Ben Nicholson
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DocHouse Presents: Beatrice Mtetwa and the Rule of Law review
★★★☆☆ Lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa is the only African recipient, other than Nelson Mandela, of the prestigious Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize. For over two decades she has tirelessly battled injustice in Zimbabwe, with particular emphasis on representing those brutalised and tortured after opposing the president, Robert Mugabe. Lorie Conway’s Beatrice Mtetwa and the Rule…
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Film Review: ‘Summer in February’
★★☆☆☆ Hoping, no doubt, to capitalise on the recent international success of ITV’s Downton Abbey and other successful historical dramas on the big screen comes Christopher Menaul’s Summer in February (2013). Adapted by Jonathan Smith from his own novel, this is a fictionalised account of a period of high emotions and scandal in the bohemian…
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DVD Review: ‘Chasing Ice’
★★★★☆ James Balog is a photographer whose work has always revolved around the relationship between humanity and nature. After working on imagery that explored humanity’s interaction with endangered animals, he went in search of providing a visual interpretation of the challenges facing the world with regards to climate change. This he did be finding a…
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Film Review: ‘Piercing Brightness’
★★☆☆☆ Like a distorted transmission from a distant planet, Shezad Dawood’s debut feature, Piercing Brightness (2013) lands in selected UK cinemas this week. Dawood is a renowned visual artist who has recently toured a major exhibition of the same name featuring film, painting and light sculpture. This cinematic iteration bares many of the hallmarks of…
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Film Review: ‘Come As You Are’
★★★☆☆ The prospect of a trio of twentysomething virgins embarking on a sexual odyssey of a road-trip is not likely to seem unfamiliar to most cinema audiences. In Geoffrey Enthoven’s Belgian comedy Come As You Are (Hasta la Vista, 2011) this potentially tired convention is given a cute twist in that each of the young…
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Blu-ray Review: ‘The Long Riders’
★★★☆☆ American filmmaker, Walter Hill, has oft cited the western as a basis for all of his movies and it is easy to see both thematic and literal tips of the Stetson throughout his career. With a lawman and a crook teaming up to dole out bullet-laden revenge earlier this year, in Sly Stallone vehicle…
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DocHouse Presents: Winter Nomads review
★★★☆☆ Like Vincent van Gogh’s 1884 practically-titled painting, Manuel von Stürler’s debut documentary Winter Nomads (Hiver nomade, 2012) is a portrait of a ‘Shepherd with a Flock of Sheep’. The subjects of the filmmaker’s pastoral, however, are not situated in the 19th century or confined to the pages of a history book, but a living,…
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Film Review: ‘The Comedian’
★★☆☆☆ Part of the way through British filmmaker Tom Shkolnik’s debut feature, the eponymous character – aspiring stand-up comic Ed (Edward Hogg) – performs a routine about gardening which has his audience fidgeting as nervous laughter ripples through the venue. Whilst The Comedian (2012) is not actually a comedy per se, it’s hard not to…
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DVD Review: ‘First Position’
★★☆☆☆ Those that have suffered the proliferation of nationally-broadcast talent shows – an offshoot of the ongoing reality TV craze – will be wearily familiar with the proposition put forth by documentary First Position (2011). The directorial debut of Bess Kargman, the film looks to go behind the scenes of the world’s most prestigious ballet…
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DVD Review: ‘The Last Stand’
★★☆☆☆ Over the past few years, a trend has emerged that’s seen action stars of yesteryear tooling up once more to riddle bad guys with bullet holes and quip to their heart’s content. Spearheaded by The Expendables (2010), this new sub-genre isn’t interested in papering over the multiplying creases in the foreheads of its leading…