★★★☆☆ It seems there has long been a need for graciously uncool female protagonists in the teen coming-of-age canon, those who remind us of ourselves a little more than the 90s girls from the likes of Empire Records or The Craft that we wished we could be. More recently, Greta Continue Reading
★★★★☆ “Grown ups forget, they always do,” says Emily Blunt as practically perfect Mary Poppins at the beginning of Mary Poppins Returns. While Jane and Michael Banks (Emily Mortimer and Ben Whishaw), now adults facing the repossession of their childhood home in the midst of The Great Slump, may have Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Every excruciating intricacy of teenage girlhood is held up to the light in Bo Burnham’s outstanding debut film Eighth Grade. Following Kayla (Elsie Fisher), the film chronicles her journey through her last week of middle school and preparation for life as a high-schooler. When Cecilia Lisbon memorably remarks to her Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Samantha Morton stars as a mother sinking deeper into a harrowing depression and struggling to care for her two kids in Two for Joy, Tom Beard’s feature debut. Aisha’s (Morton) daughter, Violet (Emilia Jones), just wants to revise for her GCSEs but devotes most of her time to being her Continue Reading
★★★★☆ Documentary filmmaker Jennifer Fox unravels her own history of sexual abuse in The Tale, a sharp and harrowing account of stories and lies hidden away at the expense of innocence. The truth of the story as far as Jennifer Fox (Laura Dern) knows, The Tale centres around the discovery Continue Reading
★★★★☆ A young skateboarder discovers her tribe and falls into the intricacies of young adult friendship in Skate Kitchen, the first narrative film from filmmaker Crystal Moselle, known for her documentary work The Wolfpack. Moselle’s film captures a unique insight into an unexplored subculture, focusing on a group of passionate Continue Reading
★★★☆☆ Fresh faces Maia Mitchell and Cami Morrone star in the debut feature film from Texan director Augustine Frizzell, the chaotic, stoner-girl trip Never Goin’ Back – playing this weekend at Sundance London. High-school dropouts Jessie (Morrone) and Angela (Mitchell) are inseparable. Nothing matters more to them than each other Continue Reading
★★★★★ Australian actress Toni Collette is outstanding in the deeply unsettling and frankly terrifying Hereditary, the latest feature on A24’s roster (released through Entertainment Film here in the UK on 15 June) and the latest classic of the horror genre. Hereditary opens with the funeral of Annie’s (Collette) mother and Continue Reading