Director Todd Solondz has always been know for controversial themes in his films such as Life During Wartime (2009), Palindromes (2004) and Storytelling (2001), but in his latest film Dark Horse (2011), starring Jordan Gelber and Selma Blair, he has taken a more heart […]
American director William Friedkin has made a triumphant return with his latest feature Killer Joe (2011), starring Matthew Mcconaughey, Emile Hirsch and Juno Temple. Surrounding a group of morally warped characters, Killer Joe is the story of Joe Cooper, a corrupt cop who moonlights as a […]
★★★★☆ A sterling British cast, including Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith and Tom Wilkinson, ensure that John Madden’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) has the feel-good factor without the cloying sentimentality of some romantic comedies. Based on Deborah Moggach’s novel These Foolish […]
★★★★☆ Directed by former Los Angeles Reader film critic Dan Sallitt, The Unspeakable Act (2012) takes one of the few remaining social taboos in the western world and presents it in an earnest and incredibly charming way. Dealing with the controversial theme of incest […]
★★★★★ Made by Spanish-born director Luis Buñuel in 1972, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is a deliciously surreal comedy rereleased by StudioCanal and the ICA for the film’s 40th Anniversary. The plot is an inversion of Buñuel’s earlier work The Exterminating Angel (1962) […]
★★★★☆ Beautifully shot in both CinemaScope and 16mm, Glastonbury the Movie (in Flashback) (2012) puts audiences right in the middle of the world’s greatest music festival. Robin Mahoney, the film’s director, has recreated the original 1995 film from scratch, moving sequences around, improving the […]
★★★☆☆ Flawed, modern day fairytale The Fairy (La fée, 2011) is the third film from comic-collaborators Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy. Dom works in a small hotel just outside of Le Havre. One night a barefoot, luggage-less woman named Fiona walks in claiming to be […]
★★★★☆ Oskar Alegria’s The Search for Emak Bakia (Emak Bakia Baita, 2012) plays out as an impassioned pilgrimage to find the filming location of Man Ray’s experimental 1926 film Emak Bakia (which literally translates as “Leave me alone!” – a message Alegria is reluctant […]
★★★☆☆ Boris Rodriguez’s Canadian/Danish collaboration Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal (2012) is the epitome of everything a midnight movie should be – entertaining, gory and a hell of a lot of fun. Struggling to find his inspiration, formerly-famous Danish painter Lars (Thure Lindhardt) takes a […]
★★★☆☆ Bringing together a wealth of American filmmakers including Ti West and Joe Swanberg, V/H/S (2012) is an experimental horror anthology that looks to have the last word on the topic of ‘found footage’. The cinematic collage follows a group of detestable young men […]
★★☆☆☆ Luis Prieto’s Pusher (2012) is a vigorous British remake of Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn’s 1996 breakthrough hit of the same name. Starring Richard Coyle (his second appearance at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival – the other being the warmly-received Irish horror […]
★★★☆☆ From one half of the team that brought us The Blair Witch Project (1999) comes Eduardo Sanchez’s Lovely Molly (2011) – a severely unnerving yet utterly absurd horror which whilst an incoherent mess, is an undeniably harrowing piece of extreme cinema.When Molly (Gretchen […]
★☆☆☆☆ Jennifer Westfeldt’s directorial debut Friends with Kids (2011) is the kind of messy, callous and nepotistic American ensemble comedy that can only be made by an overly pretentious, well-connected filmmaker. The great tragedy is that although Friends with Kids has made a relatively […]
★★☆☆☆ Written and directed by Todd Solondz, the misanthropic master of cult classics Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) and Happiness (1998), Dark Horse (2011) sees a return to the seemingly familiar territory of unhappy characters and the unpleasant situations they find themselves in. The […]
★★★★☆ Marius Holst’s King of Devil’s Island (2010) is a fine example of how even the ugliest and well concealed events of history can be the basis for something profoundly beautiful. Based on real life accounts from Bastoy, an isolated and inaccessible Norwegian reform […]
★★★☆☆ What do Attack the Block (2011), Die Hard (1988) and Alien (1979) all have in common? They all know how to use their locations. They’re also not set in a storage facility – unlike Johannes Roberts’ Storage 24 (2012). The low-budget British sci-fi […]
★★★☆☆ Every now and then, a film comes along where you want to marry all of the main characters. Your Sister’s Sister (2011) is one of those films. Lynn Shelton’s small-scale story sees Jack (Mark Duplass) trying to get his head straight after his […]
★★★★☆ It’s been six whole years since US master director William Friedkin (best known for 1973’s The Exorcist) last brought his talents to the big screen, but he’s now returned with his exposé of hick life Killer Joe (2011), starring Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch and Juno Temple. In […]
