“The Dissident”: Film Review
Bryan Fogel’s account of a Washington Post columnist’s disappearance brings the man behind the story vividly back to life.
“Edie”: Film Review
Edie is a surprising film. It sets out in an unassuming way and develops into something genuinely affecting. It tells the story of a widow in her early eighties, Edie.
“Baby Done”: Film Review
An inventively disturbing life of the mind is camouflaged by cheerful wholesomeness in “Baby Done”, a low key comedy that flirts with big themes.
A List of Inspiring Films: Impressions
I have been talking to lots of people these days, even more than usual: checking up via WhatsApp on my relatives, you know – the ones you usually talk to at Christmas.
“Make Up”: Film Review
A young woman becomes her own Rebecca in “Make Up”, Claire Oakley’s directorial debut, with flashforwards that push her into adulthood.
“Il Mio Corpo”: Film Review
The last instalment of Michele Pennetta’s Sicilian trilogy, “Il Mio Corpo”, is an affecting chamber piece that plays out under huge skies.
“Bacurau”: Film Review
Sassy, lethal, and disconcerting, “Bacurau” brings a powerfully surreal twist to the story of Brazil’s cinema of resistance.
“The Shape of Water”: Film Review
Like all the most accomplished fairy tales, Guillermo del Toro’s world of wonders, “The Shape of Water”, opens with a sense of promise, of magical things to come, and inevitably, with an undertone of darkness.
Russian Film Week 2020 – Part 1
Russian Film Week is back and in fine form. Opening with “The Whaler Boy”, Philipp Yuryev’s Venice Days winner, the programme also features shorts, masterclasses and talks, including a conversation with Andrey Zviagintsev.
“Detroit”: A Collision of Genres
Nightmare on 12th Street. July 1967, a sweltering summer in Detroit. The city erupts into rebellion. Looting, arson, snipers.
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind”: Film Review
It’s over 40 years since film audiences were struck by the childlike wonder of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.
“Colour Out of Space”: Film Review
This stellar adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Colour Out of Space” marks a brilliant return for cult director Richard Stanley.
“I am Thinking of Ending Things”: Film Review
Darkly compelling and brilliantly unreliable, Philip Kaufman’s “I am Thinking of Ending Things” is an imploded kaleidoscope filled with broken shards.
“The Killing of a Sacred Deer”: Film Review
Colin Farrell becomes a troublingly perfect Agamemnon in this new film by Yorgos Lanthimos.
“Coup 53”: Film Review
A chirpy and entertaining film about a dark story with terrible consequences, “Coup 53” is charmingly didactic yet raises the question: what is documentary film for?