Blog Archives

13th - trailer

27/9/2016

Showing at both the New York and London Film Festivals. Looks powerful. From the director of SELMA.

20th Century Women - teaser trailer

27/9/2016

It has been six long years since Mike Mills' superb BEGINNERS.

Out to Own Today: The Nice Guys and The Commune

26/9/2016

Out to own today:

The Nice Guys

“Look on the bright side. Nobody got hurt,” Holland March (Ryan Gosling)
“People got hurt,” Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe)
“I'm saying, I think they died quickly; so I don't think they got hurt,” Holland March

Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe fumble the shoddy script. Like DEADPOOL, everyone seems so pleased with themselves. A disappointment from the writer of LETHAL WEAPON and THE LAST BOY SCOUT. THE NICE GUYS is far less funny than it thinks it is. The gag rate is high, but the misses outweigh the hits. As the clangers pile up, there would be awkward silences except for the bone-crunching punch sounds and the ear-splitting gunshots.
[To read more, click here.]

The Commune

“I annoy people. It’s my personality,” Allon (Fares Fares)

I even like director Thomas Vinterberg’s IT’S ALL ABOUT LOVE. Anyone else? Anyone actually seen it? When a filmmaker has the ability to make something as piercing as FESTEN and THE HUNT, whatever they make next will be met with interest. That Vinterberg has gone soft, and made a period dramedy, loosely based on his childhood experiences in a Danish commune, had one wondering if he could deliver a project without his usual bite. Unfortunately, in its place are heavy-handed (supposedly) humorous observations and grating melodrama.
[To read more, click here.]

London Film Festival 2016 - press screenings day four

26/9/2016

A WOMAN'S LIFE ★★☆☆☆
D: Stéphane Brizé (The Measure of a Man, Not Here to Be Loved).
S: Judith Chemla, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Yolande Moreau, Clotilde Hesme.

Padded, repetitive, monotone catalogue of misery. 19th century patriarchy condemnation needed far more vitality.

ZOOLOGY ★★★☆☆
D: Ivan I. Tverdovsky.
S: Natalia Pavlenkova, Dmitry Groshev, Irina Chipizhenko.

A woman grows a tail, and suffers even more after brief moments of hope. Society's cruelty is the target.

HEAL THE LIVING ★★★★☆
D: Katell Quillévéré.
S: Tahar Rahim, Emmanuelle Seigner, Anne Dorval, Bouli Lanners, Kool Shen, Monia Chokri, Alice Taglioni, Karim Leklou, Alice de Lencquesaing, Finnegan Oldfield, Théo Cholbi, Gabin Verdet, Dominique Blanc.

Stylish, emotional, tense. Melodrama of the highest order. Juxtaposition of scenes deft.

London Film Festival 2016 - press screenings day three

23/9/2016

HERMIA & HELENA ★★☆☆☆
D: Matías Piñeiro.
S: Agustina Muñoz, María Villar, Mati Diop.

Pretentious. Grating. Cloying camerawork. Post-mumblecore tedium. Continually dropped into uninteresting lives.

DON’T BLINK - ROBERT FRANK ★★☆☆☆
[documentary]
D: Laura Isreal.

Perfunctory, cursory doc on photographer/filmmaker. Contrast BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK or THE SALT OF THE EARTH.

SPACESHIP ★★☆☆☆
D: Alex Taylor.
S: Alexa Davies, Antti Reini, Steven Elder.

Inconsequential. Woeful storytelling, characterisation and dialogue. Decent style though.

London Film Festival 2016 - press screenings day two

22/9/2016

THE RED TURTLE ★★★★½
D: Michael Dudok de Wit.
Artistic producer: Isao Takahata.

A Studio Ghibli co-production. Barring Miyazaki, their best in years. Deceptively simplistic. Moving. Unexpected.

WILD ★★★½☆
D: Nicolette Krebitz.
S: Lilith Stangenberg, Georg Friedrich, Silke Bodenbender, Saskia Rosendahl.

Surreal, funny, erotic. Taboo-busting maybe the dominant force, but there's more going on.

INDIVISIBLE ★★★½
D: Edoardo de Angelis.
S: Gaetano Bruno, Marco Mario de Notaris, Angela Fontana, Marianna Fontana.

Self-determination, co-dependency, exploitation. Unusual portrait of almost post-apocalyptic poverty.