Left Field Cinema

Carl Franklin's 1995 Neo Noir doesn't garner the same level of plaudits as the likes of China Town or L.A. Confidential, but it is an overlooked gem worthy of your attention.

The last of my five favourite directors, starting this series with his four hour in length 1975 Brechtian masterpiece The Travelling Players.

Al Pacino is probably best known for his film acting in 1970's classics like The Godfather and Dog Day Afternoon. What might surprise you is that he also directs and what might surprise you more is the sort of film he likes to direct.

For the 100th episode of Left Field Cinema, a special extended examination of Andrei Tarkovsky's greatest masterwork, the 1975 feature film, Mirror. A miracle of a film by the fact of its very existence, a film which may well change the way you perceive the physical boundaries of cinema, a paradoxically personal yet universal film that will haunt you for years to come. Mirror is here examined in relation to my own memories of the film and my memories of cinema in general.

Joss Whedon's film adaptation of the flop TV series Firefly had to both inform new viewers of its complex context whilst avoiding potential alienation of the die-hard fans. This edition examines the perfectly balanced pre-title sequence of the film moment by moment.

John Cassavetes' crime thriller is one of the forgotten classics of 1970's American cinema. A brilliant central performance from Ben Gazzara and a intense naturalistic presentation of events make this an unmissable masterpiece.

Shinji Aoyama's visually stunning three and a half hour meditation on the nature of trauma. One the finest Japanese films of the decade.

Peter Brook's 1971 screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's famous tragedy. This relentlessly brutal film is an almost perfect merging of Shakespeare and Ingmar Bergman.

The second installment of the Left Field Cinema series examining the films of America's greatest living film maker, this time his Richard Gere staring sophomore subversion of the Western genre.

Mike Figgis' 1990 cop thriller maybe the most highly sexualised film of its genre, this edition tackles the many facets of sexual conduct, insecurities and associative connections explored within the film.