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Berlin 2018: Our picks of the programme
The 68th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival kicks off today with Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs. A return to the stop-motion animation the American auteur employed in his quirky re-imagining of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, Anderson’s latest may sound like an incongruous choice to open a festival that prides itself on its…
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Film Review: Winnie
★★★☆☆ For decades, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was heralded as a symbol of heroic resilience and resolve. Having stood by her husband Nelson throughout his arrest and subsequent imprisonment by South Africa’s Apartheid regime for almost 30 years, Winnie became the former president’s voice throughout the world, until his eventual release in 1990. However, it was her…
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Film Review: The Shape of Water
★★★★★ Elisa (Sally Hawkins) has strange scars on her neck that prevent her from speaking. When the scientists at the laboratory where she works bring in a monstrous, aquatic creature (Doug Jones) for study, she quickly establishes a bond with it. Soon, Elisa enlists the help of neighbour Giles (Richard Jenkins) and co-worker Zelda (Octavia…
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Film Review: Lady Bird
★★★★☆ A deserving dark horse coming into the final furlong of Oscars ‘silly season’, Greta Gerwig enters the solo directorial fray with Lady Bird, a remarkably assured, occasionally heartbreaking portrayal of Sacrementan youth on the cusp of womanhood. Drawing on her own comparable upbringing in the same city, Lady Bird also functions as a satisfying semi-prequel to Frances Ha. Saoirse Ronan plays…
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Film Review: Black Panther
★★★★★ Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther is the film that will change everything. When you see it, you know that from here on in, everything will be different. Whilst a Marvel story through and through, fitting perfectly into the MCU post-Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther stands alone as a masterpiece of filmmaking. With Afro-futurism at…
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DVD Review: Michael
★★★★☆ Accompanied by an appropriately oppressive score by Pierre Oser, Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1924 silent Michael is a film heavy with implication. Just as the film’s setting and period are never explicitly stated, the homosexual relationship between its two protagonists – master painter Claude Zoret (Benjamin Christensen) and his beautiful model Michael (Walter Slezak) –…
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DVD Review: House
★★★★☆ As the summer holidays start, Angel and her school girl chums Kung Fu (Miki Jinbo), Mac (Mieko Satô), Melody (Eriko Tanaka), Prof (Ai Matsubara), Sweetie (Masayo Miyako) and Fantasy (Kimiko Ohba) go on vacation to Angel’s mysterious Aunt’s house, which quickly turns out be a locus of supernatural activity. The term ‘defies criticism’ has…
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Film Review: The Mercy
★★★☆☆ At first glance, James Marsh’s The Mercy looks like yet another overly polished, stiff upper lip, British biopic. But scratch beneath the surface of Marsh’s latest and you find something much darker and far more melancholic. The Mercy aptly opens with a quote from Sir Edmund Hillary, “Men do not decide to become extraordinary,…
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Film Review: Fifty Shades Freed
★☆☆☆☆ The film series based on E.L. James’ ludicrously successful erotic novels draws to a close with Fifty Shades Freed. Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan return as Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, respectively, now married, as depicted in the flashy pre-titles sequence. Their subsequent honeymoon encompasses Paris, the French Riviera and all the lifestyle-porn director…
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Close shaves on the big screen
Movies are absolutely rife with symbolism, and certain items hold a weighty meaning, such as the razor, which can be suggestive of anything from passion to despair. As such, shaving scenes have been employed in many a movie as a way to convey emotions and developing feelings between characters. While some are deeply emotional, others…
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