Author Rachel Brook

Like an unassuming and subtler Birdman, Clouds of Sils Maria takes advantage of its actor protagonist Maria (Binoche) in order to probe a potential overlap between fiction and reality. A dawdling...

New Girlfriend is technically striking, often conveying narrative visually in brave compositions, and Pascal Marti’s cinematography is as fluid as the characters’ identities. Ozon’s latest is riddled...

With an omniscient voiceover, supernatural premise and bland romance, The Age of Adaline could be a mash-up of Pushing Daisies and a Nicholas Sparks novel. After a whistle-stop tour of 20th century US...

https://vimeo.com/15759511 The anonymous office setting of The Black Hole, along with the all-to-recognisable experiences of tedium and frustration, anticipates the equally surreal world of Richard...

Vinterberg’s adaptation easily ticks the required boxes of a successful period drama. The sets are ready to be stepped onto, and there’s artistry and homeliness to the costuming. Moreover, Vinterberg...

This May, Carey Mulligan once again returns to the genre that launched her into acting: the period drama. Having brought some of Jane Austen’s most vivid characters to life, Mulligan will now try her hand at...

Virtually plotless, Lost River is a lurid technicolour nightmare featuring a senseless mishmash of shot types, a warped Miss Havisham and a caricaturish Matt Smith. There’s no subtlety here; the sparse...

While We’re Young is a natural progression from Baumbach’s Frances Ha, yet it breaks new ground by using older protagonists to provide a fresh perspective on twentysomething New Yorkers. Meanwhile, it...

Celebrated Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell has recorded twenty two albums in a career spanning more than forty years and ranging across the genres of folk, jazz, and pop. She’s even been named...

Still Alice is increasingly immersive, with dynamic camerawork and layered soundscapes replicating Alice’s perceptions for the audience, and conveying her alarmingly rapid decline. In comparison,...

Focus is a film of clear halves; a time jump refreshes the narrative just as you start to wonder if its hackneyed premise is actually going anywhere. Despite a somewhat predictable conclusion, Ficarra and...

Over the years, negative assessments of Keira Knightley’s acting abilities have included the phrases ‘woeful’ and ‘so bloody awful it hurts my eyes’, with many critiques specifically focussing on the...

Spotlight is a new feature dedicated to actors who continually turn in impressive performances yet fly under the radar, often not receiving the recognition they deserve. Spotlight aims to be both a tribute to...

Countless words of exegesis on the teen movie have been published, but Lyne has winningly executed a fresh method that abandons the attempt to describe audiovisual media with only words, often instead letting...

The last instalment of Welcome to the ‘80s discussed Will Gluck’s Easy A, and the way it emulates and alludes to many of the classic ‘80s films considered in this series. This time around we take a look...