Deconstructing the machinery of cinema.
One of the best films I have ever seen about art is Julian Schnabel's 1996 biographical drama Basquiat, which related the brief career of its titular New York contemporary artist. The film introduced me to Schnabel - a fine artist moonlighting as a film director - as well as its brilliant star Jeffrey Wright, of whom ...
Saori (Momota Kanako) is an under-confident high school senior pushed by her peers into becoming the new captain of the school drama club. While she struggles to lead a group of enthusiastic young women into competing in the national drama championships, she receives unexpected help from the school's new teacher (Kuroki Haru) - who turns ...
Simon (Søren Malling) is a hugely successful fine artist living in Copenhagen. There he runs a workshop of young artists assisting him in producing his works, with a devoted wife (Ane Dahl Torp) and a not-so-secret mistress (Sus Wilkins). When his estranged adult son Casper (Jakob Oftebro) turns up on his doorstep - one who ...
Art has always been a powerful tool for political discourse, and cinema is clearly no different from any other medium. Ibrahim El Batout's 2012 drama Winter of Discontent is a strong example of that. It depicts the chain of events in 2011 that started with protests in Cairo's Tarhir Square and snowballed until they forced the resignation ...
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was a box office flop in 2016, promoted widely as a laugh-out-loud comedy starring Tina Fey (30 Rock) and Margot Robbie (I, Tonya) but generating complete disinterest among audiences and disappointment among critics. The actual film is hardly a comedy at all, of course, and simply employs satirical elements to express its cynicism ...
A teenage boy is arrested for the murder of two young girls. While he is questioned by the Tokyo police, his 15 year-old sister Saori (Mirai Shida) is placed in the custody of police detective Takumi Katsuura (Koichi Sato). Katsuura is not simply tasked with protecting Saori: he is also expected to get her to ...
In the post-war slums of Osaka, a disparate community of youthful gang members and hoodlums try to scratch out a living. Takeshi (Isao Sasaki) has just joined a gang, but immediately wants out. Gang leader Shin (Masahiko Tsugawa) refuses to let him escape. Meanwhile the calculating Hanako (Kayoko Honoo) will stop at nothing to get ...
