Why are Filmmakers Falling for Monochrome? Rob Salusbury July 22, 2020 Analysis, Features, Opinion It may feel like a lifetime ago now but it was only back in February when Jane Fonda opened that golden envelope and sent the film world into rapture. The cinematic sensation of 2019, Parasite became the...
Atonement and the Precarity of Desire Anahit Behrooz July 17, 2020 Features, Love Letter, Nostalgia Atonement was the film that made me fall in love with cinema. There had been films before and innumerable films since, but nothing has ever approached that heart-stopping, locking-eyes-across-a-crowded-room...
The Painted Bird and Depicting the Holocaust on Film Rob Salusbury July 15, 2020 Analysis, Opinion The Holocaust is, without a doubt, the toughest topic to discuss in modern history. The mass murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime during World War Two was a defining moment in the history of mankind:...
Inception and the Time of Capitalism Anahit Behrooz July 14, 2020 Analysis, Close-Up, Features Once upon a time, so my head canon goes, a drunk philosophy fresher told Christopher Nolan that time is a construct and Nolan has never looked back. The majority of his films are characterised by their focus...
The Changing Face of Pedro Almodóvar’s Autofiction Joseph Bullock July 9, 2020 Analysis, Close-Up, Features We have always seen glimpses of Pedro Almodóvar in his films. Most notably in Law of Desire (1987) and Bad Education (2004), he has used stories of filmmakers in a self-reflective way to construct deeply...
Top 10 Movie Moments of 2020… So Far Tom Bond June 30, 2020 Analysis, Features, Top 10 2020 has been a year to forget for many reasons. But today we’re here to focus on the positives. Even with only three months of cinema-going under our belts, the amount of incredible movie moments is as high...
The Apartment and How to Escape Toxic Masculinity Katy Moon June 25, 2020 Analysis, Close-Up, Features In a conversation between Fran Kubelik and C.C. Baxter, the two very broken people at the centre of Billy Wilder’s classic comedy drama The Apartment, Fran (Shirley MacClaine) sums up the dichotomy of the...
The Playful Physicality of Chicken Run Joseph Bullock June 24, 2020 Analysis, Features Chicken Run's importance in the field of feature film animation can hardly be overstated. Twenty years ago this week it became the first of Bristol animation studio Aardman’s feature films, proving the...
Are Nymphomaniac and Love Still Pointing the Way for Sex in Cinema? Rob Salusbury June 23, 2020 Analysis, Features, Opinion If films are to be believed, then it appears that most of us have basically gone celibate these days. Take a look at the BBFC’s classifications for the last few years and you’ll find a swift decline in the...
Music of the Movies: Hustlers’ Financial Crisis Mixtape Anna McKibbin June 15, 2020 Behind The Curtain, Features, Music of the Movies The opening lyrics of Janet Jackson’s ‘Control’ are the first words we hear in Lorene Scafaria's 2019 crime caper Hustlers. “This is a story about control,” Jackson declares as the camera rests on...
Batman Begins and the Birth of Christopher Nolan as Blockbuster Auteur Patrick Nabarro June 9, 2020 Analysis, Features, Opinion It’s no coincidence that Tenet will likely be the film leading the charge back into cinemas this summer. Its director, Christopher Nolan, is a staunch defender of the cinematic experience, and perhaps the...
The Transformative Legacy of Psycho Rob Salusbury June 9, 2020 Analysis, Close-Up, Features Has there ever been a film that so greatly influenced and changed the course of a single genre as Psycho? With one swish of a shower curtain and a chorus of shrieking violins, Alfred Hitchcock’s bold and...
Lenny Abrahamson And The Longing For The Unreachable Rafaela Sales Ross May 26, 2020 Analysis, Close-Up, Features Towards the end of Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank (2014), Jon (Domhnall Gleeson) glances at Frank Sidebottom’s band one last time before turning his back for good. They represented his feverish dream of...
A Beginner’s Guide to… Orson Welles Joseph Bullock May 21, 2020 A Beginner's Guide To..., Analysis, Features There is a common narrative surrounding Orson Welles that he was too ambitious for the studio system of his day; the final edits of his movies were rarely under his control after his first film, and his...
Céline Sciamma, Water Lilies, and the Complications of Youthful Desire Nick Davie May 11, 2020 Analysis, Close-Up, Features Céline Sciamma is having a moment. Following the 2019 festival debut and this year's cinematic release ofPortrait of a Lady on Fire, she is currently the subject of Mubi UK's 'Focus on' retrospective. This...