Last year I reviewed the Russell Crowe-helmed The Exorcism, a film I made a big deal out of for being filmed all the way back in 2019, only to be pushed out a whole five years later in 2024. Well, that seems mighty quaint now compared to the curious case […]
Jake Kazanis
Essex Boy, Gus Van Sant loyalist, Shyamalan truther, gets unreasonably sad if I don't watch a film every day.
Bushido (2024) (Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025)
The two and half millennia-old board game Go plays a pivotal role in this sprawling jidaigeki drama from Japan. The story concerns an array of characters living in a civilised town during Japan’s Edo period (between 1600 and mid-1800s), but the central relationship follows Yanagida (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi), a mysterious former […]
Performance (1970) Nicholas Roeg and Donald Cammell’s Exile on Notting Hill
It’s hard to discuss the breakdown and disillusionment of British and American culture of the 1960s going into the new decade, one of the richest and most well-documented periods in modern art, without bringing up The Rolling Stones. Throughout the scattering of the flower power movement and the Manson Murders, […]
King Baby (London International Fantastic Film Festival 2024) A Royally Horny Romp
Patriarchy, masculinity, the royal establishment, British theatre duo Kit Redstone and Arran Shearing take it all on in this bizarre lo-fi period comedy. The story takes place in a desolate castle ruin in France, the time period is left ambiguous though. In this kingdom live the King, his loyal Servant… […]
Sujo (2024) Mexico’s Oscar Submission is a Generic Affair
Mexican creative duo Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez write and direct this low-key Mexican crime drama, one that’s disinterested in the macho conventions of the gangster film and instead focuses on the long-lasting consequences organized crime has on women, children, and the boys who grow up in this environment. Sujo […]
Made in Japan (2018) and Winny (2023) Tales of Modern Strife in Japan (Review)
From Sakka Films we have a double bill from Yusaku Matsumoto, a Japanese filmmaker who brings us two very thematically linked efforts based around morality and justice in modern day Japan. Made in Japan is a 2018 short that opens with a disturbing, violent murder that is then widely publicised […]
Noroi: The Curse (2005) A Modern Classic in the Analogue Canon
Mention the term ‘found-footage horror’ to anyone and they’re sure to bring to mind any of the big hitters: [REC], Cloverfield, Unfriended, Creep, and of course the big one, Paranormal Activity (as well as its many, many sequels). That film in particular took the genre to such a stripped back, […]
Delivery Run (Grimmfest 2024)
Online food delivery workers finally get their moment in the headlights in Joel Palmroos’ wintry rendition of Steven Spielberg’s road rage classic Duel. Getting it’s World Premiere at the recent Grimmfest, Delivery Run is a Finnish production set in Minnesota USA but seamlessly filmed entirely in Lapland. The story revolves […]
The Albino’s Trees (2016) Eiko Ishibashi Scored Killing of a Sacred Deer (Review)
This modest, low budget drama aims high as a Japanese take on Greek tragedy that’s lightly based on the two millennia-old story of Agamemnon’s sacrifice (and also beating Yorgos Lanthimos to the punch by a year). A film by Masakazu Kaneko, who serves as director, writer, producer, editor, and cinematographer, […]
Animale (Fantastic Fest 2024)
When it comes to the combination of body horror and monstrous feminine-centered stories, nobody is doing quite like the French are. With filmmakers like Coralie Fargeat and Julia Ducornau currently pushing the genre to bold new places and creating these complex, disturbed heroines, we’re almost in the middle of a […]