See cinema differently
Director: Sean Baker Stars: Simon Rex, Suzanna Son, Ethan Darbone Houston. Dallas. Austin. These are the world-famous cities of Texas. Whatever happened, then, to Texas City? The titular metropolis of one of the most iconic states in America (for better or worse) has been subsumed by it's more prosperous brethren. Presented here in Sean Baker's …
Director: Fran Kranz Stars: Ann Dowd, Martha Plimpton, Reed Birney How do we talk about things too awful to talk about? What are the steps? How do we get there? Fran Kranz - an actor best known to this writer for jokey/sociopathic roles in the Whedonverse - makes his debut as a writer/director in sharp …
Director: Rebecca Hall Stars: Ruth Negga, Tessa Thompson, André Holland There's a scene in Joanna Hogg's The Souvenir in which young prospective filmmaker Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne) is grilled on her desire to make a film about Sunderland dockworkers. She is questioned on why she has chosen a subject so alien to her own experience. One might …
Directors: Joe Lawlor, Christine Molloy Stars: Ann Skelly, Aidan Gillen, Orla Brady I've recently been reading the second edition of Alexandra Heller-Nicholas' exceptional book Rape Revenge Films: A Critical Study. Grueling subject matter, for sure, but Heller-Nicholas chisels down into the tropes of the subgenre, its myriad splinters, and its potential to provide therapy and catharsis …
Director: Sean Durkin Stars: Carrie Coon, Jude Law, Michael Culkin Carrie Coon had appeared on my radar a couple of times before The Leftovers, but it was her turn as Nora Durst in HBO's extraordinary three-season drama that forever earned her a position, in my mind, as one of The Greats. Everything that made Nora the …
Director: Aleem Khan Stars: Joanna Scanlan, Nathalie Richard, Talid Ariss Actor Nasser Memarzia barely appears in After Love, but his character - Ahmed - is present in every scene. A Pakistani immigrant married to a white British woman Mary/Fahina (Joanna Scanlan), Ahmed lives a transitory life thanks to his work, which sees him spending as much …
Director: Florian Zeller Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Imogen Poots, Olivia Colman Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) would be so much more at ease if he knew where his watch was. Time is a great solidifier, you see. We take it for granted, but when you know when you are then the rest all tends to fall into place. …
Director: Karim Kassem Stars: Karim Kassem, Zeinab Hind Khadra, Lyne Ramadan For a new generation of global filmmakers, the lines that separate drama and documentary have become a fertile ground for experimentation and play. One might feel cautious; that the fidelity of the truth might have become watered down after Trump and everything else. But …
Director: Chloé Zhao Stars: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Bob Wells Thus far in a relatively brief but exemplary career, Chloé Zhao has shown a tenderness and sensitivity to microclimates that typify the American Midwest. Be it the reservations of Songs my Brothers Taught Me or the close-knit rodeo bonds of The Rider, her approach has …
Director: Darius Marder Stars: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci Isolation is a persistent concern in Darious Marder's seismic awards hopeful, Sound of Metal - one of the more interesting contenders in this year's crop, as its word-of-mouth groundswell trumps the more calculated prestige trappings of most common contenders. It's the underdog in the mix. The …
Director: Sarah Gavron Stars: Bukky Bakray, Kosar Ali, Shaneigha-Monik Greyson Sarah Gavron first came to my attention with her quirky, singular documentary on life in a remote Greenland hamlet, Village at the End of the World. That film prominently featured a young man often dissatisfied and at odds with his environment. Gavron's latest - a narrative …
Director: Cory Finley Stars: Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Geraldine Viswanathan COVID-19 has been bad for cinemas, undeniably, but also bad for films. While all the summer's planned blockbusters managed to get a pass - delayed until, yknow, whenever - it is most commonly the lower and mid-budget movies that have been allowed to slip through …
Director: Eliza Hittman Stars: Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder, Théodore Pellerin Eliza Hittman's second feature Beach Rats was one of my favourite films of the last decade, though I never wrote about it here on The Lost Highway Hotel. Nevertheless, her sympathetic focus on American youth and her keen observational eye meant that whatever came next would …
Director: Bertrand BonelloStars: Wislanda Louimat, Mackenson Bijou, Louise Labeque, "Listen, white world... as our dead roar..."One of the more complacent - yet valid - truisms of western cinema might just be that the zombie movie has been "done to death". And if overexposure hasn't killed it on the big screen, The Walking Dead has left practically …
Year: 1982 Director: Robert Altman Stars: Karen Black, Cher, Sandy Dennis The weather is scorching. Being a hopeless cinephile, a heatwave first and foremost gets me thinking about 'hot' films. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Wake In Fright. Body Heat etc. Movies defined by sweltering climates, in which the air seems sticky and the actors perspire for our …
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