There’s a famous idiom that, in simple terms, states that comedy is simply tragedy plus time, but is the reverse also true? Recently released on Blu-ray by Studio Canal, Alvin Rakoff’s The Comedy Man (1964), is a satirical take on the kitchen sink dramas that were popular during that period, […]
Social realism
Medusa Deluxe (2022) Social Realist Murder Mystery with all the Pizzazz (Review)
Medusa Deluxe (2022) is a murder mystery thriller set in the backbiting world of competitive hairdressing. Big hair and even bigger egos collide in a tense and taut mystery that keeps the viewer guessing until the very end. Medusa Deluxe is like Showgirls with more hair extensions. Fabulous, extravagant and […]
Leaving to Remain (2022) A Collage of Roma Life in Britain (Review)
In both fiction and documentary, British moviegoers are largely presented with the same story about migrating to Britain: the arduous journey; the difficulty of fitting in; tales of suffering and overcoming hardships. Even a film like the highly acclaimed Flee from last year, which is ultimately optimistic, spends considerable time […]
The Whisper of Silence (2020) Fascinatingly Meditative Yet Risks Aimlessness at Times (Review)
Apostasy (2017) a splash of cold water on the sometimes sleepy face of British filmmaking (Review)
At what point does the care and attention of a close-knit community become too close, evolving into a punishing system of abuse and control? What separates legitimate beliefs from the parasitic, overbearing decrees of an extremist cult? If you’re looking for ambiguous and equivocating answers to those questions, don’t watch […]
The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner (1962) one of the greatest endings to a film ever (Review)
Based on Alan Sillitoe’s 1959 first-person short story of the same name, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner was an obvious choice for Woodfall Films following the success they had had with a previous adaptation of a Sillitoe novel; Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. It tells the story of […]
Bad Day For The Cut (2017) Coen-like thriller tropes, sturdy social realism, and unique Irish flavour (Review)
When the mother he both lived with and doted on is violently bludgeoned to death in an apparent home invasion, middle-aged and seemingly mild-mannered farmer Donal (Nigel O’Neill) takes his shotgun and newly restored campervan and sets out from their remote farmstead looking for answers and revenge. What he comes […]
The Olive Tree (2016) Spanish Social Realism and the history of our homelands (Review)
The Olive Tree (or El Olivo as it’s known in its native Spanish) is director Icíar Bollaín’s third collaboration with the writer and long-term screenwriting partner of Ken Loach, Paul Laverty. It is an aesthetically beautiful, heartfelt and spiritual film that explores the notions of hope, tradition, history and economic […]
The Unknown Girl (2016) Soap Opera Drama framed as documentary-style Belgian Social Realism (Review)
The Unknown Girl is the latest film from the Belgian Dardenne brothers, those purveyors of social realism who achieved critical and commercial acclaim most recently for their 2014 film Two Days, One Night, which starred Marion Cotillard as Sandra, a young woman who, following an absence from work due to […]