Please note that this review contains references to self-harm and mental illness. We first encounter Kolya wiping his own graffiti from the doors of a halfway house. He cuts a rebellious figure, using the same marker pen with which he … Continue reading MIFF REVIEW: A House Made of Splinters (2022)
An ambitious war hero (Gunnar Tolnæs) leads a mission to the red planet in Danish filmmaker Holger-Madsen’s ambitious silent feature A Trip to Mars (1918). A Trip to Mars was released just 16 years after George Méliès’ iconic A Trip to … Continue reading REVIEW: A Trip to Mars (1918)
Asger Holm (Jakob Cedergren) is a police officer under investigation for the illegal shooting of a suspect. While protesting his innocence, he finds himself restricted to working the emergency telephone lines night after night. On the last night of work … Continue reading REVIEW: The Guilty (2018)
Thomas Vinterberg’s new comedy-drama is a striking piece of work. It is genuinely funny in all of the right places, yet often feels too awkward to laugh at due to its overwhelming patina of melancholy. At the same time that … Continue reading REVIEW: Another Round (2020)
Who could have guessed that a Swedish science fiction film would turn out as bleak and troubled as every other genre of Swedish cinema? Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja’s 2018 film Aniara is based, on all things, on a 1956 … Continue reading REVIEW: Aniara (2018)
Ben (David Ralwe) lives on a lighthouse with his father Colin (Brendan Gleeson) and little sister Saoirse. His mother vanished the night she gave birth to Saoirse, who is non-verbal. Ben blames his sister for his mother’s disappearance, while Colin … Continue reading REVIEW: Song of the Sea (2014)
A couple spend a holiday with their eight year-old daughter, only for it to reach an inexplicable and tragic end. Three years later – now in a broken relationship – they go camping in the woods, only to encounter a … Continue reading REVIEW: Koko-Di Koko-Da (2019)
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 … Continue reading REVIEW: The Man (2017)
Jackie Morrison (Kate Dickie) lives in Glasgow, and monitors CCTV cameras for a living. One night she recognises a man on one of the monitors, Clyde Henderson (Tony Curran), and tracks his movements to the notorious Red Road apartments in … Continue reading REVIEW: Red Road (2006)
In 2008, and following a controversial election in which long-running President Robert Mugabe was re-elected to lead Zimbabwe, both government and opposition meet to draft a new and democratic constitution for the country. The process is depicted through the eyes … Continue reading REVIEW: Democrats (2014)
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