-
Film Review: Lynn + Lucy
★★★☆☆ To many people, Essex is home to the famous – or infamous – players of the reality TV show The Only Way Is Essex. After ten years on the air, it has created a lasting impression of the English county as a place of glitz and scandalous drama. Taking a more genuine observation on…
-
Film Review: Family Romance, LLC
★★★☆☆ German auteur Werner Herzog’s latest has been described by some critics as his strangest film in years. His first fiction(ish) film since 2016’s Salt and Fire, it’s not hard to see why. Based on the phenomenon in Japan of hired family members, Family Romance, LLC is billed as a ‘constructed reality’ that follows real-life rent-a-relative…
-
The enduring popularity of TV crime dramas
TV crime shows have become some of the most popular shows in the world over recent years. Their popularity has resulted in the production of so many crime shows that it’s difficult to choose which one to watch next. For television fans, there are many gripping crime shows from cop shows to true crime documentaries…
-
Film Review: Wasp Network
★★★☆☆ French director Olivier Assayas makes his Netflix debut with Wasp Network, a tale of spies, politics and refugees in a mid-1990s Cuba and Florida which is as undecided on its tone as it is on its politics. Rene Gonzalez (Edgar Ramirez) seems to have a perfect life. His wife Olga (Penélope Cruz) is beautiful,…
-
Film Review: On the Record
★★★★☆ As the public allegations against Harvey Weinstein mounted in 2017, #MeToo became a viral campaign exposing the culture of sexual assault not just in Hollywood, but throughout the entertainment industry. In December of that year, former music mogul Drew Dixon came forward with her own allegations against music producer Russell Simmons and Sony exec…
-
Film Review: The Girl with a Bracelet
★★★★☆ Despite its bland paperback title, French writer-director Stéphane Demoustier proves hasty assumptions wrong with his gripping, thoughtful third feature, courtroom drama The Girl with a Bracelet. On the night before her trial, 18-year-old Lise Bataille (Melissa Guers) stands accused of murdering her best friend, Flora. In her first role, Guers is supported by an…
-
Film Review: Fanny Lye Deliver’d
★★★★★ Most filmmakers who venture into the heritage industry of an English period drama make sure the detail shines on the screen: beautiful linen collars, worsted cloaks, authentic lacework. Chuck in a restored 18th century cottage or country estate and you’re transporting audiences back in time with ease. Director Thomas Clay didn’t feel like cutting…
-
Interview: Thomas Clay, dir. Fanny Lye Deliver’d
It’s been over a decade since British indie director Thomas Clay had a new film set for release. After 2008’s Soi Cowboy, Clay spent time researching the English interregnum: exploring its political and social upheavals to find an untold story buried within a less frequently mined period of history.
-
Film Review: Joan of Arc
★★★☆☆ To many artists, from Morrissey to Victor Fleming, Joan of Arc has proved a rich canvas to reflect upon female suffrage. The aim, whether a song or film, is to interpolate the viewer into her story against the oppressive forces of the French and English monarchy during medieval times. Five hundred years after her…
-
Film Review: Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc
★★★☆☆ A charming, if an insistently odd musical representation of Joan of Arc’s early years, Bruno Dumont’s latest offering Jeannette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc is a compelling blend of juvenile dissatisfaction and Catholic anxiety – minus the humdrum historical accuracy. Jeannette is instead a psychological portrait of the young Joan of Arc, imagined…
VENICE 2026