Tag: Film Review
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Nymphomaniac.
Lars Von Trier’s latest work proves just how simultaneously serious and silly he can be. Nymphomaniac is the final in his trilogy about depression; the first two films in the series being Antichrist and Melancholia. Split into two volumes, the film’s total running time is over four hours. In Denmark it was released as one five hour film, in the UK…
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The Invisible Woman.
Ralph Fiennes is turning out to be a wonderful director. In fact, his direction is the best thing about his second film, The Invisible Woman. Fiennes plays Charles Dickens in cinema’s retelling of the writer and his mistress, Ellen Ternan. The film is based on the book by Claire Tomalin. Fiennes’ drama explores the affair between…
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Only Lovers Left Alive.
When you spend the duration of a film asking yourself whether or not you’re enjoying it, you’ve probably already answered your own question. Jim Jarmusch’s take on the ‘vampire movie’ is under the impression that it is a lot cooler than it really is. It is too self-aware for its own good but that isn’t…
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The Armstrong Lie.
When I was thirteen years old a craze took over my school. In a matter of weeks the most popular accessory to be wearing was a ‘Livestrong’ band. Every other person at my school had a bright yellow band around one of their wrists. For my generation, this is remembered as more of a trend…
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Dallas Buyers Club.
David France’s How to Survive a Plague was a documentary all about the power of activism which helped destroy the death sentence that came hand in hand with the diagnosis of AIDS. The film studies the protests and passion of a group of inspiring individuals who fought with governments and establishments in order to demand drugs and…
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Her.
Visually, Spike Jonze’s futuristic romantic new feature film, Her, is breathtaking. Crisp and bright, Her is bathed in pastel tints and the warm glows of a not so distant future. The film’s aesthetic remains consistently refreshing from the opening detailed close up of actor Joaquin Phoenix’s face to the closing images of a city, lit up and buzzing with…
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August: Osage County.
Following a tragic event, the Weston family children, consisting of three sisters, return to the sticky heat of their childhood home, just outside of Oklahoma. The film’s title provides the place and time of this story. The Weston sisters are parented by Beverley and Violet. They have an alcoholic poet for a father and a…
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Inside Llewyn Davis.
Doesn’t everybody know a version of Llewyn Davis? Set in 1961, Inside Llewyn Davis shows us one week in the life of a struggling folk musician. Llewyn has certainly been dealt some blows from the world. With his performance partner having recently jumped to his death from what one character claims to be “the wrong bridge”, we…
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Mary & Max.
In 2003, Harvie Krumpet won an Academy Award for best animated short film. A 22 minute Australian clay animation, Harvie Krumpet tells the heart-breaking story of one man and his battle with a lot of misfortune whilst remaining ever the optimist. Illness, war, old age, disability and loss swamp Harvie’s existence but he never allows any of this to…
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Happiness.
One hardly knows where to begin with reviewing such a film. Todd Solondz’s Happiness is many things but let’s start with the acknowledgement that it is a challenging film. It is a disgusting masterpiece that taunts its audience who tend not to know how to react to it. The sensational Roger Ebert summarised the spectator’s battle with Happiness in…
Hannah McHaffie 