Christopher Machell
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Film Review: Peterloo
★★★★☆ In 1819, at a protest at which tens of thousands people gathered to listen to the radical political agitator Henry ‘Orator’ Hunt, the Manchester yeomanry were ordered to disperse the crowd on horseback. Taking this as carte blanche to charge the unarmed crowd and cut them down with impunity, the ensuing carnage became known…
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Toronto 2018: Loro review
★★★★☆ Paolo Sorrentino’s Loro begins as it means to go on. A lawyer-baiting disclaimer informs us that the film is not based on real events (even when it is), that any similarity to real people is purely unintentional (even when it isn’t), and that any testimony from reliable witnesses on the aforementioned unrelated parties has had nothing…
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Toronto 2018: One Last Deal review
★★★★☆ As Olavi (Heikki Nousiainen) approaches retirement, he reflects on his career as an antiques dealer. With little to show for it and no inheritance to leave his semi-estranged daughter Lea (Pirjo Lonka) and teenage grandson Otto (Amos Brotherus), he decides to go out with a final make or break deal in Finnish director Klaus…
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Toronto 2018: Endzeit review
★★★☆☆ With the saturation of the zombie as modern cinema’s de facto monster, it’s difficult to imagine in what new direction the shuffling dead can possibly amble. Yet, with the imperfect but fascinating Endzeit, director Carolina Hellsgård ultimately guides her ravenous wanderers down an original and largely unbeaten track. The film’s first half is its…
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Toronto 2018: Our picks of the festival
As the Toronto International Film Festival gears up for its 2018 edition (6-16 September), awards contenders, experimental filmmakers and indie hopefuls come together for a 10-day extravaganza of some of the world’s best cinema. This year’s festival opens with Netflix’s Outlaw King, the latest from director David Mackenzie and starring Chris Pine. Both Mackenzie and Pine…
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Criterion Review: Smithereens
★★★★☆ The grimy, crime-ridden cesspool of New York in the 1970s and early 1980s is a well-worn cinematic setting, but in her debut 1982 feature Smithereens, indie director Susan Seidelman used guerilla filmmaking techniques and a faux-documentary style to unearth the vitality and the verve of urban life at the bottom. Smithereens opens with the punkish…
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DVD Review: Death Line
★★★★☆ Released as Raw Meat in the US, Gary Sherman’s cult debut feature Death Line works as both a gruesome exploitation horror set in the London Underground, and a surprisingly effective satire of the British class system. You’ll never hear the phrase “Mind the doors” in the same way again. When student Patricia (Sharon Gurney) find…
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DVD Review: Assault
★★★☆☆ Also known as In the Devil’s Garden, British director Sidney Hayers’ 1971 film Assault is cast very much in the mode of contemporary Italian giallo – lurid crime, exploitative sexuality and plenty of voyeuristic pleasure. It may not be up to the standard of the best crime cinema, but Assault is sufficiently well executed to…
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DVD Review: Jackie Chan’s Police Story & Police Story 2
★★★★☆ The film that made Jackie Chan an international star, Police Story fully embodies the martial artist’s spirit of entertainment – equal parts endearing, goofy and packed with eye-popping kung fu action. Bundled with its first sequel, Eureka’s new package includes a surfeit of extras, including alternate versions, and archival material. Both films centre on the actions of…
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Film Review: Sicilian Ghost Story
★★★☆☆ Based on the real-life abduction of Giuseppe di Matteo, Sicilian Ghost Story combines teen romance, realist crime drama and gothic fable. Writer-directors Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza’s second feature is an impeccably shot, often gripping picture that falls just short of its psychological aspirations. As 13-year old Giuseppe (Gaetano Fernandez) walks home from school through the woods,…