★★★☆☆ A metaphysical parable for the discontent felt by those under the ominous cloud of both social unrest and the crumbling European economy, Alexei Balahanov’s Me Too (Ya Tozhe Khochu, 2012) is a surprisingly droll take on Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979), examining our inherent longing for happiness behind the mundane Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ With lines as awkward as “Your milk was so laced with gin I could barely drink it”, the tone is quickly set for Mother’s Milk (2012), Gerry Fox’s adaptation of Edward St. Aubyn’s novel, a dynastic drama spiked with an overabundance of Freudian froth. The Melroses, once a distinguished, Continue Reading
★★★★☆ An auteur of special effects, Ray Harryhausen’s fantastical monsters are the stuff of movie legend. Now the subject of filmmaker Gilles Penso’s latest documentary, Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan (2011) pays homage to the 92-year-old, who has influenced some of today’s greatest living mainstream directors, including Steven Spielberg, Guillermo Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Cast out onto the festival scrapheap following its divisive 2010 Cannes debut, Cristi Puiu’s three-hour Romanian drama Aurora (2010) makes its way to UK cinemas this week thanks New Wave Films. Its mammoth runtime will likely put off many, but those prepared for a slow-paced study on the drama Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Greek oddity Alps (Alpeis, 2011) is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to innovative director Yorgos Lanthimos’ critically acclaimed and Academy Award-nominated Dogtooth (2009). Much like his previous outing, the less you know about Alps’ surreal tale the more effective it is, demanding you become immersed into Lanthimos’ peculiar world through a Continue Reading