Opening Cutter’s Way with an on-screen parade, director Ivan Passer takes something which should be celebratory and distorts it to a slow-motion scene, unfolding in monochrome colours to Jack Nitszche’s haunting score. As the camera focuses on a blonde girl dancing in front, there’s an unsettling quality to this celebration […]
Reviews
Punk Samurai (2018) Samurai Comedy Anarchy that we’ve never seen the likes of before (Review)
Punk Samurai, also known as Punk Samurai Slash Down (a title still retained on the main menu screen of this Blu-Ray release), is a title that evokes mental images of Jidaigeki or Chanbara epics, but with a modern twist, and in many ways that is exactly what it is… and […]
Aberrance (SXSW 2023)(Review)
Aberrance is a Mongolian psychological thriller by director Baatar Batsukh. Erkhmee and Selenge have retreated to a holiday home deep in the wilderness, keen to escape their lives in the city. Erkhmee seems determined to provide some peace and quiet for Selenge, but this seems at odds with the increasingly […]
My Drywall Cocoon (SXSW 2023)(Review)
The only Brazilian feature in competition at this year’s SXSW, My Drywall Cocoon has a director who may not be familiar to English-language audiences, albeit largely due to the timidity of our distributors. Caroline Fioratti’s debut feature Meus 15 Anos was a huge crowd-pleaser in Brazil, but crowd-pleasers tend not […]
This World Is Not My Own (SXSW 2023) (Review)
Receiving its world premiere at the SXSW festival this week is This World Is Not My Own, a film about a remarkable artist you’ve probably never heard of, yet by the time the credits roll she may well become a new favourite. Nellie Mae Rowe was born on the 4th […]
#ChadGetsTheAxe (Glasgow Frightfest 2023)(Review)
The dopamine rush that comes with social media is second to none. The likes and interactions you gain from strangers on the internet have shaped modern society in ways no one could imagine. As social media and the personalities within only grow in popularity, it’s only inevitable the lines of […]
Smoking Causes Coughing (Glasgow Frightfest 2023)(Review)
Anyone who found this winter’s cycle of Oscar-bait movies about the magic of cinema rather too middlebrow may find respite in Quentin Dupieux’s Smoking Causes Coughing, the opening film at this year’s Glasgow FrightFest. Rather than the sanctified work of John Ford or Gene Kelly, Smoking Causes Coughing is inspired […]
Mother Superior (Glasgow Frightfest 2023)(Review)
A young nurse comes to a spooky house in the middle of nowhere to care for an old woman, with a crusty groundskeeper – the only other company for either of them. Within this house, strange things happen, and the nurse starts to wonder how much she is actually seeing, […]
The Middle Man (2021) Offbeat Dark Comedy Contains Plenty of Darkness But Not Enough Comedy (Review)
I saw The Middle Man pitched as the Coen brothers meet David Lynch, which certainly piqued my interest, yet after watching the film it turned out to be much more Coen brothers than Lynch. In fact, I feel that the comparison to the latter is only loosely based on the […]
Welcome To The Dollhouse (1996) A Nightmarish Descent Into Adolescence (Review)
The biggest lie we are told is that childhood and adolescence are innocent. Whether through bullying or the inevitable exploration of our bodies on a more intimate level, the innocence of our childish ignorance quickly becomes lost once high school begins. Welcome To The Dollhouse is a dark comedy about […]