Film Reviews

The Little Stranger review - the wrong sort of chills

Jasper Rees Saturday, 22 September 2018

Domnhall Gleeson needs to watch it. In Goodbye Christopher Robin he played AA Milne, the creator of Pooh and co. To achieve the correct level of period English PTSD, it was as if he’d folded himself up into a neat pile of desiccated twigs. And now he’s gone and done it again in The Little Stranger, only more so.

Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. review - not your average popstar

Owen Richards Saturday, 22 September 2018

Why is M.I.A. such a problematic pop star? Why can't she just shut up and release a hit? Tellingly, this is the very question the singer poses at the start of Matangi/Maya/M.I.A - a question she's been asked throughout her career, from interviewers to management.

Faces Places review - Agnès Varda's enchanted journey

Tom Birchenough Thursday, 20 September 2018

On the eve of her tenth decade, the marvellous Agnès Varda embarked on the enchanted journey that we see in Faces Places. For admirers of the great French director – of whom there are a great many: indeed, it is hard not to be won over by her resolutely independent, profoundly...

Never Here review - conceptual art may damage your health

Adam Sweeting Wednesday, 19 September 2018

Beware the hidden powers of the cellphone.

Wajib review - poignant, profound humanism

Tom Birchenough Saturday, 15 September 2018

Annemarie Jacir’s third feature may have picked up a subtitle, “The Wedding Invitation”, for international distribution, but the key to her intimate portrait of Palestinian life seen through a...

Lucky review - fabled character actor stars in his own obituary

Adam Sweeting Friday, 14 September 2018

Harry Dean Stanton died in September last year aged 91, and will forever be remembered as the embodiment of the lean, lonely, laconic stranger, a man of few words but imbued with an enigmatic allure. This film, the directorial debut of character actor John Carroll Lynch, has been conceived as both homage to and starring vehicle for the departed Stanton, but doesn’t quite hit the spot on either count.

The Seagull review - Chekhov classic gets the all-star treatment

Matt Wolf Saturday, 08 September 2018

A starry and mostly American cast does well by The Seagull, Chekhov's eternally moving portrait of egomania run wild and self-abasement turned tragically inward. Combining two major players from the New York theatre world in director Michael Mayer (London's Funny Girl, Broadway's Hedwig and the Angry Inch) with a Tony-winning...

The Miseducation of Cameron Post review - learning the right way

Tom Birchenough Friday, 07 September 2018

This is Desiree Akhavan’s second film, following on from her rather ironically titled Appropriate Behaviour of 2014. That was a coming-out drama about a bisexual, Iranian-American woman, whose story closely reflected the director’s own – and ...

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Under the Wire review - risking everything to tell the world the truth

Sarah Kent Wednesday, 05 September 2018

She was “the most important war correspondent of her generation”, says Sean Ryan, her editor at The Sunday Times. And her colleague Paul Conroy describes her as “a complete and utter one-off – exceptionally driven, with a real sense of purpose”. These tributes are for Marie Colvin, who was killed by President Assad’s forces on February 22 2012.

Conroy was on assignment with her when she died. He was badly wounded in the attack, but escaped from...

Yardie review - Idris Elba shoots straight in his directorial debut

Jasper Rees Friday, 31 August 2018

The first significant British film to explore the influence of Jamaican sound systems in London was Babylon. Shot in 1980, its street patois was deemed impenetrable enough to merit subtitles. Times change.

Cold War review - a gorgeous and mesmerising romance

Saskia Baron Wednesday, 29 August 2018

Can we ever really know the passion that brought our parents together? By the time we are old enough to hear the story of how they first met, that lovers’ narrative has frayed in the telling and faded in the daily light of domestic familiarity.

BlacKkKlansman review - absurd and angry satire

Nick Hasted Saturday, 25 August 2018

What happens when you let racism sit and fester in the middle of your culture?

The King review - the myth behind the man

Owen Richards Saturday, 25 August 2018

The most famous face in musical history, and perhaps the instigator of modern culture as we know it; he truly was the King. But for a documentary focused on such an icon, The King touches very little on Elvis Presley the man.

The Guardians review - beautifully crafted drama

Saskia Baron Thursday, 16 August 2018

A slow tracking shot over the gassed corpses of soldiers, their masks having failed the ecstasy of fumbling, opens The Guardians. This French art house film would perhaps have been better served by the English title The Caretakers; it's closer to the original French meaning and would have made it less likely to be confused with a superhero movie.

The Negotiator review - Jon Hamm shines in Beirut-based thriller

Adam Sweeting Friday, 10 August 2018

So far Jon Hamm has had trouble finding himself movie roles which fit him quite as impeccably as Mad Men’s Don Draper – though he could do worse than throw his hat in the ring for James Bond – but his role here as an American diplomat in Beirut plays obligingly to his strengths.

A Sicilian Ghost Story review - a beautiful, confusing journey

Owen Richards Tuesday, 31 July 2018

Childhood is an inimitable experience – the laws of the world are less certain, imagination and reality meld together, and no event feels fixed. A Sicilian Ghost Story recreates this sensation in the context of real world trauma, producing a unique and sometimes unsettling cinematic...