There is a perilously fine line in most arthouse-oriented pictures between generating eye-opening epiphanies and inviting eye-rolling groans. What is worse, it is a line that is not only narrow but largely invisible. What works for one viewer does not … Continue reading REVIEW: The Falling (2014)
We can argue the relative merits of adapting true events into fictional entertainment forever, and it is unlikely that we would ever reach a consensus. When we argue over adaptations of true events that involve death, tragedy, and murder, the … Continue reading REVIEW: Nitram (2021)
Nobody really talks about children’s films. In fact, I would go so far as to claim it is the most misunderstood and under-appreciated form of popular cinema that there is. For one thing, it is difficult to persuade an adult … Continue reading REVIEW: Waiting for Anya (2020)
Jeffrey Dahmer was an American serial killer who, between 1978 and his arrest in 1991, raped, murdered and dismembered at least seventeen young men. He is now the protagonist of a dramatic feature film, My Friend Dahmer, directed by Marc Meyers … Continue reading REVIEW: My Friend Dahmer (2017)
Bonnie (Stephanie Beatriz) is a successful New York architect who lives with her boyfriend Matt (Michael Stahl-David) in an upscale Bushwick apartment. One night she is sexually assaulted just three blocks from her home. Over the following four weeks she … Continue reading REVIEW: The Light of the Moon (2017)
There was a time when the late writer-director John Hughes was widely praised as the voice of American youth, thanks to a string of popular teen comedies and dramas. That reputation has dimmed somewhat over the past decade or so, … Continue reading REVIEW: Pretty in Pink (1986)
James Mangold’s Ford v Ferrari (2019) feels strangely like an artefact from a bygone age, when movie studios would spend a reasonable amount of money making an adult drama with a talented director and some popular stars, a crisply-plotted screenplay, and glossy … Continue reading REVIEW: Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Following the death of his mother, 13 year-old Fin (Ed Oxenbould) has retreated into a fantasy world of butterflies and other insects. Meanwhile his father Al (Ewen Leslie) drowns his sorrows in a sea of one-night stands and ill-advised short-term … Continue reading REVIEW: The Butterfly Tree (2017)
Yoji Yamada is one of the most significant film directors in Japan. While he may lack the profile of earlier, critically adored filmmaker like Ozu, Mizoguchi, or Akira Kurosawa – or indeed contemporary favourites like Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation) or … Continue reading REVIEW: The Little House (2014)
Hazuki (Sayu Kubota) and Aoi (Minori Hagiwara) are Japanese high school students. Despite attending the same classes, they may as well live in different worlds. Hazuki is in the popular crowd of bitchy queen bees, although her position there is … Continue reading REVIEW: Hello Goodbye (2016)
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