Given that he directed some of the finest American films of all time, it’s easy to overlook Alfred Hitchcock’s status as a British filmmaker. Famously characterized as the Master of Suspense, Hitchcock’s work defined much of the 1940s and 50s, back home though most of his work came in the […]
Rob Simpson
Chief Editor
Host of the Uncut Network. With a love of movies kicked off by Hong Kong Action and Claymation Monsters, Rob has forever been cradled in the bosom of Cinema. Rob has his hands in many a pie, including no budget film making.
A Special Day (1977) A beautiful study of two souls lost in plain sight (Review)
To see a film open with 10 minutes of historical footage of Hitler and his pre-World War II rallies, without a hint of irony or lazy short-hand, is a little disconcerting. It’s unconventional to see such a villain of modern history portrayed without any filter, perhaps, but there is a […]
Pool of London (1951) Blazing a Trail for Black British Cinema (Review)
Studio Canal’s latest presentation of London’s finest cinema exponent, Ealing studios, defied all expectations for what one of their films should be. Basil Dearden’s Pool of London evokes the charm associated with an Ealing film whilst also including a complexity beyond the studio’s typical relationship with criminality. An approach to […]
Body Double (1984) Misogyny and the self satirising artist? (Review)
Indicator Series has launched this Monday with a wonderful statement of intent, elsewhere on the site you can read our review of John Carpenter’s Christine, a release supplemented with the most definitive roster of extras one could hope for. The same is true of their other debut release, Brian De […]
Dark Water (2002) The Dramatic Face of J-Horror and Creeping Dread (Review)
In a newly recorded interview, director Hideo Nakata not only talks about his rise through the studio system and his big break directing the original Ring, but he also talks about Dramatic Horror. Such a notion is only given credibility by the art-house, independent and marginalized, even in the parts […]
Creepy (2016) Menacing, and gives the bird to decades of police procedural (Review)
Kiyoshi Kurosawa is no stranger to 2016, already his previous film, Journey to the Shore, saw release on Masters of Cinema and that charming albeit misunderstood film took a fascinating posture on saying goodbye. His second film of the year debuted during the London Film festival and, of the two, […]
Electra My Love (1974) The world’s finest historical, political dance movie (Review)
Whether Slovak, Hungarian or South East Asian, a country’s cinematic output requires a degree of cultural and historical context; add (the) former Czechoslovakia, and you have the cross-section that makes up the DNA of Second Run’s remit. Nuances naturally occur, but the consistencies in these nations are modern histories demarcated […]
Psychomania (1973) Black Magic, Low Budgets and glorious British camp (Review)
Rational thought is the last thing in the world you should bring to B-movies, so much so it’ll be difficult to even pass the title card of Psychomania – the latest release on BFI’s wonderful Flipside brand – before the hokum hits the fan. Don Sharp (Rasputin, the Mad Monk) […]
Nostalgia (1983) Diving into Tarkovsky’s Deep End (Review)
Curzon Artificial Eye releases the penultimate film from Andrei Tarkovsky’s filmography in Nostalgia. Post-Stalker, Tarkovsky planned to make “The First Day” – a film that would interrogate atheism in the Soviet Union. Long story short. He had a major confrontation with Goskino (USSR committee for cinematography) whereby the half-finished film […]
Hiroshi Inagaki – The Samurai Trilogy (1955-56) Not Quite Samurai Classics (Review)
History is dense with folk icons; men and women whose stories have translated with great success to the cinema with the Wong Fei Hung’s and Spartacus’s of the world over-represented. Here in Britain, we tend to treat our historical figures with the wrong side of a sharp blade, abandoning them […]