Incoming: Elvis and Nixon
The most requested photo of the National Archives isn’t of the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address, or the Bill of Rights. It’s a picture of President Richard Nixon with Elvis Presley in the Oval Office. The comedy is based on a true story. Elvis wants to join the war on drugs. Presley and Nixon have a …
Blu-ray Review: Gilda (Criterion Collection)
In the golden days of Hollywood films some of the most bankable stars were those who were given the label of ‘Screen Goddess’. The Studios’ response to the horrors of World War II was glamour, and during the ’40s and ’50s the likes of Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner and Lana Turner set screens …
Incoming: Adult Life Skills
Anna is stuck: she’s approaching 30, living like a hermit in her mum’s garden shed and wondering why the suffragettes ever bothered. She spends her days making videos using her thumbs as actors – thumbs that bicker about things like whether Yogi Bear is a moral or existential nihilist. But Anna doesn’t show these videos …
Film Review: Remainder
Memories can be fragile and fleeting; their absence can lead to confusion, anxiety and emotional torment. The sudden loss of this function has been covered in myriad books and films, most notably in Christopher Nolan’s Memento in 2000. Based on the popular experimental cult novel by Tom McCarthy, Omer Fast’s feature debut focuses a man …
Blu-ray Review: Ivan’s Childhood
Andrei Tarkovsky is undoubtedly one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. His genius and mastery of the cinematic medium has rarely been surpassed. Whilst his films, such as Stalker, Solaris and Ivan’s Childhood are much-loved by cinephiles around the world, the quality of the prints aren’t always that good. Thankfully, Curzon Artificial Eye are …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Sonita
The traditional role of a documentary film-maker is one of an impartial observer; there to document but not interfere or intercede. However, times change, and the ethical question shifts between the purity of the process and the morality behind doing nothing. If you transfer the debate into almost any other sphere, the ethics of inaction …
Incoming: Remainder
Hit by a falling object in a freak accident, an unnamed man awakens from a coma with £8.5m in compensation and his memory gone. All that remains is a fragmentary image – a small boy at the top of a stairwell in an old house, reaching out his hand to an old lady on the …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Weiner
Anthony Weiner was an outspoken and media-friendly Democratic Congressman. He was hugely popular with the electorate and built up a reputation of campaigning hard on behalf of his constituents. His career was brought to an abrupt halt when he was forced to resign his position after a sexting scandal reached the press. Two years later, …
East End Film Festival 2016 – Ones to Watch
The East End Film Festival takes place 23rd June – 3rd July in several venues around Eastern Central London. With a diverse range of features and shorts on show, it can be tricky to work out what to see. We had a look at a few of the films screening during the festival. The Darkest …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Cameraperson
Kristen Johnson has been a documentary cameraperson for over 25 years. The award-winning cinematographer is today considered one of the best in her field and has helped create some incredible works of cinema. Happy Valley, The Invisible War, Fahrenheit 9/11, The Oath and Citizenfour, to name a few. However, the work has begun to take …