Film reviews and more
★★★☆☆ Like Vincent van Gogh’s 1884 practically-titled painting, Manuel von Stürler’s debut documentary Winter Nomads (Hiver nomade, 2012) is a portrait of a ‘Shepherd with a Flock of Sheep’. The subjects of the filmmaker’s pastoral, however, are not situated in […]
★★☆☆☆ Given the eclectic and well-respected actors that make up The Big Wedding’s (2013) ensemble cast, you’d be forgiven for thinking this could one be a blast; a more adult take on the family wedding sub-genre and, with such calibre […]
★★☆☆☆ Part of the way through British filmmaker Tom Shkolnik’s debut feature, the eponymous character – aspiring stand-up comic Ed (Edward Hogg) – performs a routine about gardening which has his audience fidgeting as nervous laughter ripples through the venue. […]
★★★★☆ However disposable our current trends are, there’s still a desperate need to classify what digital culture means to us. Trolling, outrage on social media, hacktivism – is it just iconoclasm writ large across the web? Some argue that these […]
★★★★★ Opening Night – John Cassavetes’ 1977 masterpiece in a canon already full of them – betrays an understanding that self-destruction does not have the convenience of narrative. It’s a wholesale embracing of chaos that defies reason and stricture; the […]
★★★★★ As General Franco lay dying during the summer of 1975, Carlos Saura was mirroring Spain’s monumental era of transition through the story of a young girl struggling with issues of mortality. Saura’s Cria Cuervos (Raise Ravens, 1976) is a […]
★★★★☆ The Unbelievable Truth (1989) is one of those débuts which arrived fully formed, with its own distinctive voice. Hal Hartley had recently graduated from the revered SUNY at Purchase where he had already developed his unique style through several […]
★★☆☆☆ Those that have suffered the proliferation of nationally-broadcast talent shows – an offshoot of the ongoing reality TV craze – will be wearily familiar with the proposition put forth by documentary First Position (2011). The directorial debut of Bess […]
★★★☆☆ A follow-up to the acclaimed The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005), Cristi Puiu’s Aurora (2010) took three years from its premiere in Cannes to reach UK shores. With a runtime of over three hours and a characteristically languid approach, […]
★★★★☆ Cate Shortland’s quietly powerful sophomore film, Lore (2012), is set in Germany during the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. This German-Australian co-production, based on the middle section of Rachel Seiffert’s 2001 novel The Dark Room, is told […]
★★★★☆ Anyone even vaguely familiar with Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda will know of his astute ability to excavate the emotions at the core of family life. His tenth feature, I Wish (Kiseki, 2011), feels a lot like a follow-up to […]
★★☆☆☆ Picking up where Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) left off, John Luessenhop revs up Texas Chainsaw (2013) with some fresh young flesh and, for the loyalists, special guest appearances from four beloved cast members from previous instalments […]