Batches 18 and 19
Batches 18 and 190:00/268.4373331× And now the fun can really begin. With one or two exceptions, I have done the easy titles. There's a page here which details the final 20 countries I need to acquire. I'll also put up a page for
Egypt: Clash (2016)
Egypt0:00/482.4533331× Sometimes people set a film in one location because the makers had a brilliant concept and wanted to make the most of it. (Exam; Phone Booth; ATM are all great examples of this.) The trouble is that they then can’t actually come up with much
Vietnam: The Housemaid (2016)
Vietnam0:00/463.2533331× Warning: this review contains spoilers. And by "spoilers" I mean I am going to give away the end of the film. It's more of a "ruiner" than a "spoiler". If you're likely to watch a spooky
United Arab Emirates: City of Life (2009)
UAE0:00/320.2346671× I was frustrated by City of Life. Not because the film wasn't any good, quite the reverse; but it wasn't as good as it deserved to be. The idea of having three parallel stories which run through the film before the three
Lebanon: Capernaum (2018)
Lebanon0:00/530.3253331× I haven’t applied any particularly formula to how I acquire films. I’ve used AI to help narrow down the available titles, and then I’ve gone by genre where possible. For many places there’s been only one easily-purchased title. That means that
North Korea: Pulgasari (1985)
North Korea0:00/355.9041× The story behind Pulgasari is possibly far more interesting than the film itself, and surprisingly little known. Popular South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee was abducted by North Korea in 1978. When her ex-husband, director Shin Sang-ok, started looking for her he too
Venezuela: The House at the End of Time (2013)
Venezuela0:00/379.3706671× I go in to these films as blind as possible. If you're reading this, and you have any intention at all of watching The House at the End of Time, stop reading now. You don't want spoilers. You don't even
China: A Touch of Sin (2013)
China0:00/352.2346671× I do sometimes wonder how much I'm missing from these films. Take this Chinese film, for example. Now, I'm not Chinese. I don't speak Chinese (although I am aware that Mandarin and Cantonese are different languages). I've never
Jordan: Theeb (2014)
Jordan0:00/379.1146671× "They don't make films like this any more" is a rather pithy epithet thrown around all too easily (because obviously they still do make films like this or you wouldn't be able to make the comment in the first place)
Ecuador: Cronicas (2004)
Ecuador0:00/412.8213331× I try to watch these films with no foreknowledge. I may have an awareness of genre, and I can't help seeing the cover of each film, but generally I'm not aware of what the film is about. Sometimes that works for the
Andorra: Devil's Kiss (1976)
Andorra0:00/338.4106671× I have a cold. Being a man, that makes it a very serious illness, and I’m therefore feeling incredibly sorry for myself. I mention this not for sympathy, but because I spent much of the running time of The Devil’s Kiss wondering what the
Batches 16 and 17
Batches 16 170:00/230.3786671× There are several titles here which should raise eyebrows. I'll discuss them in detail when I finally get round to watching them, but for Bahrain, Palau, Saint Kitts and South Sudan I have had to...bend my rules. By breaking them. Palau