John Bleasdale
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Cannes 2017: Our picks of the lineup
The red carpet is being vacuumed, the Croisette prepped – new anti- terrorist bollards a grim reminder of the times – and a young Claudia Cardinale dances exuberantly above the Palais du Cinéma. Everything is almost ready for the celebration of the 70th Cannes Film Festival.The lineup is rich and deep, indicative of a generational…
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Film Review: The Last Face
★★☆☆☆ “Why do they always have to be entertained before they listen?” asks Javier Bardem’s Dr. Miguel at the opening of Sean Penn’s The Last Face. This pointed dig at the indifference of audiences is doubly mendacious because Penn’s film doesn’t have much coherent to say.Dr. Miguel is charismatic and impetuous, committed and brave. A field…
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Film Review: Frantz
★★☆☆☆ Prolific French director François Ozon returns to UK cinemas this week with Frantz, a slick inter-war melodrama that promises more than it ultimately delivers. Paula Beer plays Anna, a young Fräulein grieving for her fiancé Frantz (Anton von Lucke).Apparently an orphan, Anna lives with Frantz’s parents, the town physician Dr. Hans Hoffmeister (Ernst Stötzner)…
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Film Review: Suntan
★★★☆☆ There’s something about the brightness of the Greek sunshine that leaves the blackest of shadows. You can see it in the tragi-comedies of Athina Rachel Tsangari and Yorgos Lanthimos. Now, Argyris Papadimitropoulos joins the fray with Suntan, a study in middle-aged loneliness. In a wintry prologue, Kostis (Makis Papadimitriou) arrives on the small Greek island…
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Film Review: The Transfiguration
★★☆☆☆ A public bathroom. Noises are coming from one of the stalls. Sucking and slurping sounds. A man takes a peek underneath and makes a quick exit. It’s revealed that Milo (Eric Ruffin), a black youth in Queens who believes himself to be a vampire, has claimed another victim.David O’Shea’s debut feature The Transfiguration is a…
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Film Review: Rules Don’t Apply
★★★☆☆ Howard Hughes has long been an object of fascination for Hollywood. The reclusive mogul carved a trajectory from youthful genius to self-watering stuff of legend as clear and elusive as the vapour trails of one of the airplanes that sustained his fortune. From Martin Scorsese’s straight biopic The Aviator to Jonathan Demme’s oddball gem…
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Film Review: The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki
★★★★☆ The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki is Juho Kuosmanen’s chronicle of a Finnish pugilist. A unique and beautiful boxing movie shot on 16mm in black and white, it’s like Wild Strawberries meets Raging Bull – although the bull isn’t so much raging as in love. Olli Mäki (Jarkko Lahti) is a…
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Cannes 2017: Palme d’Or lineup announced
The full competition lineup for this year’s 70th Cannes Film Festival (17-28 May) was announced in Paris earlier this morning. Kicking off the proceedings will be Ismael’s Ghosts, the new film from respected French director Arnaud Desplechin.Meanwhile, highlights of this year’s Palme d’Or race include new films from international heavyweights Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Bong…
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Film Review: Tickling Giants
★★★★☆ The timing could not have been better for Sara Taksler’s new documentary Tickling Giants. Or worse if you think about it. Hosni Mubarak has returned home and the promise of the Arab Spring and the revolution which swept from Tahir Square and was witnessed around the world seems to have been definitively buried under…
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Film Review: The Chamber
★★☆☆☆ Not to be confused with the John Grisham adaptation of the same name, The Chamber is a claustro-thriller which hits its beats with enervating predictability. Mats (Johannes Kuhnke) is in charge of a dinky submersible which is commandeered by a Special Ops team led by Red (Charlotte Salt). She’s accompanied by a wiry nervy…