Film reviews and more
★★★☆☆ The critical success last year of Miguel Gomes’ Tabu (2012) and fresh appreciation for the works of Pedro Costa and Raoul Ruiz has seen Portuguese cinema quietly re-introducing itself on the festival circuit. Continuing this trend, João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata’s The Last Time I Saw Macao (2012) […]
★★★★☆ An exotic thriller ensnared within a Lynchian nightmare of confused identities, Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy’s follow-up to Helen (2008), Mister John (2013), is a physically and emotionally draining tale of grief, rejection and the yearning to reinvent oneself. When Gerry Devine (Aidan Gillen) hears of the tragic news of his brother’s […]
★★☆☆☆ Screening in Europe for the first time at this year’s Edinburgh Film Festival, Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s What Maisie Knew (2012) is a twee tale of divorce told through the eyes of a seven-year-old child. Maisie (Onata Aprile) is the precocious yet lovable daughter of faded rocker Susanna (Julianne Moore) and […]
★★★☆☆ Chronicling the daily rigmarole within a German crematorium, Thomas Heise’s Consequence (Gegenwart, 2012) is a muted observation of a process many of us know very little about. Considerate, yet in no way eulogising of the dead, Heise’s clinical documentary often manages to evoke a rather confusing sense of joie de vivre. The […]
★★★★★ An often overwhelming oceanic opus, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel’s Leviathan (2012) is a sublimely sensory experience like no other. One of the most unique, demanding and hypnotic films to feature at this year’s Edinburgh Film Festival, this exceptional maritime mood-piece (documentary is too small a box by far) serves as an […]
★★★☆☆ The Bulgarian capital of Sofia has an estimated population of just over two million – yet has only thirteen operational ambulances. At a time when the value of our own healthcare system is being constantly debated, and NHS watchdogs such as the Quality Care Commission are finding themselves under constant press and […]
★★★★☆ Stephen Hawking’s first wife, Jane, once explained that as the years passed and her husband made new discoveries, their relationship evolved two faces. The public image was that of Stephen travelling around from lecture to lecture, picking up science awards and honours all over the place. But internally, their home life was […]
★★★★☆ From director James Wan (Saw, Insidious) comes The Conjuring (2013), a 1970s-inflected haunted house movie that throws every trick in the book at it audience – with surprisingly successful results. Wan’s latest is chock-full of kitsch class and effective scares that, whilst never attempting to reinvent the wheel, offers up one of […]
★★★☆☆ After focusing predominantly on short film projects, director PJ Raval returns with only his second feature, Before You Know It (2013), a thoughtful documentary on growing old in the gay community. The film hooks between three elderly men in the US – Dennis from Florida, Ty from New York and Robert from […]
★★★★☆ Like the revered work of the artist himself, Renoir (2012) – director Giles Bourdos’ biopic of the French impressionist, starring Michel Bouquet, Vincent Rottiers and Christa Théret – paints an idyllic picture of a life played out in bohemian decadence, tainted with rhapsodic and turbulent undercurrents. The arrival of the beautiful Andrée […]
★★☆☆☆ Banned from Sydney’s Mardi Gras Film Festival due to its graphic real sex and ardently defended by friend-of-director James Franco, Travis Mathews’ I Want Your Love (2012) has traversed a treacherous path on its way into UK cinemas. A classic ‘point-in-time’ tale of middle-class frustration, Mathews’ debut is an intriguing – if […]
★★★★☆ Winner of the Crystal Bear at the 2012 Berlinale and Best Screenplay at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Reis Çelik’s Night of Silence (Lal gece, 2012) is yet another fine example of the incredible works emanating from burgeoning Turkish film industry. In UK cinemas this week, Çelik’s minimalist drama is a fascinating […]
★★★★☆ “When you’re in the middle of a story, it isn’t a story at all”. This is the line that introduces Canadian Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell (2012), a deeply personal yet shrewdly alluring examination of the art of storytelling. Thrusting her own family under the microscopic glare of her inquisitive camera, Polley’s […]
★★★☆☆ Examining the powerful bond shared between a father and daughter, Fredrik Edfeldt’s Sanctuary (Faro, 2013) is a nostalgic, innocent and handsomely presented drama that sadly, in its attempts to transcend its simple tale, dilutes the powerful emotional undercurrent that initially whisks you away. We open upon the rural Swedish home of Pappan […]
★★★☆☆ The gravitational pull of cults served as the premise for director Zal Batmanglij’s previous collaboration with writer/actress Brit Marling, 2011’s Sound of My Voice. The pair still appear to be seduced by the subject matter, but whilst The East (2013) may appear to be a more lustrous and self-assured creation, this ambitious […]
★★★☆☆ This (remarkably) is the way the world ends – not with a cataclysmic blast, but with an especially juvenile dick joke from a self-parodying James Franco. If this is your idea of a great night out, then This Is the End (2013) could just be the LOLpocalypse you’ve been waiting for. Evan […]
★★★☆☆ Despicable Me (2010) was the first offering from Universal Pictures off-shoot Illumination Entertainment, and it’s financial success proved that Pixar and Dreamworks can be beaten at their own game. Unfortunately, their bunny-based follow-up Hop (2011) was riddled with myxomatosis, whilst the environmentally-conscious The Lorax (2012) was an ecological disaster as far as […]
★★★★★ American filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer’s Berlinale hit The Act of Killing (2012) – in cinemas this week from Dogwoof – challenges the very limitations of what a documentary can be. A disturbingly comfortable voyage into the mindset of evil and the psychology of a murderer(s), Oppenheimer’s film is like nothing you’ll have ever […]