Cannes 2013: ‘Nebraska’ review
★★★★☆ American director Alexander Payne (Election) returns to the LFF this year with his black and white, geriatric comedy Nebraska (2013), which stars veteran...
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 2013: ‘Stranger by the Lake’ review
★★☆☆☆ Set during one particularly hot and steamy summer, in Stranger by the Lake (L’inconnu du lac, 2013) French men visit a secluded spot...
Cannes 2013: ‘Shield of Straw’ review
★☆☆☆☆ Cult Japanese director Takashi Miike is often forgiven for the hit-and-miss nature of his output due to the fact that he’s so prolific...
Cannes 2013: ‘Jimmy P.’ review
★★☆☆☆ With a recognised force in French cinema, director Arnaud Desplechin, teaming up with major thesps Mathieu Amalric and Benicio Del Toro for a...
Cannes 2013: ‘Jeune & Jolie’ review
★★★★☆ Following the success of last year’s In the House (2012), acclaimed French director François Ozon returns to cinema screens this week with Palme...
Cannes 2013: ‘The Past’ review
★★★★☆ Asghar Farhadi first burst onto the international scene with his 2011 Silver Bear/Oscar winner A Separation, the most recent of several astute Iranian...
Cannes 2013: ‘Fruitvale Station’ review
★★★★★ Based on the real-life 2009 shooting of Oscar Grant in Oakland, California, Ryan Coogler’s feature debut Fruitvale Station (2013) is an uncompromising, original...
Cannes 2013: The Bling Ring review
★★☆☆☆ Opening the Un Certain Regard section of the 66th Cannes Film Festival comes Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring (2013), a teen crime movie/wannabe...
