FIlm Review
Film Review: Hondros
As Western consumers, our knowledge and understanding of far flung wars is driven by coverage from war correspondents. However, in a world riddled with conflict and overflowing with professional and amateur reportage, it’s often the images which stay with us the most. Chris Hombros was one of the most celebrated and highly-respected war photographers of …
Film Review: The Valley
When different traditions and societies collide, it’s normally a recipe for tension and instability. It’s a familiar story for many immigrants. The first-generation struggle to forge a new life, bringing their own culture and customs with them. Their children grow up in completely different surroundings, faced with a new set of challenges and values; with …
Film Review: Erase and Forget
I can’t think of any country in the world which has the same kind of fascination with the ‘all-action hero’ as the United States of America. Whilst Action Man may have started out as a toy, during the 1980s there was an obsession with one-man killing machines. Whilst Arnie, Chuck Norris and Bruce Willis may …
Film Review: A Suitable Girl
It must be an absolute nightmare for teenagers growing up in a world of social media, Snapchat, Tinder and Grindr. Everything we do or say nowadays can be instantly captured and uploaded. Dating agencies and ads in the paper have been replaced by swiping right and Instagram filters. Imagine the complication of adding family into …
Film Review: Makala
Over the course of history, most civilisations and societies have relied on agriculture and fishing to survive. However, due to technological advances in the First and Developing Worlds, traditional farming has become increasingly unsustainable and scarce. Whilst the Third World is beginning to move away from traditional industries, millions of people still rely on them …
Film Review: The Cinema Travellers
It’s easy to take for granted how readily available films are nowadays. My city, for example, has four multiplexes and two independent cinemas. Then there’s special events and local cinema clubs/societies. Not to mention the ease of streaming movies in your own home. We’re fortunate in the UK. Even the more remote places aren’t too …
Film Review: Lover for a Day
Philippe Garrel trades in relationships. The French director’s focus is on that eternal fascination for many of his countrymen; love. With a filmography including Regular Lovers, Wild Innocence, The Birth of Love and Emergency Kisses, it’s not like he makes any secret of it. Following on from Jealousy and In the Shadow of a Woman, …
Film Review: A Woman’s Life
If you’re looking for an uplifting and happy cinematic experience you should really think twice about going to see a Stéphane Brizé film. The French director is in his element when ensconced in intricate studies of human endurance and suffering. His last film, The Measure of a Man, picked up a number of awards and …
Film Review: Jupiter’s Moon
There’s been no bigger news story, around the world, this decade than the continuing refugee crisis. It is a social and political issue which has been covered extensively by documentary film-makers, most effectively by Ai Weiwei in Human Flow, Gianfranco Rosi in Lost at Sea and Steph Ching and Ellen Martinez in After Spring. In …
Film Review: Glory
Eastern European cinema has changed considerably over the decades, but it has had a tendency to reflect the concerns and problems of normal people. After decades of censorship, as the old Eastern Bloc opened itself up to capitalism and the EU, the nature of its cinema changed. However, disillusionment set in, and with the financial …