Film Reviews
The Metamorphosis of Birds review - picture perfectTuesday, 15 March 2022![]()
How do you make a film about death, love and loss that avoids being sentimental, maudlin or pretentious? Take your cue from Portuguese artist Catarina Vasconcelos. Read more... |
The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone review - can it pull you back in?Sunday, 13 March 2022![]()
The relative runt of the Godfather litter was hacked out in a Las Vegas casino, as Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo worked up scenarios for an assignment taken on for the money. Read more... |
Great Freedom review - love behind bars in GermanySaturday, 12 March 2022![]()
A story of forbidden love, Great Freedom takes place almost entirely in a prison. The film's background is encapsulated in the word “175er/ hundertfünfundsiebziger”, still to be found in German dictionaries and collective memories as a pejorative word for a gay man. Read more... |
A Banquet review – horror, done beforeFriday, 11 March 2022![]()
One feels, or perhaps hopes, that if she could have avoided it, first-time feature director Ruth Paxton might not have started A Banquet as she ultimately did: with Holly Hughes (Sienna Guillory) arduously scrubbing the frame of her husband’s hospital-style bed, as he coughs, gasps, and weeps for an end to whatever ghastly affliction he has been dealt. Read more... |
Master Cheng review - slight but soothing Finnish-Chinese romanceThursday, 10 March 2022![]()
There’s a long tradition of foodie romances proving art-house cinema hits – think of Babette’s Feast, Tampopo, and Chocolat. Sadly, it’s unlikely that Master Cheng, a gentle and very slow Finnish-Chinese coproduction about a chef from Shanghai charming the Nordic locals with his cleaver skills, is going to light up the UK box office. Read more... |
The Batman review - lean and mean, yet againFriday, 04 March 2022![]()
Robert Pattinson’s Batman is lean and aquiline, his Bruce Wayne an obsessive recluse. Read more... |
Rebel Dread review - generous documentary portrait of punk-reggae legend Don LettsThursday, 03 March 2022![]()
Don Letts, the film director, musician and DJ responsible for so many of the iconic images of punk and reggae artists, executive produced this documentary portrait. Read more... |
The Duke review - a new feelgood classicSaturday, 26 February 2022![]()
The Duke, directed by the late Roger Michell (1956-2021), is a delight. At its heart is a towering, defining performance from Jim Broadbent and an unforgettably surprising role for Helen Mirren. Read more... |
Cyrano review - a heady cinematic ValentineThursday, 24 February 2022![]()
Edmond Rostand’s familiar story of ventriloquised love becomes a sensual, sacrificial tragedy, in Joe Wright’s heady cinematic Valentine, adapted by screenwriter Erica Schmidt from her own stage musical, with music by members of The National. Read more... |
La Mif review - Swiss docu-drama focuses on troubled teensThursday, 24 February 2022![]()
La Mif is French slang for family - it’s the cool kids practice of reversing key words known as ‘verlan’ (itself l’envers backwards) to create their own language. Read more... |
Here Before review - family values under supernatural pressureFriday, 18 February 2022![]()
You generally find that a movie with Andrea Riseborough in it is worth a look, and so it proves here. Read more... |
The Real Charlie Chaplin review - not as revealing as its title suggestsWednesday, 16 February 2022![]()
Even today, Charlie Chaplin still earns glowing accolades from critics for his work during the formative years of cinema, though a contemporary viewing public saturated in CGI and superheroes might struggle to see the allure of his oeuvre as the “Little Tramp”. Read more... |
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy review - a trio of tales from JapanMonday, 14 February 2022![]()
With some films it’s all about the editing, a brisk parade of striking images accompanied by a kinetic score. And then there are films like Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and the Oscar-nominated Drive My Car, where the camera stays still and watches the performers watching each other talk. Read more... |
Marry Me review - Jennifer Lopez vehicle deliversMonday, 14 February 2022![]()
Lots of drama follows well-worn paths; just as we expect that in a tragedy that Chekhov's gun (or variants of it) will deliver the denouement, so we know that in a romcom the two leads will end up together. So – no spoilers, but you know the drill – Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson's characters overcome all sorts of obstacles that could thwart their romance. Read more... |
Death on the Nile review - Kenneth Branagh flounders again as PoirotFriday, 11 February 2022![]()
Death on the Nile, Kenneth Branagh's second visit to Agatha Christie's oeuvre, was supposed to be released in November 2020 but Covid, a studio sale and some embarrassing revelations about one of its cast members put paid to that. Was it worth the wait? Not really. Read more... |
Flee review - award-winning documentary portrays the refugee experienceThursday, 10 February 2022![]()
It’s good timing for the release of Flee in UK cinemas. The Danish movie has just made Oscar history by being nominated in three categories – Animated Feature, Documentary, and International Feature and is bound to win in at least one of them. Read more... |
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