★★★☆☆ Life in occupied Palestine is always going provide an emotive base for a documentary, and this is certainly the case in Tone Andersen’s When the Boys Return (2012). Taking as its focus a group of teenagers that are repeatedly imprisoned by Israeli forces for crimes such as ‘throwing stones’, the Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ Everyone understands that a Baz Luhrmann film – from the imagination that brought us Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge and Australia – means bucket-loads of excess, indulgence and, formerly, fun. The collective breath was duly drawn when his plans to tackle F. Scott Fitzgerald’s tight novel of disappointment Continue Reading
In competition at the 66th Cannes Film Festival, French director Arnaud des Pallières’ Michael Kohlhaas is a 16th century revenge drama featuring a strong European cast including the likes of Bruno Ganz (Downfall) and Denis Lavant – star of Leos Carax’s refreshingly bonkers 2012 Palme d’Or contender Holy Motors. However, Continue Reading
Having previously tackled the seductive world of competitive dance in Strictly Ballroom (1992), updated Bill Shakespeare’s most famous love story in Romeo + Juliet (1996), illuminated turn-of-the-century Paris for Moulin Rouge! (2001) and readdressed the legacy of white colonialism Down Under with Australia (2008), Aussie director Baz Luhrmann now turns Continue Reading
There’s not an awful lot that gets the tongues of indie film fans a-wagging more than the approach of a new Coen brothers movie. After a string of four films in as many years, they’ve had a little break their last directorial effort True Grit (2010), but they’re back this Continue Reading
As the age-old saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Frenetic director Nicolas Winding Refn has clearly taken this mantra to heart for new film Only God Forgives (2013), which sees the Dane reunited with hot property Ryan Gosling following the success of his ultra-stylish 2011 crime thriller Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Mario Bava’s playful portmanteau piece Black Sabbath (1963) is reissued by Arrow Video this week in a comprehensive two-disc set. Featuring three horrific tales of varying effectiveness, each introduced by the legendary Boris Karloff in tongue-in-cheek vignettes, the film owes a great deal to Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It also Continue Reading
Hal Hartley is one of the true originals of modern cinema. A consummate stylist, his work is erudite and eccentric, defiant in its singularity. After making first film The Unbelievable Truth (1989) for just $75,000, Hartley went on to quietly change the face of independent American cinema with his deadpan Continue Reading
★★★★☆ The first in Artificial Eye’s long-awaited batch of Hal Hartley reissues, Amateur (1994) represents a mid-career high point for the indie legend. As ever, it’s the work of a singular auteur, treading the fine line between self-reflexive exuberance and rarefied stylisation. By ingratiating broad genre elements into the self-contained Continue Reading
Side by Side (2012), the excellent documentary from Christopher Kenneally, arrives at a crucial time for the ever-evolving medium of cinema. Featuring stellar interviews with some of the most important directors working today, including Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Steven Soderbergh, Danny Boyle and Chris Nolan, the film charts the history Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Christopher Kenneally’s Side by Side (2012) is a timely and level-headed look at the challenge the digital process presents to century-old photochemical filmmaking. Coming at a crucial turning point for cinema and featuring interviews with some of cinema’s most important contemporary directors, Side by Side functions as an essential state-of-the-nation Continue Reading