Jauja, in Peru, was once thought to be a Mecca of milk and honey. Thought unreachable by man, something attested to by the number of people who went missing while searching for it. Both the aforementioned geographic and mythical hold weight in Lisandro Alonso’s award-winning film of the same name. This exemplary instance […]
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. Filthy
The Face of an Angel (2014) the many faces of a true story adaptation (Review)
Outside traditions of storytelling media, many of the Zeitgeists capturing stories of our time have come from courtrooms. With the Oscar Pistorius case and abuse of civil liberties by now-defunct press outlets to name but two. One which dwarfed those in stature was the long-running Meredith Kercher murder case, forming […]
Fuku-Chan of Fuku Fuku Flats (2015) Heartwarming comedy-drama hiding genius casting (Review)
Yosuke Fujita (Quirky Guys and Gals & Fine, Totally Fine), writes and directs his latest film with an enviable simplicity that film is the awkwardly titled Fuku-Chan of Fuku-Fuku Flats. In which the titular Fuku-Chan is a portly 30-something man contented by the simple day-to-day routine of a construction worker […]
Be My Baby (2013) Gyaru or no, context is everything (Review)
Those who harp on about how awful soap operas are and how the trifecta of Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Eastenders are suffocating TV schedules should spare a thought for people of a similar disposition in Japan. The industry of soap operas is much bigger news over there, with the extreme […]
Paper Moon (1973) Pitch-Perfect Homage to the Golden Age of 1930’s Hollywood (Review)
Films that trade in the retro have become a commodity post-2010, with a countless barrage either slavishly replicating or parodying bygone ages – especially the 1980s. Such films have escaped the cult domain and penetrated the mainstream, truly the mark that something has had its day in the sun. It […]
Tokyo Tribe (2014) Part Manga Movie Part Inspired, One-of-a-Kind Hip-Hopera (Review)
Nobody has quite the same grasp on the enfant terrible director as Japan: the 1960s and 70s had Seijun Suzuki, Kinji Fukusaku, Terou Ishii and countless others; the modern-day has Takashi Miike and the ever-unpredictable Sion Sono, to name just two. Japanese cinema has never had to try hard to […]
Han Gong-Ju (2013) Here’s to the Next Generation of Korean Cinema! (Review)
The Korean New Wave was defined by 3 directors, Kim Jee-Woon, Park Chan-Wook, and Bong Joon-Ho. With them being courted to foreign climes the international stature has seen Korean cinema relegated from the status as the “cool new thing” it used to be. As sad as that it is, it […]
Wooden Crosses (1932) Important, practical, anti-war film (Review)
Raymond Bernard’s 1932 film, Wooden Crosses is a key title in the history of the war film. From a personal perspective, its classification as such is a source of debate; historically, important films can have legendary status by being very modern in their construct, visual potency as well as by […]
Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (2015) Sobering portrait of Japanese loneliness (Review)
Takako Konishi was an office worker from Tokyo who was found dead in Minnesota and became the muse behind the urban legend that the Coen Brothers Fargo is the key to a lost bounty of cash. That same Urban Legend is the key inspiration behind David Zellner’s third film Kumiko […]
Back to 1942 (2012) Come and See China in this gruelling war drama (Review)
The BFI has had many seasons dedicated to many national cinemas, directors, epochs or movements, with their status they have also brought many old science fiction programmes, documentaries or, as is currently the case, Chinese films into a focus they couldn’t enjoy otherwise. Today they have released two home video […]