Waru is a film which I tried to get to see at TIFF in 2017, but it was sold out. It doesn't seem to have been released outside of festivals. It's been on my watchlist but 'unavailable' on Amazon Prime for almost a year. I wondered if I would ever get to see it. And … Continue reading Waru
Category: 15
Roma
I find it very difficult to comment too much in-depth on films like this, films which are so essentially personal to the film maker. And although many films to a certain extent will be personal, Roma - like Martin Scorsese's Silence - is so deliberately and deeply rooted in the experiences of the writer/director/cinematographer Alfonso Cuarón … Continue reading Roma
Bad Times at the El Royale
This is the sophisticated film that Quentin Tarantino *thinks* he keeps making. But he gets nowhere near the subtle artistry that Drew Goddard shows in Bad Times at the El Royale. The opening shot - a still camera watching one man at work and featuring some great editing - sets things up and everything spirals … Continue reading Bad Times at the El Royale
A Star Is Born
The title is the beginning of the problem, I think, in that Bradley Cooper has made a film about him and not a film about her, and so the title doesn't make sense anymore. I mean, the film is fine and everything, but it didn't grab me as much as the hype would have me … Continue reading A Star Is Born
BlacKkKlansman
Films that make you laugh, then make you feel uncomfortable that you're laughing, then stun you into silence all within a few minutes must surely be doing something right. BlacKkKlansman is a masterclass in doing just that. That's not to say that it's a master*piece*, but it's not far off that either. What held it … Continue reading BlacKkKlansman
Deadpool 2
Having gone to see the first Deadpool outing with low expectations and having been pleasantly surprised, I didn't fall into the usual trap this time around. That is, I went in to see Deadpool 2 with equally low expectations and was not in the least surprised. Full of its own smugness, this film only raised a laugh … Continue reading Deadpool 2
Sandome no satsujin – The Third Murder
Director Kore-eda Hirokazu's more recent films have been family focused (After the Storm, Like Father Like Son, Our Little Sister) exploring broken relationships and human frailty. With The Third Murder however, Kore-eda has returned to much larger questions of life's purpose and what it means to be a human being, in the vein of Air … Continue reading Sandome no satsujin – The Third Murder
Sweet Country
Drawing on themes and images familiar from American Westerns, director Warwick Thornton’s story of a lawman looking for a killer is nevertheless a very Australian story. Set in the 1920s, when the land was settled by ‘white fellas’ who claimed it by the mere fact of being there, and effectively indentured the indigenous people of … Continue reading Sweet Country
You Were Never Really Here
There's an awful lot packed into these 85 minutes, and they're all pretty intense. Joaquin Phoenix is not averse to taking on an enigmatic role, and this fits the bill. Enigmatic in that he says little and with no exposition, the audience is left to work out what's happening by simply following the action and … Continue reading You Were Never Really Here
Gholam
Photographer turned writer/director Mitra Tabrizian brings an enigmatic character to the screen and provides a window to a life probably unseen and unconsidered by most cinema audiences. Acclaimed Iranian actor Shahab Hosseini (The Salesman, A Separation) plays the titular role of Gholam, an Iranian taxi driver living in London, working two jobs and living in … Continue reading Gholam