★☆☆☆☆ Regurgitating elements of both the horror and western genres into a hideous example of grindhouse gone wrong, Brazilian director Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro’s Beyond the Grave (2010) is an abysmal post-apocalyptic revenge thriller. In a desolate dystopia ravaged by some unspecified disaster, a merciless former-police officer (Rafael Tombini) is Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Clocking in at a whopping 245 minutes, Mariano Llinás’ Extraordinary Stories (Historias extraordinarias, 2008) is a film that not only demands your attention, but kindly requests a whole afternoon of your time. A compendium of far-fetched, yet compelling tales, this audacious experiment into the art of storytelling is a Continue Reading
★★★★☆ A celebration of cinema’s escapist qualities, Daisuke Shimote’s mischievous comedy Kuro (2012) received it UK premiere at this year’s East End Film Festival after a positive reception at the Tokyo Film Festival. The film’s titular protagonist (Daisuke Iijima) dreams of being a baker, yet her reluctance to work as Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Jazmín López’s Leones (2012) is just one of several challenging and inventive Argentinian films to play at this year’s East End Film Festival. Consisting of less than twenty takes spread across a relatively short 82-minutes, López’s study of time and spirituality transcends conventional narrative filmmaking to good, if not Continue Reading
