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The opening sequence of Cerrar los ojos (Close Your Eyes, Víctor Erice, 2023) made me feel like I was immersed in a Jorge Luis Borges story. Although not technically the case, this is befitting for a Spanish-Argentinian co-production under the assured hand of one of cinema’s last living masters: Spanish director Víctor Erice.

In its obituary for the sui generis director David Lynch (1946-2025), who recently gave up the ghost, The New York Times barely mentioned The Straight Story (David Lynch, 1999), a film that is more often than not regarded as an anomaly in Lynch’s filmography.

Among the thousands of books that have been written trying to elucidate Hitler, there is a remarkable one by Ron Rosenbaum, Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil.

Before the first consumer-grade videotapes came out in the mid-1970s, it stands to reason that movies were not that readily available for the general public.

Recently I saw what will most likely be my favourite film of the past year and foreseeable future, especially in light of the pandemic: The Painted Bird (Václav Marhoul, 2019), from the Czech Republic.