Category: Film
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The Neon Demon.
The latest from Nicolas Winding Refn, The Neon Demon is a twisted, nightmarish fairy tale. Sixteen year old Jesse is new to L.A – a lost babe in the wood. Behind every corner are wolves, ghosts and witches – although here the disguise comes in the form of bold lipstick and plastic surgery rather than Grandmother’s…
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Adult Life Skills.
Adult Life Skills was not the film I expected it to be. Approaching her 30th Birthday, Anna isn’t coping. She resides in her mother’s garden shed surrounded by the memories of her childhood and adolescence. She spends her time making videos starring her own thumbs, refusing to acknowledge that her life has come to a stand…
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Where to Invade Next.
In his latest documentary, Michael Moore crosses the pond with the intention of invading European countries to steal their good ideas. As always, he approaches the subject with his tongue in his cheek and with an aim to bring some humour to the injustice and misery he uncovers. This is a film entirely about America…
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Sheffield Doc/Fest: Staff Highlights.
I’ve been working for Sheffield International Documentary Festival for 7 months. I’ve now seen the Festival from both sides; as a member of the press and a member of the hard-woking team behind the scenes. Alongside a varied and ambitious film programme, there are also talks, sessions, debates and interviews and the ever-growing virtual realities…
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My Scientology Movie.
The church of Scientology has remained a pop culture fascination for several decades, constantly prominent in our minds because of high profile followers such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta. Louis Theroux, familiar with documenting and deconstructing the bizarre and the delusional, approaches the subject at a very particular angle. When Theroux struggles to gain…
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Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach.
When I was 17 I saw Ken Loach’s Sweet Sixteen. My introduction to cinematic realism, my mind was blown. In the months that followed I devoured Loach’s back catalogue and, for the first time, consciously sought out new and innovative films and genres that I’d never experienced. I was mesmerised by seeing a film where…
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Green Room.
A heavy-metal band wake up in a field of maize, having fallen asleep at the wheel and having run out of gas. The band prove to be somewhat drifters, close to calling it quits as they struggle to cover the cost of petrol. Desperate for cash, the group agree to perform at a dingy venue inhabited by…
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Mustang.
In modern day Turkey, five sisters walk out of school on the last day of term. Summer upon them, they play on the beach and fool around in the cool water. We are met with a joyous atmosphere, as the girls bask in the freedom that the school holiday promises. The opening scenes of Mustang…
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Demolition.
When a young woman dies, her father and husband sit in a hospital waiting room, trying to process the devastation. Now widowed, Davis approaches a vending machine with the aim of scoring some peanut M&Ms. When the machine jams and his money is wasted, he sets about writing a letter of complaint to the vending…
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Son of Saul.
In the hell of the Holocaust, Saul Ausländer is working as a member of the Sonderkommando. Forced to burn the bodies of other prisoners following their hideous murders in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Saul sees a dead boy that he believes to be his son. He becomes instantly determined to save the boy’s body…
Hannah McHaffie 