Patrick Gamble

★★★☆☆ All good horror films construct a sense of unease by drawing on relatable fears, burrowing deep into your subconscious and unearthing a Pandora’s Box of internalised anxiety. Leigh Janiak’s genuinely unsettling debut feature, Honeymoon (2014), examines one of the great fears in our monogamous society; namely, what if you found that special someone to…

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★★★★★ The promotional material surrounding Jia Zhangke’s A Touch of Sin (2013) concocts spurious images of knife play, bombastic explosions and plenty of bloodshed. Could this be a sign that China’s foremost independent filmmaker has finally decided to play ball with the state? Anyone familiar with the deliberately languid and meditative approach of the director…

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★★★★☆ Implanting the dark heart of Gothic fiction into his signature cinematic carcass of deadpan humour and beatnik contemplation, indie provocateur Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) is the story of two misanthropic vampires who have been in love for centuries, witnessing the humanist revival of classical art and literature and its sad decline…

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★★★★☆ A collaborative journey across the spiritual plains of Northern Europe, Ben Rivers and Ben Russell’s A Spell to Ward off the Darkness is arthouse cinema at is most challenging, pushing ethnographic fetishism and self-reflective analyses to the nadir of its cerebral appeal. Although divided into three distinct segments, this philosophical voyage remains relatively amorphous.…

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★★★☆☆ Dutch visual artist Anton Corbijn compiles an all-star cast for his much-anticipated film adaptation of John le Carré’s bestselling novel A Most Wanted Man (2014). Starring the late Philip Seymour Hoffman alongside Daniel Brühl, Willem Dafoe, Nina Hoss and Rachel McAdams, Corbijn’s gritty espionage thriller effortlessly translates le Carré’s prose to the big screen.…

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★★★★☆ During one heated discussion in Frederick Wiseman’s At Berkeley (2013), a lecturer insists that a ‘revolution in ideas’ is the best strategy for eradicating the inequality prevalent in contemporary society. Thankfully, ideas are bountiful in this immersive voyage through the corridors and classrooms of the America’s most prestigious state-funded college, the University of California,…

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★★★★☆ A quiet revelation at Cannes last year, Jeremy Saulnier’s Blue Ruin (2013) is a stripped-back revenge thriller that cruises down the central reservation of the genre, veering wildly between tense thrills and a series of alluringly awkward acts of violence to achieve instantaneous cult veneration. Behind a haze of steam we observe a bearded…

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★★★☆☆ Adapted from crime author Elmore Leonard’s novel The Switch, Daniel Schechter’s Life of Crime (2013) is a polyester clad, bell-bottom sporting time capsule of seventies kitsch. An intelligently plotted crime caper starring Jennifer Aniston, rapper Mos Def and John Hawkes – as well as a glitzy supporting cast that includes Isla Fisher, Nebraska’s Will…

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★★★★☆ The label of ‘abortion rom-com’ doesn’t necessarily scream box office success. However, director Gillian Robespierre doesn’t care what you think. Her debut feature, Obvious Child (2014), aims to confront life’s uncomfortable truths. From the moment Donna (Jenny Slate) begins her stand-up routine with an anecdote about vaginal discharge, you know you’re in for something…

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