Ben Nicholson
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London 2015: ‘Right Now, Wrong Then’ review
★★★☆☆ When the title-card for South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo’s latest charming confection pops up with ‘Right Then, Wrong Now’ it’s not a mistake, or a symptom of the viewer going mad, but an earlier indicator as to the narrative playfulness of Right Now, Wrong Then (2015). Employing a structural gimmick to far more interesting…
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Film Review: Mad Max: Fury Road
★★★★☆ Chaos reigns in George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), his long-awaited return to the world of his post-apocalyptic Ozplotiation franchise after a thirty-year absence. The budget and the actors may have changed, but this is clearly the evolution of the filmmaker’s crazed vision, arguably reaching the petrol-soaked Valhalla that he’s been striving for…
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Film Review: ‘The Martian’
★★★☆☆ Is there a current Hollywood star more effortlessly convincing as an scientist-cum-astronaut than Matt Damon? If Ridley Scott’s latest foray into the realms of science fiction, The Martian (2015), is to be considered as evidence, then the answer is ‘not likely’. Based on the novel by Andy Wier, here Damon excels as botanist Mark…
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DVD Review: ‘P’tit Quinquin’
★★★★☆ French filmmaker Bruno Dumont is a director strongly associated with serious, spiritual, and metaphysical European arthouse. What a surprise it was, then, when his latest project was announced as not only being a first foray into the world of long-form television, but a comedy to boot. The result is the four part mini-series, P’tit…
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Film Review: ‘Orion’
★★★★☆ No number of truisms about the strange relationship between truth and fiction can quite sum up the uncanny reality and fateful tragedy of Orion: The Man Who Would Be King (2015). Jeanie Finlay’s best-known film to date, The Great Hip-Hop Hoax (2013), was an unbelievable tale of a music industry swindle and she’s dipped…
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Toronto 2015: ‘Room’ review
★★★★☆ In his previous two features, Lenny Abrahamson has managed to coax sensational performances from Jack Reynor (What Richard Did) and, even beneath an enormous papier mâché head, Michael Fassbender (Frank). The director has done it again with Room (2015), an intimate, harrowing drama that features stellar performances from both Brie Larson and the young…
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Toronto 2015: ‘Our Brand Is Crisis’
★★☆☆☆ The inherent drama of political election campaigns have long proved effective oil for the cinematic narrative machine – both inside and outside the Hollywood dream factory. Whilst the cogs are whirring at full steam for David Gordon Green’s latest venture, Our Brand Is Crisis (2015) turns out to be a disappointingly middling affair. Whilst…
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Toronto 2015: ‘The Idol’ review
★★★★☆ “People are dying, you’re singing,” come the words of recrimination as four kids with homemade instruments are drenched in water from a window. Of course, they’re words laced with dramatic irony when deployed at the beginning of a well known a true story as is presented in Hany Abu-Assad’s The Idol (2015). It follows…
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Toronto 2015: ‘Evolution’ review
★★★★☆ Returning to screens over ten years after her memorable debut Innocence, Lucile Hadžihalilovic’s new film is akin to a beguiling and deeply unsettling siren’s song. An alchemical concoction of timeless folklore and science fiction body horror, Evolution (2015) may vaguely resemble what might be the result were David Cronenberg tasked with injecting his cinematic…
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Toronto 2015: ‘The White Knights’ review
★★★★☆ In 2007, individuals associated with charity group Zoé’s Ark were charged with child abduction in Chad – their intention was to have the children placed into foster families in France. A fictionalised version of the scenario forms the basis for Our Children (2012) director Joachim Lafosse’s new film The White Knights (2015), an inquest…