James Dalrymple

Ah pretty hyped for The Secret Agent!

Another good month!

😆

I've never seen it. I don't have fond memories of Intolerable Cruelty either though

sounds like a goer!

Yes, it finally resolves into something very moving, which I wasn't expecting

I'll be catching some more soon hopefully

yes. Unfortunately I was a little tired to get the most out of The Ladykillers, but it is undeniably great. No surprise at all that the Coens should have wanted to do their own version!

Yeah, I liked Part II as well, but not as much (I've been feeling a bit jaded by meta recently). The Mastermind surpassed my (already pretty high) expectations

I hope it's not too difficult to settle on one!

Steve McQueen - My 15 favourite performances I need to see An Enemy of the People.

My top 15 Steve McQueen performances from 5 years ago holds up quite well. Still basically what I think.

letterboxd.com/dancedanceda...

A ★★★★ review of Flux Gourmet (2022) This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.

Peter Strickland’s satire of gastronomic and gastrointestinal performance art. Neither a Michelin star nor a Turner Prize in sight but still a sonic, visual, verbose delight. #Filmsky boxd.it/dlozMZ

Can't believe it took me so long!

ha! Perhaps I should do all the balloon films!

Fave first watch films February 2026 ... in the order that I watched them

oops, forgot Sherlock Jnr, since amended: letterboxd.com/jamesewand/l...

which I guess is a plus!

I quite like that set-up. It's an interesting way to explore the society around

Intriguing!

you're not exactly selling them to me here! 😀

Gallivant (1996), directed by Andrew Kötting Murder, My Sweet (1944), by Edward Dmytryk The Mastermind (2025), by Kelly Reichardt Election (1999), by Alexander Payne The Souvenir (2019), by Joanna Hogg The Ladykillers (1955), by Alexander Mackendrick The White Balloon (1995), by Jafar Panahi

Some of the films I most enjoyed for the first time last month:

I was astonished to learn that there are sequels. I'll have to track them down

Not familiar, no, thanks Jacqui. Making a note!

BITTER RICE (Giuseppe De Santis, 1949). Loved this vivid neorealist film with flashes of noir and melodrama. Women are front and centre here, and things get fiery when tensions abound; nevertheless, there is genuine camaraderie, too. At times, it feels like a musical waiting to happen. #FilmSky >>

My absolute favourite of the month was The Secret Agent, closely followed by A Sentimental Value. It’s quite thrilling to see awards nominated films actually living up to the hype… 🙏❤️

Tea on Sunday by Lettice Cooper While the British novelist and campaigner Lettice Cooper is probably best known for her literary novels, such as National Provincial (1938) and The New House (1936), both in print with Persephone B…

New on the blog today for #ReadIndies, I've written about TEA ON SUNDAY by Lettice Cooper.

A very enjoyable 'closed circle' style whodunnit in which an elderly woman is bumped off in the run-up to her tea party on Sunday afternoon. #BookSky 💙📚 #CrimeFiction

jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2026/02/26/t...

Thanks Chris. I'll get on to that asap. Above all, it seems pretty relevant right now

I remember enjoying it, but like In the Heat of the Night (until I rewatched it the other day), my memories are very dim.

Love it! Any ideas which I should watch next?

...in that it is about the world seen through the eyes of a child, who is drawn into a series of encounters with strangers. Although touching in its simplicity, there is – like in Kiarostami's film – an undercurrent of dream logic (of frustrated wishes and unexpected narrative tangents). Lovely! 3/3

The balloon of the title is actually only incidental to the story, which mostly revolves around a little girl's disastrous trip to buy a goldfish and the loss of a banknote, but is presumably an allusion to Albert Lamorisse's The Red Balloon... 2/3