★★★★☆ If you found out you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do? Cinema has often looked to stories of the dead as a way of making sense of the living, but rarely do we ever choose to confront our own mortality head-on. Not Thai director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, Continue Reading
Hosted by Joanna Lumley, tonight’s Baftas ceremony saw – as predicted – a reasonably even spread of winners. Best Film went to Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, while The Shape of Water helmer Guillermo del Toro received the award for Best Director. Best Actress went to Frances McDormand (Three Continue Reading
★★★★☆ While it can be frustrating to see female characters defined by their reproductive capabilities and adherence to societal norms, some of cinema’s most complex and memorable women have been mothers. That’s certainly the case in Laura Bispuri’s Daughter of Mine, a deeply felt study of motherhood focused on a Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ A film about faith in all its various forms, Cédric Kahn’s The Prayer is a sobering drama about the fragility of the human spirit, interwoven with a dollop of biblical abstinence. Thomas (Anthony Bajon) is a junkie. That’s about as much as we know about him when he arrives Continue Reading
With the UK’s most prestigious film and television awards taking place later today (18 February), it’s time to enter into a round of foolproof – or is that foolhardy? – predictions on who will win at the 71st British Academy Film Awards. To add an extra level of frisson, the Continue Reading
★★☆☆☆ In Phoenix, Christian Petzold’s haunting tribute to Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, the German director offered a fresh twist on the mistaken identity sub-genre and explored how war changes personal and national identities. In his Berlinale-premiering follow-up, Transit, identity is once again key. Based on Anna Seghers’ eponymous novel – an Continue Reading