Cannes 2014: ‘The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby’ review
★★☆☆☆ Appearing in the Un Certain Regard sidebar at Cannes in a shortened version of the film previously screened at Toronto, Ned Benson’s The...
Film Reviews & More
Most Recent. In John Bleasdale.
6 September 2024
Film Review: Firebrand
★★☆☆☆ “An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king,” Percy Shelley once wrote in his sonnet England in 1819. He was firing his barbs at King George III but the words could just as well be used for any number of English monarchs including Henry VIII.
26 July 2024
Film Review: About Dry Grasses
★★★★★ Turkish master director Nuri Bilge Ceylan returns to the Cannes Croisette with About Dry Grasses, a wonderful wintry meditation on male fragility and the way we often make our own hells and then deceive ourselves that we’re trapped.
21 June 2024
Film Review: Green Border
★★★★☆ From sub-Saharan Africa to Afghanistan, Syria to Iraq and Iran, the climate crisis, drought, war, and oppression has created a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. It is treated as an ethical conundrum, but it isn’t. Either we wish to save those who are in danger of dying, or all our talk of human rights is just so much hot air. This is the core concern of Green Border.
John Bleasdale
Cannes 2014: ‘Maps to the Stars’ review
★★★★☆ A brutal, crackling and savage Hollywood satire, Maps to the Stars (2014) is also David Cronenberg’s return to the monster movie almost thirty...
Cannes 2014: ‘The Wonders’ review
★★★★☆ Competing for the Palme d’Or at the 67th Cannes Film Festival, Italian director Alice Rohrwacher’s sophomore feature, The Wonders (2014), is a gripping...
Cannes 2014: ‘Saint Laurent’ review
★★★☆☆ “I’m the last,” an aging Yves Saint Laurent mutters towards the end of Bertrand Bonello’s stylish biopic (one of two in the last...
Cannes 2014: ‘The Blue Room’ review
★★★☆☆ Following on from his 2010 Best Director win for On Tour, Mathieu Amalric returns to the Cannes Film Festival with his latest directorial...
Cannes 2014: ‘Mr. Turner’ review
★★★★☆ A past Palme d’Or winner and first of two British heavyweights in competition, Mike Leigh returns to Cannes with a beautifully realised portrait...
Cannes 2014: ‘The Captive’ review
★★☆☆☆ From Canadian director Atom Egoyan (Next of Kin, The Sweet Hereafter), The Captive (2014) is a troubling abduction thriller set in the frozen...
Cannes 2014: ‘Party Girl’ review
★★★☆☆ Cannes’ Un Certain Regard strand opened this year with Marie Amachoukeli-Barsacq, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis’ Party Girl (2014), a well-made if unambitious...
