Hurt By Paradise – Review Carmen Paddock September 17, 2020 Reviews At first glance, Greta Bellamacina’s debut feature seems a London version of Frances Ha, as two women navigate their friendship and the odd jobs that keep their artistic aspirations afloat. However, Hurt By...
Cuties – Review Carmen Paddock September 11, 2020 Reviews Adolescence is a time few want to relive, but its inherent dichotomies are inexhaustible fodder for cinema. Cuties, Maïmouna Doucouré’s debut, evokes Céline Sciamma’s vision of youth in Water Lilies and...
The Cost of Living – Review Carmen Paddock September 4, 2020 Reviews How much does a person need to live? And how much does it cost – materially and psychologically, in terms of the immediate present and future possibilities – to be poor? The Cost of Living makes no delay...
Forty Years On, Caddyshack Remains a Cinderella Story Carmen Paddock July 23, 2020 Features, Love Letter, Nostalgia There are messy films that have aimed at greatness. Films whose evident care, visionary goal, and meticulous craftsmanship are apparent through the shipwreck of ambition. There are others that are deliberately...
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga – Review Carmen Paddock June 26, 2020 Reviews In a year that saw Eurovision cancelled due to Covid, Netflix has swooped in with an imperfect yet heartfelt tribute to the iconic song contest. Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (retitled so as...
Fanny Lye Deliver’d – Review Carmen Paddock June 26, 2020 Reviews This film was previously reviewed in October 2019 as part of our London Film Festival coverage. A period drama not focused on the landed gentry is a welcome change. Fanny Lye Deliver’d focuses on its...
Athlete A – Review Carmen Paddock June 25, 2020 Reviews USA Gymnastics’ fall from grace has been complete in the years following the 2016 Olympics; as the women’s team came home with their second consecutive gold, Indianapolis local news pieced together...
On the Record – Review Carmen Paddock June 16, 2020 Reviews Oscar-nominated duo Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering open their latest documentary feature by exploring one of the #MeToo movement’s most glaring weaknesses: the absence of stories from those not white, young, and...
Take Me Somewhere Nice – Review Carmen Paddock May 23, 2020 Reviews The youth road trip movie is a storied genre, and Take Me Somewhere Nice carves out its spot by contrasting a modern setting with a retro production design. The film follows Alma (Sara Luna Zoric), a Bosnian...
All Day And A Night – Review Carmen Paddock May 3, 2020 Reviews Joe Robert Cole’s second feature eschews the usual techniques for establishing audience rapport with its central character: before viewers properly get to know aspiring rapper Jakhor (Ashton Sanders), he...
The Assistant – Review Carmen Paddock April 30, 2020 Reviews This film was previously reviewed as part of our Berlinale Film Festival coverage in February 2020. It is still dark when Jane (Julia Garner) gets in a taxi outside her modest flat. She dozes when she can...
After Two Decades and One Darcy, Matthew MacFadyen Has Never Been More Iconic Carmen Paddock April 27, 2020 Analysis, Features, Spotlight In his 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, Joe Wright attempted to undo the long shadow cast by Colin Firth’s pitch perfect Mr Darcy in the 1995 BBC miniseries. Instead of watching his romantic hero...
Rising High – Review Carmen Paddock April 18, 2020 Reviews There may be no such thing as a wholly original story, but many narratives earn memorability by bringing new perspectives and urgency to themes and tales heard a thousand times before. Rising High (Betonrausch...
Paris, Texas – My First Time Film Review Carmen Paddock April 6, 2020 Reviews In this new series of articles, our writers are watching classic films for the first time. Here, Carmen catches up on 1984's Paris, Texas. Paris, Texas is grounded in the endless, expansive topographies...
Rescue the Fire – BFI Flare 2020 Review Carmen Paddock March 27, 2020 Reviews Berlin, 1979. Jürgen Baldiga moves from a rural mining province to Berlin, quickly becoming one of the city’s foremost queer artists. After contracting HIV in 1984, as the AIDS crisis sweeps Berlin’s...