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Bill Nighy. Scrabble. Frank Cottrell Boyce. A winning combination as far as I’m concerned and Sometimes Always Never has the stylistically quirkiness of a Wes Anderson film but with depth and a gentle warmth. Continue reading
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This memorable feature from Nadine Labaki seems to provoke love or hate. Cast with predominantly non-actors, it is for the most part an extraordinary film that shows the awful reality of the life of Syrian children well below the poverty line in Lebanon. Continue reading
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This feelgood, cookie cutter movie barely scratches the surface of its topic; racism in the deep south of the US in the 60s. A good example of a white saviour movie, it centres its story firmly and unapologetically on the experiences of a good-hearted, racist white guy. Continue reading
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It’s possible I am a lone reed in not loving the third remake of this quintessential film about the tragedies inherent in fame. A lone reed. Or a heartless wretch. I remained unmoved as Bradley Cooper heroically directs himself into every frame, leaving not enough room for the absorbingly wonderful Lady Gaga. Continue reading
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There is something to be said for a film that left me wanting to go home and make clothes. Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui’s documentary about fashion enfant terrible Lee (Alexander) McQueen is equal parts inspiring and devastating. Continue reading
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It’s a long time since I last watched this movie, which has stuck in my mind primarily due to the unexpected Oscar win of then unknown actors and screenwriters Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. I’d forgotten it was directed by Gus Van Sant, a director I admire for films like Elephant (2003), Mala Noche (1986) and My Own Private Idaho (1991). Sitting down to watch this again for the first time in perhaps 10 or 15 years, I found myself underwhelmed. Continue reading
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This unusual and well-meaning Australian film by Ben Gilmour follows an ex-soldier as he attempts to contact the widow and children of a civilian he killed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, whilst on deployment. Continue reading
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This masterful and emotionally-engaging documentary begins as a journey through the key places and moments in the life of Elvis Presley, from Tupelo to Memphis, Nashville, New York and finally Las Vegas. Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki drives around in Elvis’s Rolls-Royce and passengers join him, some telling stories of being Elvis’s friend, neighbour or fellow churchgoer, some famous faces talking about celebrity and politics, others just playing a tune. Continue reading
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I tried to keep my expectations low for this quiet and cinematic meditation on masculinity and rodeo riders. I only booked it because of recommendations from fellow MIFF tweeters and it’s often a mistake to expect too much (First Reformed (2017) is a good example of this). It took a little while to settle into the pace and the slight awkwardness of non-professional actors but once I did, I was hopelessly lost in its beauty and pathos. Continue reading
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This short South Korean virtual reality film mixes static and moving imagery to evoke words sent from a man to a woman as he revisit the places they went to together. Like a poem, we sense the emptiness of the spaces without her, the monochrome of lost punctuated by the saturated colour of memory. Continue reading
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