Category: Reviews
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10.000 Km – Review
Whether you know it or not, love is one of the grand constants of cinema; our relationships with characters, our investment in a film’s story, and even our perception of morality is all tied up in the L word, and how the tricky thing meddles with everything it touches. But it’s still something that can… Read More >
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Mardan – Review
Mardan’s opening shot is as intense as they come: a face in close-up, its haunted eyes staring into the lens so as to not meet the glare of some awful monster on the other side of the camera. But there are no monsters in in this commendably solid feature from Batin Ghobadi – just painful… Read More >
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X+Y – Review
Director Morgan Matthews has a considerable background in documentaries. One of them, 2007’s Beautiful Young Minds, focused on the selection process that a group of talented youngsters – many of them autistic – wen through for the International Mathematical Olympiad. It didn’t take great powers of arithmetic to add up that this would make for… Read More >
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Next to Her – Review
Like the Oscar-winning Ida, Next to Her represents another movie that, while brief, is filled with as much complexity as a film double its length. There are much worse ways to spend 80 minutes of your life. Next to Her is, at its core, a love story – although not one you might expect. Chelli… Read More >
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Girlhood – Review
Putting on make-up before taking part in a fight may not seem the most logical thing to do, but for the gang of girls in Girlhood, c’est la vie: dolling yourself up and getting ready for a bruising are one and the same. Marieme (first-time actor Karidja Touré) is a young black teen, growing up… Read More >
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While We’re Young – Review
“The opening film of the Glasgow Film Festival; While We’re Young is a deceptively smart comedy that will have you squirming in your seats with repeated twinges of recognition. You’ll hate yourself for knowing every nuance on screen about growing old disgracefully. And you’ll love every minute of watching it.” Read More >
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Mommy – Review
“Xavier Dolan is one talented chap. In only five years, he has released as many films – and at the time of writing, is still only twenty-five. But for all the critical bluster that has surrounded his previous work, it’s with Mommy that he finally earns the label of ‘prodigy’.” Read More >
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A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence – Review
“For a film obsessed with death, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence has a surprising amount of life running through its veins. Roy Andersson’s Golden Lion-winner is a work of challenging yet accessible art that can’t be – ahem – pigeonholed.” Read More >
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Monsters: Dark Continent – Review
Science-fiction movies have always belonged to one of two camps: the pulp-heavy actioner (Aliens), or the cerebral cine-poem (2001: A Space Odyssey). Once every blue moon, there’ll be a movie that belongs, in most respects, to both, and Monsters: Dark Continent is a prime example – but it’s not without its flaws. 2010’s Monsters represented… Read More >
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Rosewater – Review
Jon Stewart has always attracted attention in both political and media spheres; his incisive and outspoken views have rattled the cages of some, and broken those of others wide open. Rosewater, his directorial debut, is his attempt to show us that he is also an important presence behind the camera as well as in front… Read More >
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