Culture clashes! What a cliche, but I suppose it is manifested in three rather different forms in this week's three hidden treasures. Once again, I remind you that these films are not necessarily hidden from widespread public consumption, but that they are all worthy of reaching a greater audience than they currently have.
AE FOND KISS... (2004) - KEN LOACH
Ae Fond Kiss... is Ken Loach at his most commercial. It's testament to his integrity as a filmmaker that none of those qualities which define his most celebrated works are absent here. A man of Indian heritage and a Northern Irish woman both living in Glasgow begin a relationship, and though the challenges faced by this couple may seem obvious to you from the outset, Loach and Paul Laverty depict them with a potency that raises the film far higher than its potentially soapy storyline.
THE NEW WORLD (2005) - TERRENCE MALICK
Nonsense! No Terrence Malick film is actually hidden from anyone! Indeed, but The New World is a hands-down masterpiece, and it surpasses whatever artistic achievements (and there are many) critics have noted in Badlands, Days of Heaven and The Tree of Life because it sifts out what doesn't work, leaving only what does, which Malick then embellishes with grace and precision. The first of his collaborations with DP Emmanuel Lubezki. A delight.
WALKABOUT (1971) - NICOLAS ROEG
The only Nicolas Roeg film I've yet seen which I liked more after I'd seen it than before. Actually, it's one of the great artworks of British cinema. Famous for being the first film to feature David Gulpilil, and the one where Jenny Agutter gets her tits out, it's also exquisitely crafted, with signature stunning cinematography from Roeg and a John Barry score that is somehow both soothing and jarring, brilliantly so.
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