FIlm Review
Film Review: Belle
While for decades animation was derided as being solely the province of children, increasingly filmmakers are using it to impart serious messages to a much wider demographic. Japan tends to be ahead of the game in this, with Manga already firmly established within popular culture. The late Satoshi Kon and Mamoru Hosoda have both exploited …
Film Review: Potato Dreams of America
Growing up in the West, I think it’s impossible to fully understand what it was like to have spent your formative years in a country which was behind the Iron Curtain or taking its first steps towards capitalism. The things we took for granted. The television we watched. what we were taught in school. the …
Film Review: Memoria
While the name Aphichatphong Wirasetthakun may not be familiar to most, on the festival circuit and within cinephile circles he’s considered to be one of the best filmmakers currently working in independent cinema. The Thai director’s most famous work, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2010, …
Film Review: Cow
Andrea Arnold is undoubtedly one of the greatest living British filmmakers. While she has always been brimming with ideas and opinions, the Dartford native has been on a long journey since her time as a host on Number 73. However, it was clear from her Oscar-winning short Wasp and feature debut Red Road that she …
Film Review: A Hero
Few directors have been more successful over the last decade or so than Asghar Farhadi. The Iranian filmmaker is one of the few people to win two Oscars, for A Separation and The Salesman, as well as securing a raft of other awards. Unlike many of his peers, he’s committed to his homeland and still …
Film Review: Boiling Point
If you’ve ever had a job in a busy restaurant kitchen, you’ll know what a unique working environment it is. One which feels like organised chaos, at peak times, and only works if all the different members of the team pull together, in tandem. This requires each individual to know what they’re doing and understand …
Film Review – Margrete: Queen of the North
Europe has a long and eventful history, much of which is shared, but we only tend to learn about the important kings and queens growing up. These are almost always, our own, or those who have been at war with us. As a consequence, I know very little of Scandinavia’s past, outside of those elements …
Film Review: The Scary of Sixty-First
If you’ve not heard about the case of convicted paedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, then you’ve probably been living under a rock for the last few years. Despite his death before a full case could be made against him, the trial of his close friend Ghislaine Maxwell means he’s back in the news once …
Film Review: Blanco en Blanco
The concept of the innocence of childhood has troubled countless men down through history, often manifesting itself in sinister and dangerous ways. While the advent of the internet has brought the problem into stark relief, the likes of Vladimir Nabokov with his novel Lolita has tried to put this obsession in writing. Even Lewis Carroll’s …
Film Review: Hope
Anyone who has ever waited for results from a medical investigation knows that nagging anxiety. The fear of the worst. Of receiving that news you’ve always dreaded. That prognosis telling you how long you have left to live. Facing up to your own mortality and wondering how you’re going to spend your limited time left …