Author Rachel Brook

The grumpy old(er) man comedy is a great tradition. See Alexander Payne’s About Schmidt, or the forthcoming A Man Called Ove for examples of hilarious cantankerousness ultimately giving way to a heartwarming...

Here it is, finally: a female-fronted superhero movie directed by a woman. But does Wonder Woman live up to its name or squander its landmark potential? Our very own Tom Bond believes DC have finally got...

Like Spike Jonze’s Her, Marjorie Prime is set in a future not too different from the world we know. This adaptation of Jordan Harrison’s Pulitzer-nominated play takes place largely within mundane and...

Frances Ha fans, listen up. A new twenty-something struggling creative is in town, and she has a lot to say. As does writer-director Jim Strouse, whose brainchild Jessica James is an absolute joy to spend time...

Crown Heights is the kind of film you don’t always enjoy, but are glad to have seen afterwards. Writer-director Matt Ruskin doesn’t quite do justice to the affecting true life story; the screenplay feels...

Bushwick assails the eyes and ears with near-continual gunfire and quease-making handheld cinematography. Being forced to follow the characters quickly becomes tedious, and not only visually. The majority of...

Ranging from gently witty to laugh-out-loud funny, The Big Sick is a vibrant comedy-drama which always engages despite broadly conventional structure and lack of stylisation. What it lacks in style, it makes...

Zoology is torn between grotesque body horror and the aesthetics of naturalism and handheld camerawork. The latter helps produce an atmosphere which emphasises the extremely lonely life led by Natasha (Natalya...

Jawbone is an odd hybrid of gritty British drama, character study, and sports movie. It develops so slowly that it’s almost a surprise to see protagonist Jimmy suddenly climb into the boxing ring for a...

With Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant rearing its ugly head this week, it’s time to consider the other characters and performers who’ve stolen scenes in his films. The first to spring to mind – Brad...

This absorbing feature debut from writer-director Hope Dickson Leach is expertly controlled and assembled, with convincingly detailed sets and a barely-there score which never crowds the central...

Lady Macbeth is period drama without the hard edges filed off; its plot lives in the spaces of illegitimacy, upstairs-downstairs romance, and single-minded ambition that are usually denied or shamed in more...

A Dark Song makes its first impression as a slow-building drama, opening atmospherically with a mournful score and moody timelapse photography of stormy skies. Leads Catherine Walker and Steve Oram walk a fine...

Where you might expect familiarity, Heartstone continually complicates and deepens its innocence lost narrative to tell a tale both fresh and universal. Expressive kinetic camerawork conveys boyish energy,...

Two Soft Things, Two Hard Things treats its subject matter with thoughtful and meticulous nuance. It’s a fascinating and intelligent study of growing LGBT acceptance in Nunavut contextualised within a...