Film Reviews

The Last Tree review - young, angry, and black in '90s UK

Graham Fuller Tuesday, 01 October 2019

Putting a radical spin on a fish-out-of-water story, The Last Tree explores troubling aspects of the African diaspora experience in an England riddled with xenophobia and black-on-black racism.

San Sebastian Film Festival: Latin films thrive

Demetrios Matheou Monday, 30 September 2019

Ever since Latin American cinema re-emerged in the 1990s from years in the shadow of dictatorships, films have been distinguished by a number of trends, including dramas about the dictatorship years and the social and psychological consequences; social and family dramas; the experience of young people; the quirks and characters of everyday life.

Comment

San Sebastian Film Festival: The Burnt Orange Heresy review – art world noir

Demetrios Matheou Sunday, 29 September 2019

When cinema isn’t revering the greats of the art world, it’s usually debunking the superficiality and immorality of the power brokers of the business. On the one hand Eternity’s Gate, on the other, The Square.

Ready or Not review - bloody awful

Matt Wolf Saturday, 28 September 2019

Equal measures class system satire and Scream or Saw genre knockoff, Ready or Not is entirely appalling, except perhaps to those forgiving hipsters in the crowd who will view its ineptitude as some deliberate "meta" statement all its own.

The Goldfinch review - a pale reproduction

Joseph Walsh Friday, 27 September 2019

Midway through John Crowley’s The Goldfinch, a character compares a reproduction antique with the real deal. “The new one is flat dead,” he says. He might as well be talking about the movie.

Hotel Mumbai review – Dev Patel shines in harrowing real-life drama

Demetrios Matheou Thursday, 26 September 2019

Like recent films about the Anders Breivik terror attacks in Norway, Hotel Mumbai unavoidably raises questions of taste. Do audiences really need to be subjected to harrowing recreations of real-life suffering, when the events themselves are still fresh?

The Laundromat review – The Panama Papers as root canal

Demetrios Matheou Wednesday, 25 September 2019

With The Laundromat Steven Soderbergh is trying to do for the Panama Papers what The Big Short did for the 2008 financial crash, namely offer an entertaining mix of explanation, exposé, black comedy and righteous anger. Sadly, it doesn’t come close.

San Sebastian Film Festival: Proxima review – Eva Green has The Right Stuff

Demetrios Matheou Tuesday, 24 September 2019

Proxima is a very special, very beautiful space movie, one of those that are more concerned with the bread-and-butter reality of getting people into space – practically, emotionally, psychologically – than with the starry shenanigans themselves.

The Farewell review - warmly comic culture-clash

Nick Hasted Friday, 20 September 2019

The cancer weepie is knocked off its tear-jerking axis by Lulu Wang’s sly and heartfelt autobiographical tale.

Ad Astra review – out of this world

Demetrios Matheou Thursday, 19 September 2019

There have been a number of excellent science fiction films of late – Gravity, The Martian, Annihilation among them. But Ad Astra may be the most complete and profound addition to the genre since 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The Kitchen review – more gangsters' molls taking over the reins

Demetrios Matheou Wednesday, 18 September 2019

Three women decide to take over their husbands’ criminal activities, proving more than a match for the men who dominate the underworld.

For Sama review - besieged, bombed, and defiant in Syria

Graham Fuller Saturday, 14 September 2019

People who idly use the phrase “it’s like living in a war zone” when considering their domestic mess should see Waad al-Kateab’s documentary For Sama.

Phoenix review - Norwegian family tragedy with an autobiographical slant

Markie Robson-Scott Saturday, 14 September 2019

“You’re so meticulous,” says Astrid (Maria Bonnevie) to her teenage daughter Jill (impressive newcomer Yvla Bjørkaas Thedin) as they create a batik artwork together at the kitchen table. Little son Bo (Casper Falck-Løvås) looks on as he munches a jam sandwich. A happy domestic scene? Anything but. “Meticulous” isn’t even really a compliment, coming from this chaotic, mentally fragile mother.

The Shock of the Future review - for the music nerds

Owen Richards Saturday, 14 September 2019

The Shock of the Future is for anyone who's watched a music biopic and thought "that's not how it works!" Directed and co-written by Marc Collin of Nouvelle Vague fame, it's perhaps the most realisitic film about recording music ever made.

Hustlers review - strip club crime pays

Nick Hasted Friday, 13 September 2019

When did Dorothy (Constance Wu) really want to be a stripper? Maybe it’s when she looks with love at Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) during her strutting set piece dance, as she descends to a carpet of cash.

Honeyland review - tipping nature's balance

Joseph Walsh Friday, 13 September 2019

Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov’s new documentary, Honeyland, is a lament for a vanishing world. Captured with the delicacy of honeycomb, it focuses on the last wild beekeeper in Europe. Hatidze Muratova lives in rural Macedonia on a craggy farm without running water or electricity.