FIlm Review
Film Review: Pecking Order
There’s nothing like a bit of competition to get the blood flowing. It’s an area where documentaries often come into their own. As humans, we’re determined to win, whether were competing in spelling bees (Spellbound), arcade gaming (King of Kong), competitive tickling (Tickled), ballet (First Position or karting (Racing Dreams). However, you’re unlikely to meet …
Film Review: On Body and Soul
Dreams still remain one of the most mysterious aspects of sentient life. There’s a whole section of literature purely concerned with trying to decode them. We’ll probably never know if androids dream of electric sheep and the human brain still remains a puzzle. If there’s a meaning behind our dreams and nightmares then we’ve yet …
Film Review: In Between
Israeli films which make it as far as the UK, as a rule, tend to fall into two categories. The first, unsurprisingly, is about all aspects of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The second tends to focus on those living outside of the norms of orthodox religion or gender disparity. The latter has been admirably represented of …
Film Review: Kills on Wheels
Assassins come in many shapes and forms, but on film they tend, more often than not, to be single white males. Whether it’s the milk-drinking Jean Reno is Luc Besson’s Léon, the irrepressible Keanu Reeves as John Wick or Edward Fox in The Day of the Jackal. However, Hungarian director Attila Till has other ideas. …
Film Review: My Pure Land
It seems like you can’t turn on the World Service nowadays without hearing another horrendous news story from the Indian sub-continent. More often than not, they’re about something horrific that’s happened to women. In areas such as gender parity or women’s rights, there seems to have been little progress since The Partition. Particularly in rural …
Film Review: My Journey Through French Cinema
Whilst most eyes look to Hollywood and American independent films for their inspiration, it’s arguable that the most innovative, influential and important international cinema has actually come from France. The likes of Renoir, Malle, Godard and Truffaut have inspired countless filmmakers, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In My Journey Through French Cinema, …
Film Review: Strong Island
The arrival of Netflix, and other streaming services, to our shores has heralded a new way of watching TV and films. It has also changed the way film distribution works. Whilst there’s a debate around theatrical versus streaming releases, it has allowed many directors to reach a wider audience. Netflix has a particularly strong offering …
Film Review: Insyriated
With the civil war in Syria gradually approaching its endgame, there’s going to be a huge amount of work to do in terms of rebuilding both the infrastructure and a fragmented society. Riven with conflicts, both with the Assad government and daesh, it’s likely to be a slow process. The crisis has been covered extensively …
Film Review: The Lure
The vast majority of us were not born into money, and the vast majority of us will never be rich. Such is the desire to become wealthy that millions of people play lotteries and gamble against huge odds. However, history has provided us with a much more poetic group with get-rich-quick plans: The treasure hunter. …
Film Review: The Work
In terms of documentary filmmaking, one of the most powerful and frequently covered areas of focus over the past few years has been prison and the criminal justice system. Nowhere is more fascinating, worrying or perplexing than America. Solitary, Into the Abyss and last year’s Academy Award-nominated The 13th all call into question the merits …