Dogwoof
Film Review: Assassins
Whilst there remain a few secretive regimes around the world, none are quite as covert or fascinating as North Korea. Since the end of the Korean War, its borders have essentially been closed. Whilst we’re only afforded slivers of information from defectors or visitors, it’s clear that the Kim Family’s cult of personality, alongside the …
Film Review: 76 Days
Wuhan is a city of 11 million people in the Hubei province of central China. Odds are you probably hadn’t heard of it until late December 2019, when it became the epicentre for global news following the outbreak of a disease which would rapidly morph into a global pandemic. COVID-19 has gone on to take …
Film Review: MLK/FBI
Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most important, influential and pivotal social and political figures in America during the second half of the twentieth century. His central role in the civil rights movement and his untimely death are ingrained within the psyche of the country. His determination to protest peacefully and exact nonviolent …
Film Review: Sing Me a Song
How often do you find yourself watching a film and when it ends wondering how it will all turn out? Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but several years down the line. Richard Linklater answered that question quite beautifully in his ‘Before’ trilogy. That prospect of a brighter future can easily sour. In Happiness, Thomas …
Film Review: The Mole Agent
Life expectancy has been steadily rising since the Industrial Revolution in the ‘First World’. This has been largely thanks to improvements in standards of living, healthcare availability and scientific breakthroughs. Along with decades of (relative) peace, this has led to aging populations. Public services and elderly care have failed to keep up, whilst diseases such …
Film Review: Collective
Since the fall of the Ceaușescu regime in 1989, Romania has struggled to mirror the democratic countries to its west. Corruption has been rife and has wheedled its way into most aspects of everyday life. This has caused consternation within the European Commission and led to a number of demonstrations and reforms to tackle the …
Film Review: I Am Greta
Our climate stands at a tipping point, perched in the most precarious position it has been in since the last ice age. We now live in a truly global world where everything is connected. The decimation of the rain forests and the melting of the ice caps has dire consequences for everyone, wherever you may …
LFF Review: The Painter and The Thief
As Mark Twain once opined, “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.” As current events are demonstrating all too comprehensively, sometimes you just couldn’t make it up. When it comes to cinema, it can often be those true stories which are the most fascinating …
LFF Review: Stray
It’s unusual to see stray dogs on the streets of most Western countries. Whilst canis familiaris is a common sight almost everywhere else in the world, pets without owners tend to end up in animal rescues or shelter; with a limited life expectancy. However, In Turkey, they’re very much part of the landscape and the …
Film Review: Rebuilding Paradise
In late 2018, rapid wildfires surged through Bute County in northern California, leading to an almost indescribable tragedy. The Camp Fire was the deadliest in the United States for a century and in the history of the state. The town of Paradise was almost completely decimated, with the loss of 85 civilians and displacing 50,000 …