Author Cathy Brennan

After the death of Cecil the Lion, it’s become clear that public opinion of big-game hunting is at an all-time low. So Safari is a timely documentary about the reviled activity that yields many...

Small-town Argentinian nationalism clashes with European cosmopolitanism in The Distinguished Citizen. The resulting wreckage is both funny and depressing. After fleeing to Europe four decades ago, Nobel...

The mockumentary has recently seen a resurgence with comedies like What We Do In The Shadows and Popstar. King of the Belgians continues this trend and is one of the funniest films of the year. Taking...

For the first half of Home, it’s difficult to understand what story the filmmakers are trying to tell. It’s clearly meant to be a teen film, but there’s a lack of direction in the plot that mirrors the...

Massimo D'Anolfi and Martina Parenti are ambitious film-makers at least, but the baffling Spira Mirabilis is too self-absorbed to be of much appeal to audiences. Touted as a “visual symphony” the film...

Taking a look at the life of Chuck Wepner, the real-life inspiration for Rocky Balboa, The Bleeder appropriately feels eclipsed by greatness. It stands in shadows that include the legacy of Muhammad Ali, the...

The Anarchist Cookbook is among the most controversial books ever published, detailing how to make bombs and weapons. So it’s surprising that the subject of American Anarchist, the book's author...

Miljeong follows a trend of Chinese and South Korean period films that chart those countries' victimisation by the Japanese in the first half of the 20th century. It’s a decent genre flick that should...

Kim Ki-duk is known for being as profane as he is prolific; one of his more notable films is the Oedipal nightmare Moebius. With Geumul he retains some of the absurdity but grounds it with a human story...

For over a decade now it has been impossible for a mainstream film to be released without some form of visual effects (or VFX). Digital technologies have permanently changed the way films are made. This is...

By its very nature Nine Lives has no right to be any good. It's a shameless corporate product that exploits the popularity of cat videos to rake in summer holiday money, while at the same time keeping costs...

Despite being a Cannes favourite, Naomi Kawase is a marginal director both domestically and internationally. Sweet Bean shows why this needs to change. Her talent is most evident when the elderly Tokue (Kirin...

So much of the nasty stuff in the news lately can be laid at the feet of toxic masculinity. From the collective hissy-fit of Ghostbros to a couple of domestic abusers in Orlando and Nice, masculine culture...

Since its release in 2004 Mean Girls has quickly cemented itself as a classic teen comedy. In the years since, the popularity of the genre has petered out into minor successes like Easy A and embarrassing...

Famous directors - auteurs, if you want to get fancy - can often have their filmographies summed up in a few phrases. With Richard Linklater, those phrases are usually 'laid back', 'preoccupied with time'...