John Bleasdale
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Venice 2013: ‘The Canyons’ review
★☆☆☆☆ Numerous derelict cinemas litter the opening of Paul Schrader’s now-infamous The Canyons (2013), screening out of competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival; and more may follow this portent omen of things to come. Make no mistake – Schrader’s latest isn’t Basic Instinct 2 bad or even quote-a-long bad, as in the case of…
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Venice 2013: ‘Gerontophilia’ review
★★☆☆☆ Canadian auteur Bruce LaBruce opened the Venice Days sidebar of the Biennale’s 70th incarnation with Gerontophilia (2013), a romantic comedy (of sorts) following 18-year-old Lake (Pierre-Gabriel Lajoie), who finds himself increasingly dissatisfied with his girlfriend and at the same time attracted to older men. In order to further investigate his newfound fetish, Lake gets…
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Venice 2013: Venezia 70 programme preview
With the rise of the encroaching Toronto, the domestic competition offered by Rome and a hugely successful Cannes this year, the 70th Venice Film Festival – which begins on 28 August – is facing some pretty stiff competition. The lineup, however, is on the face of it relatively low-key, though there are some very interesting…
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DVD Review: ‘Blackfish’
★★★★☆ On 24 February, 2010, experienced SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed by a male orca called Tilikum during a live show. Initially, the details of the incident were unclear, with early reports that the trainer had slipped and fallen into the tank – or that the whale had grabbed the 40-year-old trainer’s ponytail –…
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FrightFest 2013: ‘Daylight’ review
★★★☆☆ Not to be confused with the 1996 Stallone film, Daylight (2013) is something of a team effort, boasting a trio of directors – David McCracken, Joel Townsend and Kaidan Tremain – who also divvy up a number of additional production credits as well. Taking pace in the titular town of Daylight, this low budget horror…
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Interview: Brian De Palma talks ‘Passion’
Starring Noomi Rapace and Rachel McAdams, Passion (2012) sees American director Brian De Palma return to his favourite stomping ground of the overblown psychosexual thriller, a sub-genre which he made his own with such schlocky delights as Body Double, Dressed to Kill and Blow Out. The 71-year-old director spoke with John Bleasdale at last year’s…
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DVD Review: ‘The ABCs of Death’
★★☆☆☆ Following on from a long tradition of portmanteau horror films from the classic Dead of Night (1945) to the more recent V/H/S films, The ABCs of Death (2012) delivers twenty-six individual segments, each related to violent death. With the loosest of briefs and complete artistic freedom, each director was bound only by the need…
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DVD Review: ‘Village at the End of the World’
★★★☆☆ “If there’s a bright centre to the universe you’re on the planet it’s farthest from,” says the Star Wars Saga’s Luke Skywalker, and in so doing instantly becomes the patron saint for every teenager growing up in some remote suburban nowhere. Still, even Tatooine begins to look impressive compared to Niaqornat, a tiny village…
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Film Review: ‘The Iceman’
★★★☆☆ With over one hundred hits to his name, Richard Leonard ‘The Iceman’ Kuklinski was a Mafia contract killer legendary for the coolness which gifted him his distinct moniker. In Israel-born director Ariel Vromen’s stoney-faced The Iceman (2012), we first meet Kuklinski as a young man out on a date with a woman destined to…
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Cannes 2013: Kechiche wins Palme d’Or
Last night at a star-studded ceremony in Southern France, the 66th Cannes Film Festival announced the prize winners from its competition strand. Many believed Tunis-born director Abdellatif Kechiche’s Blue is the Warmest Colour to be the best film in show, but just as many believed that this year’s Steven Spielberg-led jury would perhaps shy away…