This week saw the long overdue physical re-issue of David Cronenberg's seminal 1996 film Crash via an extraordinarily lavish Arrow Video release. Replete with hours of extras, it will surely be the definitive release of the film. One of the hallmarks of a true cinematic great is it's ability to reveal new things to you … Continue reading Minutiae: The Positive Approach to Disability in Cronenberg’s Crash
Director: Hong Sang-soo Stars: Kim Min-hee, Song Seon-mi, Seo Young-hwa South Korean director Hong Sang-soo often feels to me like a modern day Éric Rohmer. His films are similarly small in scale, focusing on miniature comedies and dramas within small social microclimates. He's also similarly prolific, churning out multiple efforts a year sometimes. His are … Continue reading Review: The Woman Who Ran
Director: George C Wolfe Stars: Chadwick Boseman, Viola Davis, Glynn Turman On 28th August this year the world stopped at the news Chadwick Boseman had died. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom arrives now on Netflix labored with the weight of containing the last performance of this firebrand young actor, taken from us just as he was … Continue reading Review: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Director: Steve McQueen Stars: Kenyah Sandy, Sharlene Whyte, Naomi Ackie Steve McQueen's Small Axe series of films comes to a bittersweet close with what appears to be his most personal tale - and possibly the most personally motivated piece of work in his career thus far. Throughout the strand, McQueen has spotlighted institutions that have failed … Continue reading Review: Education
Director: Albert Serra Stars: Iliana Zabeth, Helmut Berger, Marc Susini Consisting in the main of a furtive, debauched orgy in the moonlit French woods toward the end of Louis XVI's reign - conducted by libertines expelled from his court - Albert Serra's Liberté was largely rejected at Cannes in 2019 but has recently surfaced for … Continue reading Review: Liberté
The top ten Portrait of a Lady on FireNever Rarely Sometimes AlwaysEmaBeanpoleA Hidden LifeLovers RockOverseasDick Johnson is DeadRelicAn Easy Girl Film Of The YearPortrait of a Lady on Fire Céline Sciamma's fourth directorial effort is some kind of masterpiece. The initially diffident, then slow-thawing relationship between painter, Marianne (Noémie Merlant), and subject, Héloïse … Continue reading The Best of 2020
Director: Steve McQueen Stars: Sheyi Cole, Jonathan Jules, Robbie Gee One of the points I wanted to cover (but skipped for the sake of relative brevity) in my review of Red, White and Blue was how important music remained to the storytelling; as vital an element as any in Steve McQueen's milestone Small Axe series. In last … Continue reading Review: Alex Wheatle
Director: Carlo Mirabella-Davis Stars: Haley Bennet, Denis O'Hare, Elizabeth Marvel Around the turn of the last century, a popular 'exhibit' at a touring freakshow would be the 'geek'; a person willing to eat anything at all - living, inanimate - to the delight and revulsion of incredulous spectators. The shock of this disturbing impulse - … Continue reading Review: Swallow
Director: David Fincher Stars: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Tuppence Middleton Thanks to his episodic endeavours for Netflix - House of Cards but chiefly Mindhunter - it's been six long years since we were gifted A Film by David Fincher. The drought is up with this stylishly monochrome biopic of rummy Hollywood screenwriter Herman 'Mank' Mankiewicz. … Continue reading Review: Mank
Year: 2003 Director: Tsai Ming-Liang Stars: Chen Hsiang-Chyi, Kiyonobu Mitamura, Lee Kang-Sheng Cinema as a medium - and, more pointedly for this piece, as an industry - will return and thrive again. Of this I am particularly optimistic. We love the movies too much. We love the ceremony of going, and all the associated tactile … Continue reading Why I Love… #122: Goodbye, Dragon Inn
