Film reviews and more
Although the official lineup for the 2012 Cannes Film Festival (16-27 May) won’t actually be announced until 19 April, speculation has already begun about which films might screen at the world’s premiere new cinema showcase. First of all, we know […]
★★★★☆ Jon Shenk’s The Island President (2011) traces one man’s extraordinary journey from political prisoner to head of state. Mohamed Nasheed was democratically elected president of the Maldives in October 2008; previously, the archipelago of 1,200 tropical islands in the […]
If the sight of apocalyptic atomic explosions, cholera-infested city streets, rats being hunted and eaten and a woman chewing off her own umbilical chord aren’t enough to throw you into the depths of despair, then rest assured – the sight […]
★★★★☆ Many of us may know men who have at one time or another paid for sex. They don’t shout about it, nor do they go into detail, but it occasionally comes up in conversation that they went to Amsterdam […]
★★★☆☆ G8 Summits have become synonymous with political protest, civil unrest and running battles between activists and police. The 2001 Genoa summit was a particularly dramatic affair, involving around 200,000 protesters and an army of officers whose violent handling of […]
There’s been a slew of themed film events cropping up in the past decade: quirky, unique evenings filling the void left by soulless, sticky-carpeted multiplexes, one of the most prominent being the Jameson Cult Film Club (JCFC). The Irish whiskey […]
★★★★☆ Bonsái (2011), Chilean director and writer Cristián Jiménez‘s follow up to 2009’s Optical Illusions realises the tale of a handsome and philosophical literary student, first love and fact vs. fiction. his latest effort still bears some of the postmodern […]
★★★★☆ How do you win a war against the ocean? That’s the question posed in The Island President (2011), an astonishingly intimate account of a world leader fighting – quite literally – for his country’s survival. Jon Shenk’s documentary paints […]
★★★★☆ Italian writer/director Alice Rohrwacher’s debut feature Corpo Celeste (2011) is a hugely confident examination of faith and rebellious youth with an assured central performance from relative newcomer Yle Vianello. She stars as the 13-year-old Marta, whose impending confirmation clashes […]
★★★☆☆ Generally speaking, dancing’s depiction in films and the media has tended to be aimed towards the older generation. Then shows like Strictly Come Dancing and Britain’s Got Talent came along and suddenly it was hip, no matter what your […]
★★★★☆ Pål Sletaune’s Norwegian horror/thriller Babycall (2011) may be one of the less-known of this week’s new releases, yet features the superb star of the original The Girl With the Dragoon Tattoo film series and Ridley Scott’s eagerly-awaited Prometheus (2012) […]
★★★☆☆ A late addition to the Cannes 2011 programme after being smuggled into France inside a cake (strange but true), Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s This is Not a Film (2011) is by no means your average political documentary. The 75-minute […]