Smells Like Teen Spirit: Moulin Rouge at 20 Anna McKibbin June 1, 2021 Features, Love Letter, Nostalgia Moulin Rouge! is based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, kind of. It’s also based on the opera La Bohème, but again, only kind of. It’s been compared to the opera La Traviata, the novel Nana, and the...
Olympia Dukakis: The Older Woman’s Older Woman Alex Goldstein May 3, 2021 Analysis, Features, One Off “I always played older,” Olympia Dukakis once told the New York Times. “I think it was the voice.” From 40 years old, Dukakis was playing mothers of grown children and elder stateswomen - and...
Todd Stephens, Udo Kier and Linda Evans on Swan Song Rafaela Sales Ross March 28, 2021 Features, Interview, One Off In the realm of great storylines, “A formerly flamboyant hairdresser takes a long walk across a small town to style a dead woman's hair” certainly hits the jackpot. Throw in two contrasting legends in the...
Why First Cow Was The Biggest Oscar Snub This Year Louise Burrell March 27, 2021 Analysis, Features, Opinion With an outpouring of festival and critics awards over the last 12 months, it seemed almost certain that Kelly Reichardt’s stunning First Cow would garner a handful of Academy Awards nominations. But in a...
Heather Young Discusses Murmur Rafaela Sales Ross February 28, 2021 Features, Interview Screening at this year's Glasgow Film Festival, Heather Young's first feature Murmur is a bleak portrait of loneliness. The director sat down with us to discuss her creative process, touring digital festivals...
Bloodless Spectacle and Everyday Sexism in Silence of the Lambs Katy Moon February 1, 2021 Analysis, Features, Opinion Feminist author Betty Friedan dismissed the critical and popular success of Silence of the Lambs by calling it a film about “the evisceration, the skinning alive of women.” On the surface, her disgust is...
15 Years On, High School Musical Still Promises The Start Of Something New Jess Goodman January 22, 2021 Features, Love Letter, Nostalgia One successful franchise. Three iconic films. A straight-to-DVD spin-off, a reality TV show, and a series of books. A concert tour, a stage musical, and a production on ice. It has been adapted into foreign...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2020: #1 – Parasite Jess Goodman December 31, 2020 Analysis, Features, Top 10 The ending of another year is a time that lends itself to reflection. So let’s look back on the good old days, when going to the supermarket didn’t feel like a health hazard, when cinemas were open and...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2020: #2 – Portrait of a Lady on Fire Scott Wilson December 31, 2020 Analysis, Features, Top 10 Released less than a month before the UK entered lockdown, Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a memory from the Before Times. Not only is it about so much of what has been taken from us this year, but the film...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2020: #3 – Little Women Anahit Behrooz December 30, 2020 Analysis, Features, Top 10 Editor note - While Little Women was released on the 26th December 2019 in the UK, due to time constraints our group of writers did not get the chance to vote for it in last year's Top 20. For that reason, we...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2020: #4 – Uncut Gems Jack Blackwell December 30, 2020 Analysis, Features, Top 10 One of the things that separates my very favourite films from those that are merely excellent is that they seem to fold in other mediums as they go. With its dense plotting and lovingly textured surroundings,...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2020: #5 – The Lighthouse Louise Burrell December 29, 2020 Analysis, Features, Top 10 Mermaids, one-eyed seagulls, and glimpses of sea monsters; Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse is anything but a mainstream horror. This undeniably weird film landed in the UK in the “normal” part of 2020,...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2020: #6 – Babyteeth Josefine Algieri December 29, 2020 Analysis, Features, Top 10 In a year so dominated by collective illness, loss, and pain, focusing on the tragedy of a single family for two hours can feel remarkably refreshing. Shannon Murphy’s debut feature Babyteeth is an intimate...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2020: #7 – Bacurau Rafaela Sales Ross December 28, 2020 Analysis, Features, Top 10 Throughout the delirious beats of its climax, Bacurau demands the viewer to both abandon and embrace their humanity. As the underdog marches to victory, the joy of cruel, uncensored death blends into...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2020: #8 – 1917 Bertie Archer December 28, 2020 Analysis, Features, Top 10 Everyone should see 1917. Whatever your film taste, whatever your interest in World War One films in particular, 1917 bridges the divide. Winner of Best Film and Best Director at the 2020 Baftas (among many,...