Film Review: Four Corners
South Africa’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film at last year’s Academy Awards was Ian Gabriel’s Four Corners. The Rainbow Nation is not traditionally a country particularly noted for its cinema, but post-Apartheid cinema has gradually been picking-up speed. The most notable success story is that of Neill Blomkamp, but there have been some lesser …
Incoming: Danny Collins
Al Pacino stars as aging 1970s rocker Danny Collins, who can’t give up his hard-living ways. But when his manager (Christopher Plummer) uncovers a 40 year-old undelivered letter written to him by John Lennon, he decides to change course and embarks on a heartfelt journey to rediscover his family, find true love and begin a …
Incoming: West
Between the years 1949 and 1990 roughly four million people left the GDR for West Germany. West tells the story of a young mother, who together with her son leaves the GDR to try for a new beginning in the West. The film shows the interrogations conducted by the Allied secret services, which turn the …
Film Review: Timbuktu
Sometimes the simplest films are the most powerful. Whilst Timbuktu’s nomination for an Academy Award may have much to do with its subject matter, there’s no denying that it’s beautifully made, subtly disquieting and thought provoking. Abderrahmane Sissako’s film is in no way basic, assuredly side-stepping any notion of melodrama are an overly-complex plot. Opting …
Incoming: The Goob
The increasing tension between man and boy pushes his mother into choosing between them, a choice devastating to Goob but the spur to becoming his own man. We’re in the middle of a heat wave in Fenland, England. Goob Taylor has spent each of his sixteen summers helping his Mum run the transport cafe and …
Incoming: The Dead Lands
Hongi (James Rolleston) – a Māori chieftain’s teenage son – must avenge his father’s murder in order to bring peace and honour to the souls of his loved ones after his tribe is slaughtered through an act of treachery. Vastly outnumbered by a band of villains, led by Wirepa (Te Kohe Tuhaka), Hongi’s only hope …
Film Festival Preview: Sheffield Doc/Fest 2015
Sheffield Doc/Fest just keeps on growing and is now firmly established as one of the most important and biggest documentary festivals in the world. Between June 5-10, Sheffield welcomes thousands of delegates from around the world, but there’s plenty on offer for the documentary fan. As well as having two free big screens this year, …
DVD Review: Paper Moon (Masters of Cinema)
Double acts have featured prominently in American film. From the early days of Laurel and Hardy and Crosby and Hope, to the heady heights of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Thelma and Louise and Riggs and Murtaugh, duos have been big Box Office. In Peter Bogdanovich’s Paper Moon it’s a family affair, with Ryan …
Film Review: The New Girlfriend
‘Based on a story by Ruth Rendell’, is not something you expect to read at the beginning of a François Ozon film. I’ve not read the book, but given Rendell’s normal output I’m guessing it’s very loosely based on a theme which Ozon himself has toyed with previously. The New Girlfriend focusses on the fact …
Film Review: Spring
In terms of a horror film, Spring is a real anomaly. There’s more chemistry between Nadia Hilker and Lou Taylor Pucci, the two leads, than you see in the majority of romantic dramas. In actuality, it’s more of a indie drama than a horror movie. The level of characterisation and details is impressive for any …