2011
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DVD Review: ‘Four Days Inside Guantánamo’
★★★★★ Canadian filmmakers Luc Côté and Patricio Henriquez have received numerous awards for Four Days Inside Guantánamo (2010), their truly shocking documentary from inside the Guantánamo facility following one young prisoner, Omar Ahmed Khadr, who is currently still being detained despite immense pressure from various sides to release him.Four Days Inside Guantánamo is made up…
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Film Review: ‘Straw Dogs’ (2011)
★★★☆☆ As remakes go, Rod Lurie’s Straw Dogs (2011) manages to hold its own against Sam Peckinpah’s controversial 1971 classic of the same name, achieved through some innovative changes and strong performances from a cast that includes Alexander Skarsgård (best know for his role as Eric Northman in HBO’s True Blood, and more recently for…
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Film Review: ‘In Time’
★★★☆☆ Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) lives life by the day – literally. In a society where everyone stops ageing at 25, adults are given one year before their time is up. And it pays to keep count: a cup of coffee costs four minutes and a bus ride costs two hours. Miss something by a…
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Film Review: ‘Junkhearts’
★★★☆☆ Director Tinge Krishnan’s debut feature Junkhearts (2011) opens with a blurry close up shot of a man in distress, who comes into focus in an almost excruciatingly painful long take. It is a startlingly intrusive introduction to protagonist Frank (Eddie Marsan), and his panicked breathing and tearful face reveal in detail his misery.Lonely alcoholic…
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BFI London Film Festival 2011: ‘The Future’
★★☆☆☆ Miranda July’s 2005 surreal debut feature, Me and You and Everyone We Know showcased her enormous potential, with fans of quirky, independent, cinema desperate to see what she’d produce next. Narrated by a caged, injured cat, The Future (2011) expands upon July’s unique ability to capture the difficulties of developing relationships and the awkwardness…
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Film Review: ‘Weekend’
★★★★☆ Andrew Haigh’s sensitive romance Weekend (2011) – which premiered in the UK last month at the BFI London Film Festival – sees two men meet in a nightclub and form a burgeoning bond that becomes intensely intimate over a period of 48 hours.Russell (Tom Cullen) is a timid homosexual, who’s recently come out to…
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Interview: Andrew Haigh, director of ‘Weekend’
CineVue were recently granted a half-hour interview with the Andrew Haigh, Tom Cullen and Chris New, the director and two stars of British film Weekend (2011), which received its UK premiere at the 55th BFI London Film Festival. When you meet filmmakers – or hear of other reviewers having met filmmakers – you often only…
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Interview: Bertrand Tavernier, ‘The Princess of Montpensier’
Prolific auteur Bertrand Tavernier is a legend of French cinema, having directed over 30 films and worked with the likes of Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut during his long career. His latest sweeping historical drama The Princess of Montpensier (2010) is set during the horror of the ‘War of Religion’ (1562–98) and revolves around the fate…
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UK Jewish Film Festival 2011: ‘This Must Be the Place’
★★★☆☆ The 15th annual UK Jewish Film Festival opened in style last night with a special gala preview of Il Divo (2009) director Paolo Sorrentino’s latest effort This Must Be the Place (2011), starring Sean Penn. Nominated earlier this year for the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes and receiving its UK premiere at LFF, Sorrentino’s…
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ICA: ‘Touch of Evil’
This week, the Institute of Contemporary Arts are revisiting the work of a cinematic genius with ‘Orson Welles: Postcards from Xanadu’. The season will feature Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), but began with a screening of the restored 1998 version of the classic crime thriller Touch of Evil (1958), starring Welles, Charlton…