★★★★☆ Set in the hazardous district of Al-Sadr in downtown Baghdad, Atia and Mohamed Al Daradji’s heart-wrenching 2011 documentary In My Mother’s Arms follows the story of unlikely hero Husham Al Thabe, who works tirelessly to improve the lives of thirty Iraqi orphans. Shot with a modest handheld camera, the Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ British features centred around the older generation are becoming more and more commonplace of late, with the latest filmmaker to focus their attentions upon senior citizens being Paul Andrew Williams. Looking at Williams’ work to date – which illustrates the director’s affinity for the crime and horror genres – Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Arriving swiftly after the release of The Tree of Life (2011), Terence Malick’s latest waltz of love and sorrow To the Wonder (2012) marks a prolific creative period in this notoriously introverted director’s career. However, whilst the divisive nature of The Tree of Life’s existential approach won as many Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ The Wachowskis have kept things relatively quiet over the last few years, with Speed Racer (2008) their only directorial outing since The Matrix Revolutions (2003). This hiatus has been spent developing Cloud Atlas (2012); since 2008, they’ve muscled their way through funding landmines and huge casting calls and the Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Opening with the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, Cate Shortland’s brave and expertly handled second feature, Lore (2012), traverses difficult territory with grace and eloquence. As the Allies march on Berlin, Lore (Saskia Rosendahal), a blue-eyed, blond-haired prodigy of the Hitler Youth, is left with the task of Continue Reading
