Film
Blu-Ray Review: The Infernal Affairs Trilogy
While Hong Kong is geographically small, it has always punched well above its weight. It became one of the biggest financial centres in the world. Space is at a premium and it can feel like they built upwards towards the stars; which can be a dizzying experience. Its status has sadly changed since the Chinese …
Blu-Ray Review – Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Many white Americans seem obsessed with tracing their genealogies back through Europe. Indeed, a visit to Scotland isn’t complete without bumping in to at least one person from the ‘new world’ who is searching for their ancestral home. While history is perennially popular, so are myths and legends. The likes of Kind Arthur and Robin …
Film Review: Million Dollar Pigeons
Whilst it’s hardly an Olympic sport, pigeon racing is surprisingly still quite popular in many places around the world; especially in Asia. While it can be traced back almost two thousand years, it has been given a new lease of life with the concept of ‘one loft racing’. This is where a group of the …
Film Review: Scrap
In the twenty-first century, the ‘developed world’ has solidified itself as an acolyte of the god of consumerism. Shiny new things are bought on a whim and discarded with an equal amount of thought. Our lives are built on disposability. Instead of repairing or patching we simply replace. Make do and mend is largely a …
Film Review: Leonor Will Never Die
The twenty-first century has seen a renewed fascination with the art of filmmaking and the very essence of cinema. This has led to a number of films which have been both a celebration of the process and enjoyed breaking the fourth wall. To exit one narrative and enter a completely new one. This form of …
Blu-ray Review: The Trial
There are probably no other American directors who can hold a candle to Orson Welles when it comes to being an enigma. The larger-than-life figure left a huge mark on cinema. He was a genius who had a habit of starting a project and then getting distracted. Or running out of money. Then again, when …
Blu-Ray Review: The Teckman Mystery
Today, while women still struggle to experience a level playing with men when it comes to filmmaking, it was rare to see anyone but a white man behind the camera in post-war Britain. Indeed, along with Muriel Box, Wendy Toye was one of the only pioneering female directors during the 1950s and 1960s. She started …
Blu-Ray Review: The Draughtsman’s Contract
Of all the British directors of the last 50 years, Peter Greenaway is arguably the most interesting. A painter by training, he brought this art into every inch of his filmmaking. Every shot feels meticulously composed. Celluloid is his canvas. Using landscape and portrait to ensure that each scene is impeccably constructed. Using nature as …
IDFA Review: Racist Trees
While America will claim that it’s a multicultural country which treats all its citizens the same, it has a really troubling history with race. While slavery was officially abolished in the 19th century, it wasn’t until the Civil Rights Act a hundred years later that segregation and discrimination on the grounds of race became illegal. …
Blu-Ray Review: Reservoir Dogs
When Quentin Tarantino released Reservoir Dogs in 1992, it had a huge impact on Hollywood. The early 1990s were a time of change. A scrappy, almost risqué, period, when a DIY ethos and ‘pulp fiction’ were enjoying a renaissance. He would go on to have a profound influence on a generation of filmmakers. A voracious …