Simon Columb

Blade Runner: The Final Cut. Directed By Ridley Scott. Starring Harrison Ford, Sean Young, Rutger Hauer and M. Emmet Walsh. SYNOPSIS: Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is the titular Blade Runner, tasked to track down human-looking, A.I. “Replicants” Blade Runner bombed in 1982. It has since become a cult, and now firmly established, classic of science-fiction film-making. Directed by Ridley Scott, only three years after Alien, Blade Runner created a world that had never been seen before.

Bicycle Thieves (Italian: Ladri di biciclette), 1948. Directed by Vittorio De Sica. Starring Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Liannela Carell, Vittorio Antonucci and Gino Saltamerenda. SYNOPSIS: In post-war Italy, Antonio is offered a job that requires a bicycle. Selling his bed sheets, he manages to buy a bike. On his first day it is stolen forcing Antonio, and his son, to search the city… Bicycle Thieves positions itself as the default neo-realism masterpiece.

As part of the BFI’s Studio Ghibli Season, Simon Columb reviews Grave of the Fireflies… A Studio Ghibli season at the BFI has highlighted the very best of Japanese animation. We can define the cuddly Totoro or fantastical world of Princess Mononoke as what Studio Ghibli stands for – but Grave of the Fireflies proves otherwise.