Three Identical Strangers

The thing I often struggle with in watching documentaries, no matter how good they are, is that they are by nature subjective. With carefully timed revelations controlled by the director, I frequently feel manipulated by the end, which hugely reduces my enjoyment of the film as a whole. With Three Identical Strangers though, director Tim …

Finding Your Feet

A sharp script balances the realities of ageing with enough comic moments to raise the spirits just at the right moment. Humour is the way that many choose to deal with life’s curve-balls, and the writers have captured this accurately. While the plot may be predictable and at moments even cheesy, it’s rescued by the …

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 …

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 …

Annihiliation

A film that does the big things well and messes up the small things. The world-building is beautiful - the shimmer, the flora, the fauna. The ideas present are fascinating - the notion of cells multiplying and spreading, the doppergänger, the unreliable narrator, the ambiguity. The notion that we are self-destructive beings one way or another. These …

Mute

I love Moon and so desperately wanted Mute to be good as we had waited so long for it. You've probably already work out then that this unfortunately fell well short of expectations. What starts out as a futuristic neo-noir with Leo searching for his missing girlfriend abruptly turns in to a very different film …

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

So I'm wondering how can a film with such an array of great performances actually end up not quite working. And I guess it has to be in the writing? I really enjoyed Frances McDormand, Caleb Landry Jones and Lucas Hedges. I think Peter Dinklage is an extremely talented actor who should be given more …

Darkest Hour

Gary Oldman is getting huge praise for his work in this film. Rightly so, as it can't be easy to deliver any kind of a performance through the prosthetics required for his transformation into Winston Churchill. Director Joe Wright spends a lot of time with the camera very close up to Churchill's face, and you cannot …

Suburbicon (2017)

Such potential, such a disappointment. On the one hand, I'm a fan of Matt Damon and Julianne Moore, and they are good, or as good as they can be. On the other, the two storylines just don't mesh at all. The (presumably) Coen brothers-penned thread is full of dark humour and sees Damon and Moore involved in …

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (2017)

Kind of a biopic, but because Gloria Grahame didn't have a huge screen presence in her later years, Annette Bening doesn't have to worry about an accurate impersonation of the actress, but can instead work on capturing the essence of an ageing star whose success has waned and who is frightened of growing old. Based on …