Wonder Woman – Review Tom Bond May 31, 2017 Reviews It’s hugely satisfying that Wonder Woman marks the moment where DC got their act together enough to make an unequivocally good film. A leading female superhero has been a long time coming, and Gal Gadot and...
Dragon’s Defense – Cannes 2017 Review Tom Bond May 28, 2017 Reviews Dragon’s Defense is a film about nothing. And not in the sense that Seinfeld is a TV show about "nothing", but is really about everything. There’s no implied rule-breaking or casual genius in this...
24 Frames – Cannes 2017 Review Tom Bond May 28, 2017 Reviews The late Abbas Kiarostami was a true visionary, responsible for some of the most powerful and thought-provoking cinema of the last four decades. He continues to pursue new ways of expressing himself in 24...
The Red Turtle – Review Tom Bond May 26, 2017 Reviews Expectations are high whenever you see a Studio Ghibli ident at the start of an animation. They’re arguably even higher now the studio has all but shut up shop. The Red Turtle isn’t a homegrown Ghibli...
Dopo La Guerra – Cannes 2017 Review Tom Bond May 23, 2017 Reviews Dopo La Guerra tells the half-true story of a group of Italian far-left political terrorists, whose amnesty to live in France was rescinded in 2002. Annarita Zambrano’s tense film combines thriller and...
Jeune Femme – Cannes 2017 Review Tom Bond May 23, 2017 Reviews Roaring down the trail blazed by the likes of Lena Dunham’s Girls, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag and Gillian Robespierre’s Obvious Child, Jeune Femme is the most memorable and entertaining film of the...
Out – Cannes 2017 Review Tom Bond May 23, 2017 Reviews Gyorgy Kristóf’s Out proves that unemployment and fear of foreign workers aren’t limited to the more affluent nations of Europe in this sweet story about a factory worker struggling to get by. Ágoston...
Radiance – Cannes 2017 Review Tom Bond May 23, 2017 Reviews If there’s one thing a film festival always proves, it’s that there are countless ways to see the world: fast, slow; violent, peaceful; restrained, exaggerated; joyous and heartbreaking. Naomi Kawase’s...
The Day After – Cannes 2017 Review Tom Bond May 22, 2017 Reviews Director Hong delivers his second stunner of the festival with The Day After, a hilarious and profound comedy of errors set in a Korean publishing firm whose unfaithful boss finds his affair, his work life and...
The Killing Of A Sacred Deer – Cannes 2017 Review Tom Bond May 22, 2017 Reviews If you ever get invited to a Cannes beach party, never play "Would You Rather… ?" with Yorgos Lanthimos. The Greek writer-director has a perverse mind quite unlike anyone else working today, with previous...
Happy End – Cannes 2017 Review Tom Bond May 22, 2017 Reviews Austere, 75-year-old auteur Michael Haneke might not seem the most obvious choice to comment on the current landscape of live streaming and democratic video, but he proves himself a master of all forms of...
Claire’s Camera – Cannes 2017 Review Tom Bond May 21, 2017 Reviews There aren’t many films that make you question the meaning of cinema. Claire’s Camera, written and directed by Hong Sang-soo, is one of those films. It forms a fascinating counterpoint to the recent...
BPM (Beats Per Minute) – Cannes 2017 Review Tom Bond May 21, 2017 Reviews Acclaimed writer/director Robin Campillo returns with BPM (Beats Per Minute), an incendiary and challenging film about the Act Up AIDS protest movement in France in the nineties. This might sound like a...
Fortunata – Cannes 2017 Review Tom Bond May 21, 2017 Reviews What separates the successful and the failures in life? The rich and the poor? Is it a question of hard work, talent, or just luck? Fortunata, the latest film from experienced actor Sergio Castellito, suggests...
Le Venerable W. – Cannes 2017 Review Tom Bond May 20, 2017 Reviews Extreme Buddhism might sound like the brainstorm of a BBC Three producer, but in Barbet Schroeder’s ferocious documentary it’s about as far from a laughing matter as you could imagine. Despite their serene...