Tag: Review
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Tully.
Three years after an astonishing feature debut – Juno – writer Diablo Cody gave us the criminally underrated Young Adult in 2011. The story of a high school princess struggling to find value at life in her early thirties after realising she may have just peaked at prom queen. The film’s blunt, cynical writing was excelled to even greater…
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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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120 Beats Per Minute.
Heavily influenced and informed by the life and experiences of its director, 120 Beats Per Minute is the autobiographical and unapologetic story of life at the heart of Aids activist group Act Up-Paris, in the early nineties. Following the outbreak and ongoing epidemic, the French government were particularly slow to react and support those suffering. 120 Beats Per…
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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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A Fantastic Woman.
Winner of this year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, A Fantastic Woman tells the story of one woman’s frustrating fight for recognition and respect in the wake of a sudden death. Leading the way is actor Daniela Vega in a tender performance as a transwoman abandoned, isolated and pushed aside. Marina is a waitress…
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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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I, Tonya.
Arguably the Britney Spears of competitive ice-skating, Tonya Harding was the controversial American world champion whose life and career were filled with controversy and conflict in the mid-nineties. Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya is proving an award season favourite, with both Margot Robbie and Allison Janney nominated for their performances as monstrous mother and deviant daughter. This is…
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Lady Bird.
The hunger for Lady Bird was evident in the vast appetite of the London audiences queueing at the British Film Institute on its opening weekend. I’m rarely in London, so I relished the opportunity to see the film at one of my favourite venues in the capital. I got myself a ticket forty-five minutes before the screening,…
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Phantom Thread.
In his final performance, Daniel Day-Lewis is Reynold Woodcock, dressmaker to the elite in 1950s London, drenched in the excessive wealth of the upper classes. Reynold is the visionary behind The House of Woodcock, run hand in hand with his sister Cyril. Reynold moves from woman to woman, muse to muse. When he grows tiresome,…
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An Alternative Academy Awards 2018.
Despite how swept up I get during Award Season, it’s very important to always remember that The Oscars are, at their heart, utterly ridiculous. Part of the joy of this time of year is scoffing at the final selection of nominees and discussing with other cinephiles who and what have been royally snubbed. Here are…
Hannah McHaffie 