Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht

Claus Kinski (the Count of Dracula) will repulse you in this cold tale of blood sucking, festering bubonic rats and shadows. The feverish Isabelle Adjani (Mrs Lucy Harker) will wake in terror sweats as you follow Bruno Ganz (Mr Jonathan Harker) in his hopeless journey towards sadness.

As with Fitzcaraldo, the mood and pace are that of a broken dream but this film quickly loses its optimism; there are no plucky new world pioneers, instead each character dances with death. You may need something to cheer you up afterwards. Watch this film when you have the chance. 4 Stars.

The Thin Blue Line

The Thin Blue Line by today's standards is a rather ordinary documentary about a miscarriage of justice in Texas. Contrary to many reviews which argue that the film uses suspense to great effect, in fact it makes everything all too clear in the opening half hour of the film. It is a film which has lost its hard hitting impact over time and, judging by the boorish laughs in NFT theatre 4, now only serves to encourage those who fetishize an assumption that Americans are stupid and that Texans are even worse.

The film is certainly worth a watch on television, after all it is an important early example of the crime genre - one of the first to use drama in order to add emotion to the often dry personal testimony of those interviewed. It is not worth a trip to your local arthouse cinema but you may wish to give it half an hour of your time if it crops up on TV. 3 Stars.