Ben Nicholson
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DVD Review: ‘Black Sea’
★★★☆☆ The crushing weight of blue collar existence is as pivotal as that of the surrounding salty brine in Kevin MacDonald’s nautically inclined thriller, Black Sea (2014). It’s neither black nor blue that proves the insidious engine of this particular submarine voyage though; it’s gold, in the form of millions-worth of long lost bullion. Flying…
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Kinoteka 2015: ‘Illumination’ review
★★★★★ The post-war years begat a period of enormous creativity across European cinema and Krzysztof Zanussi’s Illumination (1973) stands out as a prime example of the incredible Polish craft of the time. It’s a profound and cerebral ride through the life of Franciszek Retman (Stanislaw Latallo) in his never-ending quest for enlightenment bulging with tremendous…
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Kinoteka 2015: ‘Foreign Body’ review
★★☆☆☆ Krzysztof Zanussi position as Poland’s moral cinematic conscience is presumably the one he was playing up to for his latest film, Foreign Body (2014). Best known for films that betray her fierce intellect – a la Camouflage (1977) or The Illumination (1973) – this is an entirely different kind of prospect. Imagine, if you…
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Kinoteka 2015: ‘The Constant Factor’ review
★★★★☆ If all of life is a beautiful equation, then madness is re-running it over and over with the expectation of a different outcome. This is the cycle that young idealist Witold (Tadeusz Bradecki) finds himself entrenched in during The Constant Factor (1980), Krzysztof Zanussi’s withering critique of corruption in Communist Poland. Unlike his other…
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Kinoteka 2015: ‘Camouflage’ review
★★★★☆ Krzysztof Zanussi is a filmmaker that has, for much of his career, been considered by many as the cinematic conscience of Poland. There is arguably no clearer demonstration of this than during a purple patch towards the end of the 1970s and into the following decade in which he turned an unflinching eye on…
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Kinoteka 2015: Read our preview
On Wednesday 8 April at 6pm, the BFI will host a screening of Krzysztof Zanussi’s dialectic satire Camouflage (1977) – followed by a Q&A with the great filmmaker – to launch this year’s Kinoteka Film Festival in London. For the event’s thirteenth year, it is expanding its horizons and offering a bumper selection of Polish…
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Film Review: ‘John Wick’
★★★★☆ John Wick (2015) is something of a throwback in more ways than one. Not only does its lean thriller narrative combine with stylish cool and almost balletic combat to echo the familiar influences of Eastern action cinema, but the eponymous Wick himself (Keanu Reeves) is a man coming out of retirement. Fortunately, the direction…
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Interview: Viggo Mortensen on new film ‘Jauja’
“I’ve been doing this for a year,” Viggo Mortensen chuckles when we ask him if he’s been talking to journalists all day. It’s an honest and easy response that typifies the candour and natural charm that the New York-born, Danish-American actor exudes whenever he’s speaking about his films with the press or anyone else. In…
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Film Review: ‘Force Majeure’
★★★★☆ The awkward skirmishes of a growing marital rift are the thrust of Ruben Östlund’s hilarious and deadpan Swedish satire Force Majeure (2014). Snow-laden peaks are often the setting for cinematic peril and disaster, but in Östlund’s latest – which understandably picked up the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival…
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Film Review: ‘I Used to Live Here’
★★★☆☆ There’s often an unfortunate tug-of-war going on beneath the surface of films made primarily with a social agenda in mind and by those who care deeply about the subject. Taking 2013’s No Fixed Abode as an example, its cause – highlighting issues surrounding homelessness – was an admirable one, but poor execution and fundamental…