What at first seems a bright and cheesy opportunity to poke fun at the ignorance and excess of wealthy, white America becomes an insightful and somewhat bleak exploration of ageing.
Continue readingSome Kind of Heaven (2020)
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Sunless Shadows (2019)
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Following on from Starless Dreams (2016), Mehrdad Oskouei returns to the same Iranian juvenile detention centre to interview young woman convicted of killing their fathers, along with their mothers and sisters, some who are on death row.
Continue readingPerfect 10 (2019)
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There is nothing epic about this film; it tells a small story of a teenage girl struggling to survive abandonment but it feels real and universal.
Continue readingCorpus Christi (Boze Cialo)(2019)
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This solid and compelling drama from Jan Komasa wraps a story about morality and choice around the limitations of class and culture in rural Poland.
Continue readingServants (2020)
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For its imagery alone, this bleak and beautiful drama by Ivan Ostrochovský is worth a look, although it’s love of an exquisitely composed frame distances you from the characters.
Continue reading9to5: The Story of a Movement (2020)
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Who knew that the comedy 9 to 5 (1980) was based on an actual grassroots organisation that began in the 70s to advocate for fair work conditions for (mainly female) clerical workers?
Continue readingHustlers (2019)
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Image via http://www.kmuw.org
It’s a rare treat to see a mainstream Hollywood film where so many of the leads are women of colour. Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers takes a true story of a group of women in the late 2000s, who survive the financial crash by fleecing businessman, and turns it into a warm and vibrant story of female friendship. Continue reading
Midsommar (2019)
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Image via film.avclub.com
Like Hereditary (2018), his first feature, Ari Aster’s follow up hipster horror is sumptuous and engaging but ultimately disappointing. Continue reading
Last Christmas (2019)
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Image via http://www.empireonline.com
I went in expecting an over-sugared gingerbread house of a romantic comedy but forgot this was British and written by Emma Thompson and partner Greg Wise. It’s fun and witty and the Christmas theme is front and centre, as is the always delightful music of George Michael that weaves a spell throughout. Continue reading
Colour Out of Space (2019)
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Image via http://www.indiewire.com
Nicolas Cage, you seem to have made your way out the other side of the Hollywood leading man stereotype and into something rather delightful. Continue reading
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