London Film Festival is in full swing and is currently hosting some of the world’s biggest stars and directors. Audiences have been treated to massive screenings of films that will be competing for the big awards come next year. There’s something tantalising about the prospect of seeing these films before […]
Jimmy Dean
London Film Festival and Good Days
The 70th edition of the London Film Festival officially kicked off yesterday. The festival will screen 251 titles (comprising features, shorts, series and immersive works) from 88 countries. Kristy Matheson, Artistic Director of BFI Film Festivals, has curated a mammoth programme which will welcome some of the world’s best directors […]
World Noir Vol. 5 – Post War Italy in Crisis (1946, 1950 & 1951)
A friend of mine, who is becoming an avid film fan and physical media collector, was asking me about Radiance Films. He said that their stuff always looked good but he had next to no knowledge about any of it. This is where my face lit up. That’s the beauty […]
The Stunt Man (1980) When Making a Movie Becomes a Matter of Life and Death
One of the Special Feature commentaries for The Stunt Man opens with director Richard Rush claiming that “Putting a dog licking his balls in the title sequence, I suppose, is letting the audience know it’s going to be an iconoclastic picture.” It’s an eye-catching opening, a wild accompanying statement and […]
Blood of Revenge (1965) A Yakuza Tale Characterised by Beautiful Compositions
It’s a privilege to be sitting down today to write about Blood of Revenge, Radiance Films sixth release from overlooked genre master Tai Kato. 2025 was a year of disruption for me, a seemingly never-ending time of upheaval that left no energy to write about films. Luckily for me, as […]
Oil Lamps (1971) Juraj Herz’s dazzling and decadent psycho-sexual period piece
I’m a little late to the latest Second Run party because I’ve been caught up moving house. As a welcome escape from packing stress, I found myself lost in the Blu Ray World Premiere of Juraj Herz’s Oil Lamps (1971). Second Run have been a long-time champion of Herz’s work, […]
The Terminal Man (1974) Alienation and Loss of Identity in Los Angeles
When David Lynch recently passed away, I ended up reflecting on my High School Film Studies teacher who introduced me to Mulholland Drive (2001) and sent me down the rabbit hole. That class was life-changing, a crash course in film history, where he had the freedom to draw out some […]
Nomad (1982) & My Heart is that Eternal Rose (1989): Breathtaking Films from the Hong Kong New Wave
New year, same me. I’m back in the trusted hands of Radiance Films, who defined my 2024 with new discoveries and new obsessions. With their latest double disc release of Nomad and My Heart is That Eternal Rose, Radiance have thrust me into the Hong Kong New Wave to discover […]
Fugitive Images (2013-2019) Selected Works by Andrea Luka Zimmerman – The Evergreen Importance of Community and Erasure
Second Run have been spoiling me over the last few weeks. Hot off the heels of their incredible release of Days and Afternoon: Two Films by Tsing Ming-Liang, they’ve released Fugitive Images – Selected works by Andrea Luka Zimmerman. They’ve upgraded their previous DVD release, which Mark Cunliffe eloquently covered […]
Days & Afternoon (2015 & 2020) Two Films by Tsai Ming-Liang
I only watched Goodbye Dragon Inn for the first time in 2022. I hadn’t seen anything like it before. I wasn’t new to slower cinema, but I was new to Tsai Ming-liang, who seemed to have cast a spell on me — I was transfixed by his images and blown […]