Incoming: A Little Chaos
A Little Chaos follows Sabine (Winslet), a strong-willed landscape designer who challenges sexual and class barriers when she is chosen to build one of the main gardens at King Louis XIV’s new palace at Versailles, causing her to become professionally and romantically entangled with the court’s renowned landscape architect André Le Notre (Schoenaerts). A Little …
Film Review: Home From Home: Chronicle Of A Vision
When Edgar Reitz made the Heimat film series in 1984 he created an incredible chronicle of German rural life in the 20th century. He went on to release another couple of mini-series, bringing events up to the modern era. At over 53 hours they were beautifully made and together are an epic saga of the …
DVD Review: Fruit of Paradise
Communism has been inadvertently responsible for a raft of great films and brilliant directors. Despite heavy censorship under the Soviet regime, the Czech New Wave was responsible for some of the more outlandish, experimental and visionary films of the 1960s. These films were epitomised by their absurdity, dark humour and focus on the ordinary concerns …
Incoming: Child 44
A politically-charged serial killer thriller set in 1953 Soviet Russia, CHILD 44 chronicles the crisis of conscience for secret police agent Leo Demidov [Tom Hardy], who loses status, power and home when he refuses to denounce his own wife, Raisa [Noomi Rapace], as a traitor. Exiled from Moscow to a grim provincial outpost, Leo and …
Film Festival Preview: Derby Film Festival
2014 was the inaugural year of Derby Film Festival in its current guise. Successfully building on the impressive iD Fest and incorporating Fantastiq Film Festival into the programme, it was a high quality, very welcoming and fun affair. This year it has expanded even more – More previews, more top quality films from the vaults …
Film Review: Cobain: Montage Of Heck
Nirvana were undoubtedly a huge band by any measure. However, the untimely death of Kurt Cobain propelled them into musical folklore. The cost of Nirvana CDs suddenly spiralled and a whole new swathe of fans appearing out of nowhere. There have been several films about the mercurial lead singer, but Brett Morgen’s Cobain: Montage of …
DVD Review: What We Do In The Shadows
When done well, comedy and horror can be a fantastic combination. The Evil Dead sequels are probably the best example of this, with Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi creating one of the biggest cult horror franchises. New Zealand has a fine pedigree in this area, notably Peter Jackson’s early work: Braindead, Bad Taste and Meet …
Film Review: Force Majeure
Relationships are based on trust and understanding. There’s a tendency to bury issues and try to continue on with the relationship as if nothing is wrong. Often unsaid anxieties and issues are brought to the fore by seemingly unrelated or unusual events. In Force Majeure, director Ruben Östlund plays on these uncertainties using a ‘Force …
Incoming: Lost River
Lost River weaves elements of fantasy noir and suspense into a modern day fairytale. Set against the surreal dreamscape of a vanishing city, Billy, a single mother of two, is swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld while her teenage son discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town. Both Billy and Bones …
DVD Review: Han Gong-ju
South Korean cinema’s fortune seems to fluctuate like the wind. Around the middle of the last decade it was the Asian powerhouse with international hits such as The Host, A Tale of Two Sisters, Oldboy and Memories of Murder. However, independent films have historically fared much worse, with the films of Kim Ki-duk and Lee …