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Film Review: ‘Miral’
Told over a period of some forty-seven years, Julian Schnabel’s Miral (2010) recounts the life of a young woman growing up in Israeli-occupied Palestine following the establishment of the first Jewish state. Adapted by Rula Jebreal from her own novel and somewhat – or so it would appear – autobiographical, the film recounts the life…
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Theatrical Releases: ‘London Boulevard’
I feel I should start by admitting that I haven’t actually seen London Boulevard (2010) – at least not all of it. A screening of Mike Leigh’s pitch perfect Another Year (2010) was starting on screen 3 and though it shames me to confess it, dear reader – I bailed.I was, however, perfectly on time…
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Secret Cinema: ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’
Secret Cinema in partnership with Windows Phone and Mind, the mental health charity, presented Milos Forman’s classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) at The Princess Louise Hospital in North Kensington, London this November, and CineVue were once again kindly invited to review the event.Clearly, much had been learned from September’s three gargantuan screenings…
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Barbican Film: ‘Hana-Bi’
Takeshi ‘Beat’ Kitano is without doubt one of the most influential figures in contemporary Japanese culture. From his humble beginnings as a young stand-up comic to his professional transition into the world of television and filmmaking, his rich and vastly dynamic career has spanned several decades and has seen him become one of Japan’s most…
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DVD Releases: ‘Sex and the City 2’
There is no doubt that the Sex and the City franchise is one of the most successful in television history. The series is popular with teenagers and women alike, and its stars have become style icons for fans to the point where many have dressed for theatre showings in attire that wouldn’t seem out of place…
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DVD Releases: ‘Splice’
Vincenzo Natali’s Splice (2009) crept into cinemas earlier this year well out of reach of most cinemagoer’s radars. Tackling some unsettling scientific ethics as well as grappling some thorny moral issues, Splice offers an engrossing and, rather uniquely, fresh story that sets it apart from most other recent cinematic releases.When Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody) and…
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Barbican Film: Japanese Halloween Schlockfest Double Bill
Why is Japanese cinema loved on a world wide scale? The simple answer is because it dares to tread the ground that mainstream, westernised film will not. Whilst movies like Scream (1996) and Saw (2004) attempt to display the motives and reasons behind inhumane, bloodthirsty violence, J-Horror makes no such excuses and even attempts to…
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Film Review: ‘The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest’
★★★☆☆ To say Stieg Larsson’s novels are popular would be an understatement, and the first two film adaptations The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009) and The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009) (both released theatrically in the authors’ native Swedish) have been both critically and commercially well-received.The third and final adaptation in the series, The…
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Film Review: ‘Leap Year’
★☆☆☆☆ A depiction of intense loneliness and psychosexual torture, Michael Rowe’s minimalist debut feature Leap Year (Año bisiesto, 2010) raises many a difficult question with regards to its seemingly complex gender politics. It follows the life of Laura, played with vulnerable perfection by Monica Del Carmen, a lonely freelance journalist who lives alone in a small Mexican apartment.…
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Film Review: ‘The American’
★★☆☆☆ As an artist known primarily for his work as a music video director and band photographer, Anton Corbijn’s latest project The American (2010), starring George Clooney, could well be seen as a drastic departure from his well established roots. His debut feature Control (2007) yielded great critical acclaim, although some may have noted that…
EIFF 2026