Film Festival
HRWFF Review: The 8th
Whilst many people in the UK might look on at Ireland with a little jealousy at the moment, the Emerald Isle is by no means perfect. The country is progressive in many ways but, largely due to Roman Catholicism still being the predominant religion, has been often backward in many areas of social policy. Contraception …
French Film Festival UK: Love Affairs
No one does amour quite like the French. Looking in from the outside, it seems to play an important part in their national psyche. Those tangled and complicated webs which spin out across relationships seem to be prevalent in the arts. French cinema reflects this, with a perennially prolific output of romantic comedies and drama. …
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 …
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 …
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Eye of the Storm
While James Morrison may not be a familiar name to most, he has played an important role in post-war Scottish art. Indeed, the Glaswegian has often been credited by many as helping to rejuvenate landscape painting in Scotland. His career spanned over seven decades, beginning with tenements of his native Glasgow and ending with countryside …
Glasgow Film Festival Review: Black Bear
We do not live in a meritocracy and there is no job sector where this is more evident than the film industry. It’s a vocation overpopulated by wealth, nepotism and privilege. A world in which Christopher Abbott casts a rather unique shadow, slowly working his way up and consistently impressing. Since his debut in Martha …