Features
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Christopher Nolan Season: ‘Memento’
★★★★★ Since its release 12 years ago, British director Christopher Nolan’s Memento (2000) has continued to intrigue and delight viewers. A film which propelled Nolan into the Hollywood limelight and got the masses talking, it’s of no wonder that when taking into account its unique and perplexing narrative, ingenious directorial craft and imaginative editing, audiences…
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Christopher Nolan Season: ‘Following’
★★☆☆☆ With the much-anticipated The Dark Knight Rises (2012) released in UK cinemas this Friday (20 July), the BFI are running a Christopher Nolan season that includes his directorial debut Following (1998). This little-known 16mm first feature tells the story of a nameless young writer (Jeremy Theobald) with an odd habit of following people around…
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Special Feature: Rooftop Film Club presents ‘Life is Sweet’
Pioneered last summer by a group of dedicated individuals seemingly compelled to bringing classic and cult films to unusual London spaces, the Rooftop Film Club merges wireless headsets, comfy seats and blankets, films, food and drink for an enthralling night out. This summer sees its continuance atop the likes of Netil House and Queen of Hoxton…
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Special Feature: Future Cinema presents ‘Searching for Sugar Man’
On Wednesday 4 July, Americans, Brits and a whole load of South Africans gathered in the grand Troxy building in Limehouse, London for a top secret Future Cinema screening. Advised to bring a mixed tape or record to swap with a stranger and dress in 1970s folk wear/late 80s arena wear/late 90s Johannesburg beachwear, participants…
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Special Feature: Cinema’s greatest movie vehicles
When researching this particular article, we came to realise just what hugely contested debates this subject area can turn out. Everyone seems to have their favourite movie vehicle, largely depending on their age and also the types of films they loved as a child (and to this day). Suffice to say, this is our own…
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Special Feature: Marc Wilkinson’s ‘The October Crisis’
The October Crisis (2012) is a short film with a running time of about 14 minutes, written and directed by American filmmaker Marc Wilkinson, available to view online (bottom of the post or at theoctobercrisis.com) before playing festivals later in the year. The film follows two adult brothers (Nick Chandler and Daniel Gallun), whose much younger…
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BFI Anime Season: ‘A Letter to Momo’
★★★☆☆ Marking a phenomenal shift in tone and style from his testosterone-charged, extremely violent 1999 debut Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, director Hiroyuki Okiura returns with A Letter to Momo (2011), a much softer, family orientated drama about paternal loss and adolescent grief.After the death of her husband, Momo’s mother decides to move herself and her…
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Secret Cinema: June/July review
“Are you a data scientist?” she asks. Yes, comes the reply. “Oh, you must be our specialist in Sumerian and Assyrian archaeology!” she adds, before engaging in a lengthy conversation about a certain celebrated dissertation on Mesopotamian ziggurats. This would be an unusual scenario for most, and stranger still that it would take place in…
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Cine-Excess VI: ‘Closed Circuit Extreme’
★★★☆☆ Giorgio Amato’s Italian found footage horror Closed Circuit Extreme (2012) is a truly petrifying look at the actions of a lonely rapist serial killer, as seen through the lenses of CCTV cameras secretly installed by two suspicious college students. Expertly directed by Amato from his novel Circuito Chiuso, Closed Circuit Extreme maintains a high…
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Cine-Excess VI: ‘Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key’
★★★☆☆ ‘Eroticism, Excess and Eurozone Angst’ stated the programme tagline for this special screening of Sergio Martino’s Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972): three things that would not be out-of-place in the current Italian political landscape. What awaited with Your Vice, on the other hand, was a handful…