Film Review: Come True
Anyone who has ever suffered from sleep-related problems, such as insomnia, sleep apnoea or night terrors, knows just how precious sleep is. However, we have all, at one time or another, experienced dreams which are all too vivid. These can take a darker turn when they become nightmares. We’re often haunted by recurring images, themes …
Film Review: The Final Stand
As 1941 rolled on, it looked almost inevitable that Hitler’s seemingly inexorable march eastwards would ensure victory over the Western part of the Soviet Union. By October, the Wehrmacht had its sights trained squarely on Moscow. This battle would eventually change the course of World War II and the Red Army’s defence was desperate. With …
Glasgow Film Festival Review: The Man Standing Next
After the end of Korean War, it took a while for the South to get back on its feet. While the country made great steps forward both economically and technologically in the subsequent decades, it has repeatedly flirted with oppressive and authoritarian regimes. During the presidency of Park Chung-hee, who first came to power in …
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Surge
Ben Whishaw is one of those actors who has quietly gone about his business, amassing an impressive filmography in a relatively short space of time. Whilst the British actor has starred in big budget films like Spectre, The Lobster, Mary Poppins Returns, and of course providing the voice for Paddington, it’s in smaller releases where …
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Rosa’s Wedding
Families come in many shapes and sizes. Each unit is unique, with a complex mix of inter-dependent relationships and hard-won power dynamics. It’s natural in larger broods for people to slip into certain roles over time. There’s normally a dominant force. A patriarch or matriarch and then a range from submissive to controlling and everything …
Glasgow Film Festival: Gagarine
The Cité Gagarine housing project was built on the outskirts of Paris by the Communist Party of France. Named in honour of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who attended its inauguration in 1963, the complex was constructed in the spirit of hope. However, like the political movement itself, by the late twentieth century its fortunes have …
Film Review: Keep an Eye Out
When Quentin Dupieux made Rubber, he created one of the most unusual, unlikely and offbeat horror films the world has ever seen. It seemed incomprehensible that he could out-strange a film about a serial-killing tyre, but he continues to make uniquely off-the-wall cinema. Whether it’s a man obsessed by a jacket, men trying to domesticate …
Glasgow Film Festival Review: BIG vs SMALL
Small, but mighty, Joana Linhares de Andrade constantly defies expectations. The pint-sized Portuguese has the heart of a lion and is the only woman from her country to surf the big waves. However, while nothing seems to faze her, she does have one phobia. Along with many other athletes in her field, she shares the …
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time
Hungary is a nation with a proud history of producing a rich and diverse range of cinema. The turbulent nature of the country’s social and political struggles has been reflected in its filmmaking, with the likes of István Szabó, Miklós Jancsó or Béla Tarr leading the way. However, since the foundation of the National Film …
Film Review: Kombinat
It can be hard to comprehend just how vast Russia is. Even after the dissolution of the old Soviet Union, it remains by far and away the biggest country in the world. Spanning two continents, it’s home to a rich culturally varied and ethnically diverse populous. However, whilst the iron curtain may have fallen decades …