Close-Up

One look and you can tell how well a society functions. It’s all about order. Are the streets clear of rubbish? Are the walls fresh with paint? People only tend to care how something looks once they’re...

All too often, critics of Sofia Coppola label her films as rich white girl problems. The "white" part is fair enough – it's not like she can't be criticised for how she handles (or rather avoids handling)...

“She did get so irritated with people calling it a romantic novel. Because she always said it was a study in jealousy.” Upon Rebecca’s publication in 1938, Royal Society wünderkind and critic V.S....

Jack Sparrow – sorry, Captain Jack Sparrow – is back. Pirates of the Caribbean returns this month for the franchise’s fifth film in 15 years, with the malleable moniker Salazar’s Revenge or Dead Men...

In John Keats’ haunting poem about the elusiveness of perfect love, ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ (translation: "The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy"), the poem’s main conduit, the Knight, recounts a...

Word is out that Netflix's Marvel universe has finally dropped the ball with Iron Fist, a lacklustre attempt to raise a middling character from obscurity. Likewise, if our word is anything to go by – and,...

“Violence - the supreme authority from which all other authority is derived” - Lt. Jean Rasczak, Starship Troopers RoboCop. Total Recall. Starship Troopers. Paul Verhoeven has made a career out of films...

Vignettes are nothing new in independent cinema. One of America's unsung treasures, Kelly Reichardt, recently made her own contribution to the subgenre with Certain Women, a film composed of three...

On an island, anything can happen. Isolated geographically, they form spaces separate from the rest of society where new rules apply and existing norms can be challenged and disrupted. It’s been this way...

Damien Chazelle's nostalgic musical La La Land puts its behind-the-scenes artists to full use, creating poetic and fanciful imagery and prompting the question of who the author of a film really is. It's a...

Barry Jenkins' Moonlight explores the life of Chiron - a black gay man in a rough Miami neighbourhood - across three periods in his life. He's taken in by a well-meaning couple (played by Mahershala Ali and...

While the quality often varies, biopics are a staple of film. There are good biopics, and some are even great, but they often lack the daring, innovation and uniqueness of their subjects. They can too...

T2 Trainspotting is a gritty drama dealing with the harshness of middle-age in a left-behind society. Its characters must deal with past sins, including betrayal, aggravated assault, self-loathing and drug...

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling have been dominating the cinema - and critics' prize lists - in recent weeks with their little-known musical La La Land, which has just equalled the all-time record for Academy...

This summer the film world was temporarily rocked by, of all things, a new Ghostbusters film. For many people it was a long overdue win for better representation in film, and a chance to see that rarest of...