★★☆☆☆ Kicking off an animated children’s film with a pair of terrified young slaves bound in chains being intimidated by a vicious mutt is unconventional to say the least. However, this is the departure point chosen by the directorial pairing of Rémi Bezançon and Jean-Christophe Lie whose new film, Zarafa Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ New Yorkers staring skywards from below the World Trade Center, struck by a sense of terror and confusion, evokes dark memories of the not too distant past. However, in The Walk (2015), the latest film from Robert Zemeckis, the onlookers’ bewildered emotions are mingled with admiration, awe and sheer Continue Reading
★★★★☆ As much as writers and film critics in particular like to pronounce upon storytelling and the experiences of others, some tales are so miraculous and awe-inspiring that any words will completely fail them. The expression ‘triumph over adversity’ is used altogether too frequently nowadays to describe all manner of Continue Reading
★★★★☆ The ongoing battle for equality of the sexes is an issue that is constantly debated in the media – and rightly so. The sense that there’s still a great deal of work to be done in society is the message at the heart of Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette (2015), which Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ The 1980s might have seen a thawing of Cold War tensions between the US and the USSR but in sport, when East played West the whole world was watching. Sporting events between the two nations were seen as surrogates of the war, and although the Soviet dream was fading, Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ Sleep paralysis – a condition whereby sufferers wake in the night to find themselves helplessly paralysed, overwhelmed with an impression of a nearby malign force – is both a terrifying experience for its victims, and a recurring concept in art, literature and culture. It’s a shame then that Rodney Continue Reading
★☆☆☆☆ The play within a film that South African director Henk Pretorius builds Leading Lady (2014) towards shows the minutest promise during a laborious rehearsal process. Unfortunately, it is revealed to be a predictably laughable am-dram production in a barn which has the audience of a dozen locals – all Continue Reading
