Ben Nicholson
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DVD Review: Mysterious Object at Noon
★★★★☆ The construction of a narrative may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one considers the beguiling cinema of Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Indeed, such matters seem irrelevant and even a little uncouth when contemplating his particular form of poetic transcendence – but when ‘Joe’ started out, the construction of narrative…
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Criterion Review: The Tragedy of Macbeth
★★★★★ In one of the special supplements on the Criterion Collection’s release of Roman Polanski’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, the director describes the joy of adapting The Bard. “It’s a little bit like jazz,” he says, “where you have a theme and you can improvise upon this theme.” This perfectly encapsulates his exceptional interpretation of…
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Criterion Review: Speedy
★★★★☆ Watching Ted Wilde’s silent comedy Speedy is like reading a palimpsest coloured by layer upon layer of nostalgia. In the first instance, there is the veritable nostalgia of watching any and all silent cinema. Speedy is the standard-bearer for pre-talkies in the first wave of UK releases by the prestigious Criterion and proves a…
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Film Review: The Brand New Testament
★★★☆☆ Madcap invention is nothing new to Belgian Jaco Van Dormael, who takes on the Almighty himself in his new high-concept comedy The Brand New Testament. Concept is certainly king in this instance, giving the filmmaker with a corking elevator pitch that is mined for genuine amusement but never quite manifests as something with the…
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Kinoteka 2016: Provincial Actors review
★★★★☆ “What does a play about actors and the theatre mean?” These may be indignant words taken from the mouth of the frustrated Krzysztof (Tadeusz Huk) but it’s a question pertinent to the film it appears in, Agnieszka Holland’s first major feature, Provincial Actors. The director has oft been quoted as stating that this was…
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Kinoteka 2016: Deep End review
★★★★☆ It proves hard to define the tone of Jerzy Skolimowski’s Deep End, which flopped upon its initial release in 1970 only to undergo significant re-evaluation years later. Ostensibly a saucy, knockabout swimming pool romp, it develops into a surreal dive into the waters of destructive sexuality. Skolimowski was working in the UK after falling…
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Interview: Jeff Nichols
Jeff Nichols has built the beginnings of a potentially fantastic career over the past decade blending genre elements with deep-rooted character work and subtle social commentary. When CineVue sat down with him to discuss his new science fiction thriller, Midnight Special, it seemed natural to ask whether his films begin with notions of character, message…
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Film Review: Midnight Special
★★★★☆ “Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me.” So go the lyrics of the folk song from which Jeff Nichols took the title of his fourth feature, Midnight Special. The refrain is fitting, as Nichols’ film is one about devotion. It’s also a pulsating science fiction thriller that’s ultimately about an awful lot…
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DVD Review: Three Brothers
★★★★☆ The Years of Lead was a period ranging from the late 1960s to the early 80s in which Italy existed in a state of civil unrest and suffered a surge in terrorism from both left and right-wing groups. This social turmoil provided fertile ground for filmmakers such as Francesco Rosi, who were willing to…
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DVD Review: Culloden, The War Game
★★★★★ Peter Watkins didn’t enjoy an especially long career at the BBC. The furore surrounding his second documentary saw him not only resign, but flee the UK into self-imposed exile. The project that sparked the controversy was 1965’s The War Game, a harrowing imagining of a potential Soviet nuclear attack on Kent. The UK government…
