it is similar to My Name is Joe by the same director.

Amazing stuff, the Dirty Three's Indian Love Song accompanies one of the early scenes, and — I think — Rude (And Then Some Slight Return) a bit later. Somewhat less agreeable on the second viewing.

Another Vietnamese classic on Darren's recommendation.

On Darren's recommendation. Umm, yeah.

Yep, this was as bad as I remember. The book is much simplified upon and the plot twisted to suit this shallower medium; indeed, by making Phương fluent in English the French colonial overtones are largely relegated to the heavy-handed police inspector. This is one clunky adaptation.

Another Ken Loach classic, and once again one needs a keen ear for the accents of northern England.

I must have seen this at the cinema back in 2002 or so.

I don't rate Ang Lee; Hulk was absolute rubbish, and perhaps Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was as good as I remember people saying it was, but I don't remember. I didn't see Brokeback Mountain.

This one is pretty good though, a Sergio Leone camera-work and spaghetti-time effort, at first blush similar to the contemporary Zwartboek. The lead actress is luminous and quite dextrous in her various roles. It was also great to see Joan Chen play such a major part.