Tag: British Cinema
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The Escape.
On the surface, Tara seems to have everything any mother and wife could ever want; two young children, an attentive husband, a beautiful house, two cars and financial security. With her husband earning enough money to support them both, Tara’s days are spent getting the children to and from the local primary school, tending to…
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Apostasy.
Stern, tight-lipped mother and devoted Jehovah’s Witness Ivanna is raising her two teenage daughters within the strict, secular religion to which she has committed her life. Each daughter carries with them weighty doubts and when one sister falls away from the faith, Ivanna is faced with pressure to minimise contact with her in order to…
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How to Talk to Girls at Parties.
Based on the Neil Gaiman’s graphic short, How to Talk to Girls at Parties has been adapted to the screen by American indie and underground favourite, John Cameron Mitchell. Probably best known for his stunning and surreal debut feature, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Mitchell seems out of place to direct a film based around a group of teenage…
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Funny Cow.
Beware. For Funny Cow is not the film you might be expecting it to be. It’s pitched itself as the story of a female comedian trying to make it on the comedy circuit in 1970s Northern England but proves far more interested in the turbulent childhood and marriage that proceeded it. Maxine Peake is Funny Cow, the otherwise…
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You Were Never Really Here.
United once again with astounding composer Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead), director Lynne Ramsay returns with You Were Never Really Here, a murky tale of regret, revenge and redemption. Despite being temporarily attached to several projects, this is Ramsay’s first time in the director’s chair in six years, following up her astonishing adaptation of Lionel Shriver’s novel We…
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Dark River.
When I reviewed her directorial debut, The Arbor, I declared that Clio Barnard was a British director to keep your eye on. Back in 2013 her follow up The Selfish Giant further demonstrated her ambition, capability and versatility. Barnard’s third feature is a rural British drama centred around unspoken memories of trauma which continues to prove all of the…
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Daphne.
An isolated young woman who fills the lonely hours with vodka and strangers, Daphne is a very difficult protagonist to like. She dodges her mother’s calls and has evident chemistry with her married boss. She short changes the take away delivery guy and verbally abuses the security men who remove her from clubs when she’s…
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Roger Moore: My Bond.
The recent passing of Sir Roger Moore has forced me to reflect on my childhood and the James Bond films that heavily influenced it. Where I was growing up, every Sunday was about three things – church, lunch and James Bond. After a satisfying Sunday roast my brothers and I would slump in front of…
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Ethel & Ernest.
The cinematic adaptation of Raymond Briggs’ graphic novel, Ethel & Ernest tells the story of the artist’s parents – their marriage, their lives, their triumphs and tragedies. It opens with a brief interview with Briggs where he briefly describes how he remembers his parents and their relatively undramatic relationship. What follows is the tale of…
Hannah McHaffie 