Incoming: The Receptionist
Unable to find a job, Tina, a Taiwanese recent graduate living in London, starts working at an illegal massage parlour as a receptionist. As she gradually comes to know the women in this most dysfunctional of artificial families, where sex lies at the core of everything, she sees how they struggle to find a way …
Film Review: Generation Wealth
America, the land of the plenty. A place where pilgrims voyaged to make new and better lives for themselves. A nation which attracted immigration from around the world with the promise of untold riches and opportunity. Today, that influx still continues, but whilst the motivation remains the same, what is meant by the American Dream …
Incoming: Hotel Artemis
Jean Thomas, aka The Nurse (Jodie Foster) is the manager of the Hotel Artemis, an ultra-exclusive, members-only hospital hidden in a hotel redolent of faded ‘20s glamour. Tough, sharp and utterly fearless, The Nurse treats an assortment of assassins, gunrunners, thieves and gangsters in an unexpected state-of-the-art emergency room capable of providing a new liver …
DVD Review: Gringo
Whilst the ‘American Dream’ may come in many different shapes and sizes, the common denominator is almost always money. Success is measured by the size of your bank balance. On your holiday destination, zip code or the car you drive. Materialism is the new God. Worship at the altar of Mammon. The depths some people …
Blu-Ray Review: The Piano 25th Anniversary Edition
When Greta Gerwig was nominated for Best Director for Lady Bird at the 90th Academy Awards earlier this year, she was only the fifth woman to achieve this feat. Jane Campion is also a member of this (ridiculously) elite club. The New Zealand director is also one of only five female film-makers to be nominated …
Incoming: Incredibles 2
In Incredibles 2,Helen is called on to lead a campaign to bring Supers back, while Bob navigates the day-to-day heroics of “normal” life at home with Violet, Dash and baby Jack-Jack—whose superpowers are about to be discovered. Their mission is derailed, however, when a new villain emerges with a brilliant and dangerous plot that threatens …
Blu-Ray Review: Woman is the Future of Man, Tale of Cinema: Two Films by Hong Sangsoo
Since Shiri caused a box office sensation during the dying embers of the last century, the South Korean film industry has had a new lease of life. Whilst stylish thrillers, comedies and horrors have dominated much of the domestic market, there are a group of directors whose style, vision and audacity have caused ripples across …
Incoming: Summer 1993
With both her parents now dead from AIDS, she is taken to the Catalonian countryside. There are fearsthat she may have inherited the disease from her mother, but it transpires she is free of the virus.Although her aunt, uncle, and her 4 year old cousin Anna welcome her, it’s only very slowly that Fridabegins to …
Film Review: Racer and the Jailbird
When it comes to countries with rich cinematic histories, Belgium has never really ranked as a heavyweight. Indeed, much of the best output to come from that portion of the Low Countries has been courtesy of the Dardenne brothers (The Kid with a Bike, Daens, The Promise, Two Days, One Night etc). They’re not the …
Blu-Ray Review: The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail
Of all the myriad sub-genres of horror cinema, giallo is possibly the most stylistically exuberant, nostalgically eulogised and vividly colourful. Whilst Dario Argento is the director usually associated with this style of film-making, much of his output fell outside of strict genre definitions. The master of the artform was unquestionably Sergio Martino (The Suspicious Death …