Author Rachel Brook

Dickie and Higgins are a study in contrasts, giving versatile performances which convey distinctions in two people’s response to a traumatic experience. Dickie’s is a particularly impressive turn, her...

Though they do overlap slightly, most segments of Skolimowski’s time-bending experiment have enough to interest on an individual level. However, the unusual perspective of a dog’s eye view is all that...

It may not take a groundbreaking approach to biographical drama, but Frears’ The Program draws strong performances from an impassioned O’Dowd, up-and-comer Jesse Plemons and particularly Foster, whose...

Assassination is a meticulously crafted film crammed with diverse elements, including sumptuously detailed set design, goofy slapstick humour, and even a meet cute. Best of all, there’s a kickass heroine...

Clerici takes what could be a fascinating process and renders it crushingly dull in this fly-on-the-wall documentary. Hand Gestures may prove useful as a historical and practical record of the foundry’s...

After opening shorts respectively characterised by static, stagey discourse and poor acting, In the Room grows in confidence and passionate eloquence. The haunting presence of a deceased man chasing an...

Welcome to By The Book, where we compare books with their cinematic adaptations. Are they faithful and delightful partners in storytelling or are the authors turning in their graves through these unholy...

Despite the passion of its leads, Miss You Already is disappointingly formulaic. The establishing whistlestop tour of their friendship is derivative, and the too-good-to-be-true lives are predictably countered...

Legend is a mixed bag, combining undeniable technical brilliance with hokey pseudo-romance. However, framing the myth of the Krays from Frances’ perspective pays off by foregrounding the instability of this...

Redford may not be a master of brevity, but he is a master of the page-to-screen adaptation. Here he handles a plot intricate as clockwork, following reporter Ben’s (LeBeouf) investigation to create a...

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is completely undeserving of the cynicism often levelled at films with similar subject matter. It’s entirely sure of its quirky celluloid skin; defiantly utilising unsettlingly...

Kristen Stewart has been a much-maligned actress ever since her unforgettable – and arguably regrettable – presence in the Twilight films. Yet she’s recently gone on to win prestigious awards and glowing...

Despite his Best Actor win at the Berlin Film Festival, Courtenay’s performance is the weak link in 45 Years. Many of his lines feel over-rehearsed, though fittingly he’s more animated when reminiscing...

As Brooke Catalinas – the titular Mistress America – Gerwig is almost as repulsive as she’s magnetic. Gerwig impressively develops her already glittering back catalogue of alter egos, effecting a turn of...

Greta Gerwig is probably still best known to most for her flawless lead performance in 2013’s Frances Ha, though she has far more strings to her bow than the charmingly clumsy, down-on-her-luck Frances. As...