Clouds of Sils Maria – Review Rachel Brook May 16, 2015 Reviews 1 Comment 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...
The New Girlfriend – Review Rachel Brook May 14, 2015 Reviews 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...
The Age of Adaline – Review Rachel Brook May 10, 2015 Reviews 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...
Short of the Week – The Black Hole Rachel Brook May 4, 2015 Features, Independent, Short of the Week 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...
Far from the Madding Crowd – Review Rachel Brook May 2, 2015 Reviews 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...
Spotlight: Carey Mulligan Rachel Brook May 1, 2015 Analysis, Features, Spotlight 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...
Lost River – Review Rachel Brook April 11, 2015 Reviews 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 – Review Rachel Brook April 3, 2015 Reviews 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...
Music of the Movies: Joni Mitchell Rachel Brook March 11, 2015 Behind The Curtain, Features, Music of the Movies 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 – Review Rachel Brook March 9, 2015 Reviews 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 – Review Rachel Brook February 26, 2015 Reviews 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...
Second Chance: Keira Knightley Rachel Brook February 7, 2015 Features, Nostalgia, Second Chance 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: Brie Larson Rachel Brook January 30, 2015 Analysis, Features, Spotlight 1 Comment 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...
Beyond Clueless – Review Rachel Brook January 28, 2015 Reviews 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...
Welcome to the ’80s: Revival Rachel Brook January 18, 2015 Features, Nostalgia, Welcome to the 80s 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...