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 …
Film Review: Pecking Order
There’s nothing like a bit of competition to get the blood flowing. It’s an area where documentaries often come into their own. As humans, we’re determined to win, whether were competing in spelling bees (Spellbound), arcade gaming (King of Kong), competitive tickling (Tickled), ballet (First Position or karting (Racing Dreams). However, you’re unlikely to meet …
Blu-Ray Review: The Legend of the Holy Drinker
Whilst he’s best known for playing a replicant in Blade Runner or a mysterious black knight in Ladyhawke, Rutger Hauer has had an eclectic and highly durable career in front of the camera. Whether playing a psychopath in The Hitcher, a Concentration Camp prisoner in Escape from Sobibor or a mercenary captain in Flesh and …
Incoming: Brimstone
Our heroine is Liz (Dakota Fanning), a young and beautiful woman who is being hunted by a vengeful Preacher (Guy Pearce) – a diabolical extremist and her nemesis. But Liz is a genuine survivor; she’s no victim but instead a woman of fearsome strength who responds with astonishing bravery to claim the better life she …
Blu-Ray Review: The Suspicious Death of a Minor
The first gialli films are considered to be Mario Bava’s The Girl Who Knew Too Much and Blood and Black Lace. However, it was Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage which really announced the birth of a new sub-genre. Sergio Martino made a total of six gialli films (including Torso), introducing erotic elements …
Incoming: Last Days in the City
Downtown Cairo, 2009. Khalid, a 35 year old filmmaker is struggling to make a film that captures the soul of his city while facing loss in his own life. With the help of his friends, who send him footage from their lives in Beirut, Baghdad and Berlin, he finds the strength to keep going through …
Blu-Ray Review: See No Evil (Indicator Series)
The loss of a sense is an obviously devastating and life changing experience. Whilst the body and mind can gradually adjust, there’s a period where every day becomes a new learning experience. Sigh, is arguably the most important sense. If the lights go out, the world can become a very strange and scary place. In …
Incoming: Our Last Tango
Written and directed by German Kral (The Last Applause, Música Cubana), Our Last Tango tells the life and love story of Argentina’s most celebrated tango dancers Maria Nieves Rego and Juan Carlos Copes. They met as teenagers and danced together for nearly fifty years, becoming international stars and making the Argentine tango famous around the …
Incoming: Tramontane
Tramontane, literally ‘one who lives on the other side of the mountain’, tells the story of Rabih, a blind musician searching for his true identity after discovering his identification card is a forgery. His search leads him to the far fringes of rural Lebanon, where he is confronted with varying recollections of the past from …
Film Review: On Body and Soul
Dreams still remain one of the most mysterious aspects of sentient life. There’s a whole section of literature purely concerned with trying to decode them. We’ll probably never know if androids dream of electric sheep and the human brain still remains a puzzle. If there’s a meaning behind our dreams and nightmares then we’ve yet …