BFI
LFF Review: Liyana
Whether consciously or not an author’s own life experiences have a habit of creeping into their work. Heroes and villains often spring from our memories, dreams and imaginations. Early Childhood relationships can have a huge influence on what we do with our lives. Things might look grim in 2017 but it’s easy to forget how …
LFF Review: Bad Genius
The pressure to perform well at school has always been intense. However, in Asia they take it to another level. Good exam results can mean the difference between a high-flying career and being stuck in lowly bureaucratic job. Failure can lead to suicide or ostracization. The education sector is a multi-billion-dollar industry with fierce competition …
LFF Review: Jailbreak
With the emergence of the kung-fu of Bruce Lee and subsequently Jackie Chan, martial arts cinema gained a huge worldwide audience. The wuxia of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon took matters into the realms of fantasy and sparked a whole new wave of interest. It was again grounded in the brutal and breathtaking Ong Bak, with …
LFF Review: Hagazussa: A Heathen’s Curse
There are many who still sniff at horror cinema and persist on trying to diminish it. Over the last couple of years, the odious term post-horror has seeped into popular culture. This expression has been used to describe films such as Get Out, Split, It Comes at Night and The Witch, which allows praise to …
LFF Review: Ex-Libris – The New York Public Library
Libraries have played pivotal roles within societies dating all the way back to the ancient Greeks, ancient Egyptians and even the Sumerians. In more modern times, they’ve been a vital public resource, allowing everyone the access to knowledge, information and betterment. However, with pressures growing on public funding and austerity kicking-in around the world, they’ve …
Blu-Ray Review: Daughters of the Dust
Tales of the future and the past, of traditions and progress, have long fascinated film-makers. In America, much of Afro-Caribbean culture and history stems from slavery. Cinema has focussed mainly on this period. However, there’s so much more which often gets left uncovered. African traditions were carried by boat to the New World. In isolated …
Blu-Ray Review: Madame de….
Nothing has captivated audiences from the advent of ‘talkies’ quite like great romantic drama. Whether it’s Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, Dr Zhivago or Brief Encounter, there’s something exhilarated in being swept-up in the moment. Director Max Ophüls was a fan of romance too (as many of his actresses would attest). He made several films …
Blu-Ray Review: FILM NOTFILM
Samuel Beckett is without doubt one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. Renowned for his bleak outlook on human existence, his greatest legacy is Waiting for Godot. A champion of the absurd, the Nobel Prize winner left his mark on both the English and French languages. However, Beckett only ventured into filmmaking …
DVD Review: The Goddess
From the beginning of the 1930s until the Japanese invasion in 1937, Chinese cinema saw its first golden age. Based in Shanghai, a multicultural and Western-oriented city, these films often depicted ordinary people, reflecting the left-wing movement in the city. What is unique about this period is that the majority of the leading roles were …
Blu-Ray Review: El Sur
My favourite Spanish film is undoubtedly Spirit of the Beehive. Director Víctor Erice created a spellbinding tale about the inner life of a seven-year-old girl living in rural Spain. The film tackles themes of family, the civil war and disconnection. Ten years later, he returned with his next film, El Sur. An adaptation of a …