April 2012
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Film Review: ‘Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey’
★★★☆☆ You’d be hard-pushed to find a more heart-warming documentary this year than Constance Marks’ Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey (2011), which charts the rise of devoted Elmo handler Kevin Clash from his humble beginnings in Baltimore to his tragically short working relationship and friendship with the late, great Jim Henson. What shines through is…
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Film Review: ‘The Monk’
★★★☆☆ Gothic literature and cinema has often failed to enjoy the same glowing relationship that they did during the silent era, with sinister source material too often used to create a camp horror sub-category that lacks the dark, foreboding atmosphere of such films as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and Vampyr (1932). Dominik Moll’s…
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Film Review: ‘Albert Nobbs’
★★☆☆☆ Despite picking up two Oscar nominations for leading star Glenn Close and British actress Janet McTeer, it’s taken until April for Rodrigio Garcia’s Albert Nobbs (2011) to finally get a cinematic release here in the UK. Adapted from – and shackled to – the 1980s off-Broadway play The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs, Garcia’s…
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Film Review: ‘Damsels in Distress’
★★★★☆ US indie darling Greta Gerwig stars alongside Adam Brody and Analeigh Tipton in Whit Stillman’s first film in 13 years, Damsels in Distress (2011) – an alternative take on the American frat movie that falls somewhere between a parody of middle-class contemporary social life and a high-brow Clueless (1995).Violet (Gerwig) is an incredibly pedantic,…
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Film Review: ‘Avengers Assemble’
★★★★☆ There has already been a great deal of praise for writer/director Joss Whedon’s handling of the epic Marvel mash-up Avengers Assemble (2012), and it’s easy to see why. Drawing together a group of impressive Marvel heroes – most of whom have had their own film(s) over the past five years – is no easy…
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DVD Review: ‘Il Boom’
★★★☆☆ Commedia all’italiana Il Boom (1963), directed by the prolific Vittorio De Sica – best known for his much-lauded work Bicycle Thieves (1948) – is a gentle comedy with some admirable qualities that oozes Italian charm. Giovanni (Alberto Sordi) is down on his luck financially, despite post-war Italy’s economic boom. A lifestyle beyond his means…
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DVD Review: ‘Shadows’ (The John Cassavetes Collection, BFI release)
★★★☆☆ In the late 1950s, when the French New Wave pioneers were playing with narrative structure and dabbling in existentialism across the Atlantic, a young American director called John Cassavetes was busy conducting his own cinematic experiments and sowing the seeds of the American independent film movement. The work of Goddard, Truffaut and the rest…
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DVD Review: ‘The Story of Film: An Odyssey’
★★★★☆ Director and critic Mark Cousins takes us on the definitive guided tour of cinema from its very beginning in the newly released The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011). This 15-hour expedition through time uncovers the early signs of changing eras within film, the emerging art form’s political impact and the highs and lows…
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DVD Review: ‘The Last Summer of La Boyita’
★★★★☆ Set in the Pampas of Argentina, Julia Solomonoff’s The Last Summer of La Boyita (2009) is a quirky rites of passage drama focusing upon two children on the cusp of adolescence. A precocious child and tomboy, Jorgelina (Guadalupe Alonso) adores her older sister and they play games and exchange confidences in La Boyita, their family’s…
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DVD Review: The Complete Humphrey Jennings Volume Two (BFI release)
★★★★★ The Complete Humphrey Jennings Volume Two is the second DVD /Blu-ray collection of the British documentary director’s work from the 1941-3 period, including two of his most iconic films, Words for Battle (1941) and Listen to Britain (1942). Jennings’ work cannot be overvalued for their historical significance and cinematic skill, and this collection provides…