In Deep Sleep – Berlinale 2020 Review Carmen Paddock February 22, 2020 Reviews Sleep and death are two sides of the same coin in Maria Ignatenko’s slow-burning psychological drama. Sleep of any kind eludes Victor (Vadik Korlyov), who when the film opens is on trial for the murder of...
A Paris Education – Review Carmen Paddock February 15, 2020 Reviews Films about artists – specifically, filmmakers – court their own special brand of self-indulgence. But, when a film is clearly made by and for those passionate about the art, this genuine love can prove...
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – Review Carmen Paddock February 2, 2020 Reviews Marielle Heller returns with another unconventional biopic that is more interested in the humanity of its relationships than in worshipful recreations of historical events. That said, the love and care poured...
Youth at War in Jojo Rabbit and 1917 Carmen Paddock January 24, 2020 Analysis, Features, Opinion The 2020 Oscars season sees two wartime period pieces in its Best Picture race: Jojo Rabbit and 1917. At first glance, this seems their only similarity – it's not even the same war. Comedy legend Taika...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2019: #9 – Can You Ever Forgive Me? Carmen Paddock December 29, 2019 Analysis, Features, Top 10 At the end of the decade, media seems to be moving further away from the noughties’ nihilism. Perhaps audiences need a break from the relentless inhumanity highlighted in 24/7 news cycles. Perhaps a...
Cats – Review Carmen Paddock December 22, 2019 Reviews Nothing quite like Cats has been attempted on the big screen – and one hopes nothing like it is attempted again. From the first trailer, Cats has been defined by the bafflement around its digital fur...
The Directors That Defined the 2010s Carmen Paddock December 11, 2019 Analysis, Features, Opinion Much can be said about the cinema of the 2010s, from Oscars drama and the legacy of #MeToo to the dominance of Disney and emergence of streaming platforms in film distribution. The films driving and reacting...
Charlie’s Angels – Review Carmen Paddock November 28, 2019 Reviews A pop feminist, blingy advert for girl power could have been a fun, if fluffy, night at the cinema, but unfortunately the new Charlie’s Angels is let down by a script that neither serves the predictable plot...
Doctor Sleep – Review Carmen Paddock November 5, 2019 Reviews Almost forty years after Stanley Kubrick brought the Overlook Hotel to horrifying life, Mike Flanagan brings viewers right back into his world with his take on Stephen King’s sequel. By virtue of its source...
Judy & Punch – LFF 2019 Review Carmen Paddock October 16, 2019 Reviews The most striking element of Mirrah Foulkes’ feminist reimaging of the quintessential, quaint British seaside entertainment – this time focusing on the humans behind the puppets – is its unevenness of...
For the Birds – LFF 2019 Review Carmen Paddock October 12, 2019 Reviews Despite its flippant title, For the Birds is a difficult watch. The documentary centres on Kathy Murphy, a rural New Yorker whose decades-long, all-consuming hobby of raising barnyard fowl has raised...
Honey Boy – LFF 2019 Review Carmen Paddock October 12, 2019 Reviews The fictionalised cinematic memoir is an inherently self-indulgent genre, yet actor-turned-writer Shia LaBeouf and director Alma Har’el use this intense introspection to capture the interpersonal and...
Premature – LFF 2019 Review Carmen Paddock October 10, 2019 Reviews Like this autumn’s Marriage Story, Premature follows a relationship between two artists whose personal lives blend into their creative endeavours – but in this film the beginning, end, and a possible path...
Jojo Rabbit – LFF 2019 Review Carmen Paddock October 10, 2019 Reviews Thank the cinematic gods a studio gave Taika Waititi the money to make what is – on paper – a disaster waiting to happen. Yet in his hands, a comedy about a Hitler Youth misfit and his imaginary friend...
The Last Black Man in San Francisco – LFF 2019 Review Carmen Paddock October 5, 2019 Reviews The stories we tell ourselves and to others define the way we understand the world, and The Last Black Man in San Francisco uses this ever-changing mythos to expertly evoke an ever-changing city. Based on the...