★★★☆☆ British director Ben Wheatley has a bold habit of experimentation, having previously married kitchen sink drama to comic crime thriller in 2009’s Down Terrace, social realism to occult horror in 2011’s Kill List, and British camping comedy to serial killing in Sightseers (2012). His new film, A Field in Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Championed by the likes of Talking Head David Byrne, Beck and eccentric Welsh songsmith Gruff Rhys, the popularity of this influential wave of Brazilian music has been gaining momentum for a number of years. Interest has now been deemed sufficient enough to warrant the UK theatrical release of Marcelo Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise: Faith (Paradise: Glaube, 2012), the second chapter in the Austrian’s Paradise trilogy, begins with a semi-naked hausfrau flagellating herself in front of an effigy of Christ – and just gets stranger. Powerful in parts, yet raw and uncomfortable for long stretches, Faith suffers from many of Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ A great way to keep costs low, the single location setup has long been a keen ally of the no-budget filmmaker. The key, however, is to find a credible reason for people not to leave. It’s a theatrical device safe in the hands of Tobias Tobell, as at home Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Rereleased to tie in with a two-month retrospective at BFI Southbank, it’s been almost forty years since Werner Herzog’s The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) debuted on screens. Although a little obtuse and raggedy at times, this beguiling and fable-like yarn sits within his finest work. Loosely based on Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ ‘When boundless love meets sectarian boundaries’ is by no means the most enticing underpinning narrative; nor does it sound particularly controversial. However, Michael Mayer’s feature debut, Out in the Dark (2012), proves that even the most overplayed melodies of love and war can sing with innovation. Juggling a myriad Continue Reading