DVD Review: ‘Sebastian Bergman – Series 1’
★★★★☆ ‘Nordic Noir’, the hugely popular brand of Scandinavian crime fiction, has held a cultural grip on our nation since the sweeping success of...
★★☆☆☆ “An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king,” Percy Shelley once wrote in his sonnet England in 1819. He was firing his barbs at King George III but the words could just as well be used for any number of English monarchs including Henry VIII.
★★★★★ Turkish master director Nuri Bilge Ceylan returns to the Cannes Croisette with About Dry Grasses, a wonderful wintry meditation on male fragility and the way we often make our own hells and then deceive ourselves that we’re trapped.
★★★★☆ From sub-Saharan Africa to Afghanistan, Syria to Iraq and Iran, the climate crisis, drought, war, and oppression has created a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. It is treated as an ethical conundrum, but it isn’t. Either we wish to save those who are in danger of dying, or all our talk of human rights is just so much hot air. This is the core concern of Green Border.
★★★★☆ With Luca Guadagnino’s terrific Challengers, the acclaimed director of Call Me By Your Name brings us the sub-genre we never knew we needed: the erotic tennis thriller.
★★☆☆☆ Directors Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett’s “Abigail” mashes up crime caper and monster movie, but fails to deliver fear or humor. Spoilery trailers and unoriginal characters overshadow promising elements, resulting in a dull, lifeless experience lacking creativity and wit.
★★☆☆☆ Maïwenn’s French period drama Jeanne du Barry is the perfect opening salvo for the 76th Cannes Film Festival. It is as glitzy and gaudy as the festival itself, with its vacuous politics drowned out by the thunderous sound of it slapping its own back.
★★★★☆ ‘Nordic Noir’, the hugely popular brand of Scandinavian crime fiction, has held a cultural grip on our nation since the sweeping success of...
★★★☆☆ Girimunho’s (Swirl, 2011) directing duo of Clarissa Campolina and Helvécio Marins Jr.’s anthropological examination of rural Brazilian culture combines the naturally evolving storytelling...
★★★☆☆ Home for the Weekend (Was Bleibt, 2012) is an astute and compassionate domestic drama which oozes with the sort of effortless naturalism filmmakers...
★★☆☆☆ James Marsh returns to fiction after a successful foray into documentary filmmaking with Shadow Dancer (2012), a harrowing thriller focusing on the troubles...
★★★☆☆ David Zellner’s Kid-Thing (2012) is a feverish tale of a destructive young girl who operates freely beyond all moral boundaries. An offbeat comedy,...
★★★★☆ Sleepless Night (Jam-mot deun-eun bam, 2012) is the eagerly-anticipated sophomore feature from South Korean director Jang Kun-Jae, a heart-warming study of how love...
★★★★☆ Nathan Silver’s Exit Elena (2012) is a beautifully observed, micro budget drama about a newly qualified live-in-nurse and her turbulent experience working for...
★★★☆☆ Former music video and television director Ido Fluk premiers his debut feature film, Never Too Late (2012), to UK audiences at this year’s...