Returning from the tremendous success of The Great Beauty, Paolo Sorrentino now bestows upon us the gift of Youth. Vacationing in the Alps with his daughter, a retired composer is invited to conduct his work, one last time – this time, for royalty. He firmly declines. Meanwhile his best friend, an ageing movie director, works … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: January 2016
Spotlight.
Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight is surely set for Academy Award success. Brilliantly simple and expertly paced, this is the cinematic interpretation of a true story. In 2001, the Boston Globe stood up to the power of the catholic church when a small team of investigative journalists looked into a number of child molestation cases carried out by … Continue reading
Room.
Adapted from the novel by Emma Donoghue, Room is a startling story told predominantly through the eyes of Jack, a five year old who knows nothing of what lies on the other side of the four walls in which him and his mother are confined. Kidnapped seven years earlier, his mother Joy has made the decision … Continue reading
Directing Lancashire.
Having grown up in Lancashire, I did what so many others did – I moved away for University. After spending three years in Leeds and another in Edinburgh I returned home to my first graduate job in the arts, back in Preston. Such is the norm that those who’ve grown up in Lancashire feel the … Continue reading
Life May Be.
Mark Cousins gave a lecture on the art of the video essay during my time at Edinburgh University. The director and film buff extraordinaire is probably most well known for his Channel 4 documentary The Story of Film. Last year he delighted us again with A Story of Children and Film; another cinematic essay which studied … Continue reading