Two cinema websites, Cineuropa.org and www.picturenose.com have joined forces in a new European Film Awards Reviews blog, a service that aims to offer visitors far greater access to reviews of those European movies (both recent and new releases) that have either won or been nominated for major film awards worldwide, including the European Film Awards (EFA), which are awarded annually by the European Film Academy in December.

Cineuropa was created in 2002 to provide up-to-date information and news for cinephiles on European films, as well as for film and television professionals. Published in four languages (English, French, Italian, Spanish), it is co-funded by the MEDIA Plus Programme of the European Commission and a host of member states’ cultural programmes. As a site, it’s dedicated to European cinema, actors, directors, producers -- in short, the film industry as a whole.

With one notable exception, however – as Cineuropa is a Commission-funded project, and that institution cannot be seen to be taking sides, not even as far as throwing the odd brickbat at a movie, that’s where Cineuropa’s new blog, and Picturenose.com come in.

Founded in 2007 by Brussels-based expats, journalists and film-lovers James Drew and Colin Moors, Picturenose.com, in addition to its regularly updated website offering critiques of flicks old and new plus movie news, gossip and debate, has provided Expatica.com with weekly film articles since February. And the buffs are very happy about the latest hook-up, as Colin explains: “It’s an ideal partnership – we’d been looking to make Picturenose more Europhile and, after agreeing the set-up with Valerio Caruso [responsible for Special Reports, Services and VOD on Cineuropa], we think we now have a great chance not only to expand our site’s portfolio, but also to provide Cineuropa with quality reviews of some of Europe’s most renowned films. Best of all, Cineuropa provides the films!”

And Caruso added: “Along with our Eye on North America, Eye on South America and Digi Cineuropa blogs, the European Film Awards Reviews ensures that we are covering the full film spectrum. We’re delighted to have hooked up with Picturenose.”

“It’s early days yet,” James explains, “but we aim to have the blog updated at least twice weekly – thanks to Cineuropa, we now have access to a huge range of European films. Thus far, we’ve reviewed Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) [see below], two Danish films that are dark, disturbing but also deliciously funny, Vikaren (The Substitute) (2007) Kunsten at græde i kor (The Art of Crying) (2006) and Dutch ‘meta-reality’ comedy Ober (Waiter) (2006). We aim to make the blog a cinephile’s reference point.”

So, in the days and weeks ahead, in addition to their Expatica reviews, Colin and James will be posting their Euro-critiques on both EFA and Picturenose. Adds James: “Avoiding review repetition, naturally.”

And here’s a taste of one of the reviews already online as Colin takes a whiff of Tom Twyker’s Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), which won Best Cinematographer (Frank Griebe) and the Prix d'Excellence (Uli Hanisch, production design) in the 2007 European Film Awards:
“The film is very well directed and, although I haven’t read the Patrick Süskind book, I’m told it’s a reasonably faithful retelling. There’s plenty of eye candy for the guys - provided you like ’em dead within minutes of meeting them, that is. The supporting cast all do their bit just fine (Alan Rickman is always good value) and it all hangs together well. Perhaps a slow starter for those with a short attention span such as I, but worth persevering with. You may find yourself laughing at times, but that’s just schadenfreude at work, believe me. If you really want my cod philosophical take on it, I’d say the whole thing is a metaphor. It’s about identity and being on the outside edge of humanity. How does someone who relies so heavily on one facet of his existence cope with the fact that the very thing he uses to identify people, he does not possess?”

European Film Awards Reviews

(Expatica August 2008) 

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