Previously, the only film by the Romanian director Radu Jude to receive a general release in the UK is Aferim!, an eccentric, stylized take on Western genre tropes that slowly reveals itself to be a commentary on a historical atrocity little-known outside Eastern Europe. Now, Second Run have released his […]
Reviews
Prospect (2019): The sci-fi wannabe that coulda been (Review)
The press release that accompanied this indie sci-fi film heralds it as the best since Moon (Duncan Jones, 2009). That film, a decade ago, reminded us exactly what sci-fi is all about. Taking a human circumstance, and imagining what toll the future takes upon it. Prospect (directed by Christopher Caldwell […]
Anna and the Apocalypse: equal parts toe-tapping and head-smashing (Review)
For many unsuspecting viewers, the first shock in Anna and the Apocalypse will come before a single zombie has turned up: five minutes in, the characters start singing. Despite horror arguably having a stronger relationship with original music than any other genre – go ahead, imagine Halloween or Suspiria without […]
Cujo: Supernatural Canine you probably misremembered (Review)
Stephen King, I think it is fair to say, is one of the undisputed masters of the Horror and Supernatural genres. Sales of his 70 books top the 300 million mark, and if something odd is happening in the state of Maine, then Stephen King is probably the author. Cinematically, […]
Scared Stiff: Midnight Madness undone in 60 seconds (Review)
Over the years of covering home video releases, I have discovered some new favourites; equally, I have been subject to some of the worst films I’ve ever seen. One of the latter was Doom Asylum, a film so inept I was speechless. The director of that film was Richard Friedman, […]
Donbass: Episodes of lunacy in Eastern Ukraine (Review)
Welcome to the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. It’s under the control of the separatists, and the lot of the inhabitants is not a happy one. If you haven’t been bombed out of your home, you’ve probably been injured in a bus attack, or blackmailed by the police, or subjected […]
The Witch Part 1, The Subversion: …and the Girl who bridged two South Korea’s (Review)
The Witch Part 1: the Subversion is the latest directorial effort from the man behind New World and I saw the Devil writer, Park Hoon-Jung, and it is unlike either of those high profile movies. New World is a prominent gangster epic (of comparable stature to A Dirty Carnival), I […]
Heat and Dust: A dual narrative of sexual and imperial politics (Review)
There’s an anecdote about Heat and Dust from producer Ismail Merchant in Robert Emmet Long’s 1993 book The Films of Merchant Ivory that I’ve always liked because I think it says a lot about not only the cultural differences between the British film industry and Hollywood but also the different […]
One, Two, Three (1961): Billy Wilder’s Satirical Greatest Hits
Mad and hectic, One, Two, Three is a Cold War satire that refuses to be one thing – slow. Here you have all the cast bellowing orders to each other like World War Three is on the horizon, the pacing zips by, and André Previn’s lively score blasts the classic […]
The Song of Bernadette: a film of faith, but not blind faith (Review)
There’s a common lament among certain American Christian bloggers that Hollywood doesn’t make movies with spiritual content like it used to, which to this writer’s eyes does a disservice to interesting modern films about Christianity – The Tree of Life, Silence, First Reformed et al – and also glosses over […]