FIlm Review
Film Review: Through the Wall
The most important thing in a woman’s life is marriage. Well, it is for ultra-Orthodox Jews. It’s often as much about social acceptance as love and companionship. There’s no Tinder or Match.com in the Hasidic community. Instead, there’s a reliance on marriage brokers for those struggling to find ‘the one’. Rama Burshtein’s previous film, Fill …
Film Review: The Son of Joseph
Biblical themes crop up in all kinds of films. Whether it’s Henry Cavill acting all crucified in Man of Steel or notions around what it means to be human in Blade Runner, Christian metaphors, parables, and allegories pop-up in the most unlikely of places. On Occasion, films like the impressive Brand New Testament are more …
Film Review: I Am Not a Serial Killer
The teenage years can be tough. Whilst the vast majority come through the other side relatively unscathed, there are usually one or two scars picked-up along the way. These can be physical or mental. It’s a familiar struggle to find a place in the world with the shadow of adulthood looming large. In Billy O’Brien’s …
Film Review: The Black Hen
There are many casualties of war but it’s often civilians who withstand the worst of the hardships and atrocities. For children growing-up amidst conflict it can be scary, puzzling and (more worryingly) seem normal. Some of the greatest war films have conveyed the horrors through the eyes of a child. It has produced profoundly powerful …
Film Review: The Dreamed Ones
The relationship between film and literature has always been a rather fraught one. It’s very rare for a film to live up to the book it’s based on, let alone surpass it. Non-fiction probably fares best, but novels often get a rough ride. Adapting the written word to the big screen is a tricky business. …
Blu-ray Review: The Royal Tenenbaums (Criterion Collection)
There are few, if any, living directors who have such a large cult fanbase as Wes Anderson. His work is epitomised by its unique visual style, unusual plotting, and recurring cast members. The big breakthrough came with Rushmore, but he subsequently received widespread praise for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Moonrise Kingdom and The …
Blu-Ray Review: Assault on Precinct 13
In general, remakes are a blight on cinema. Probably due to his original films being low-budget and acquiring such a cult status, John Carpenter finds his work keenly coveted for new versions. With Starman and Big Trouble in Little China being in the pipeline, directors and producers never learn that his films are too unique …
Film Review: Magnus
Despite having somewhat of a stigma as a pursuit for ‘nerds’ or ‘dweebs’, chess has maintained a status somewhere between a sport and board game. Grandmasters are treated as celebrities and the World Chess Championship attracts huge media attention. It’s also a documentary favourite, producing Searching for Bobby Fischer, Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine …
Film Review: Creepy
It’s probably worth admitting, before I go any further, that Kairo (Pulse) is my favourite horror film. Before moving into mainstream dramas with the award-winning Journey to the Shore and Tokyo Sonata, director Kiyoshi Kurosawa made a name for himself as one of the leading exponents of Japanese horror cinema. With his new film, Creepy, …
Film Review: The Wailing
There was a period, at the beginning of this century, where South Korea was making the most innovative and exciting films in the world. Oldboy, Memories of Murder, The Host, My Sassy Girl, Tale of Two Sisters, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and A Bittersweet Life could go toe to toe with whatever Hollywood had to …