Les Misérables – Review Tom Bond September 2, 2020 Reviews Anger is an energy, and the residents of Paris suburb Montfermeil have more than enough to go around. Local resident Ladj Ly builds his feature debut Les Misérables around this force, which simmers under the...
The Dead and the Others – Review Tom Bond June 28, 2020 Reviews This film was previously reviewed in May 2018 as part of our Cannes Film Festival coverage. The Dead and the Others is a complex creation from directors Joao Salaviza and Renee Nader Messora, which can’t...
The Whistlers – Review Tom Bond May 8, 2020 Reviews This film was previously reviewed in May 2019 as part of our Cannes Film Festival coverage. Codes and communication are vital parts of any crime film. After all, it's much easier to double-cross your...
It Must Be Heaven – Review Jack Cameron April 2, 2020 Reviews Elia Suleiman is trying to make a film about his native Palestine. It'll be about the conflict, but with a focus on the people living through it, and it'll be a comedy. To get it financed he must travel to...
Portrait of a Lady on Fire – Review Tom Bond February 13, 2020 Reviews Originally reviewed as part of our Cannes Film Festival coverage in May 2019. Portraying someone in a work of art inevitably means gathering intimate details about their life. The way they blush when...
Parasite – Review Tom Bond February 7, 2020 Reviews Originally reviewed as part of our Cannes Film Festival coverage in May 2019. There’s a lesser version of this film full of simple, signposted twists, broad, caricatured performances, and crude, obvious...
Pain and Glory – Review Tom Bond August 19, 2019 Reviews It’s easy to throw a film like Pain and Glory into all sorts of boxes – boxes marked ‘self-portrait’, ‘self-indulgent’ and ‘love letter to cinema’ – but that would be to cheapen a beguiling...
Matthias & Maxime – Cannes 2019 Review Tom Bond May 27, 2019 Reviews Xavier Dolan's had a tough few years. The Canadian wunderkind's last two efforts It's Only the End of the World and The Death and Life of John F. Donovan have bombed hard, but in Matthias & Maxime he...
Ice on Fire – Cannes 2019 Review Tom Bond May 23, 2019 Reviews In a sane world, Ice on Fire wouldn't exist. Mass global audiences would've been woken up by the comprehensive climate change warnings of An Inconvenient Truth back in 2006, rather than simply stirring in...
Frankie – Cannes 2019 Review Tom Bond May 22, 2019 Reviews Any film not made for mass audiences is always at risk of sliding into a montage of first world problems, such is the class barrier that remains in the film industry. Frankie is a great example of this...
La Belle Époque – Cannes 2019 Review Tom Bond May 22, 2019 Reviews What would you give to go back and experience any point in history however you wished? Time travel may be impossible, but considering the relentless march of technology and filmmaking it’s not inconceivable...
Rocketman – Review Ben Flanagan May 21, 2019 Reviews As Elton John plays his first LA show, he begins to levitate, only tethered to earth by fingers on the piano. The crowd lift too as ‘Crocodile Rock’ slows down to a crawl, a moment of sublime magical...
A Hidden Life – Cannes 2019 Review Tom Bond May 20, 2019 Reviews There’s a stereotype of a Terrence Malick film, if you’re feeling mean. Beautiful, sure; but also a glorified perfume ad, full of twirling girls and little substance. His most recent efforts – To the...
Vivarium – Cannes 2019 Review Tom Bond May 19, 2019 Reviews Don’t even talk to me about getting a mortgage. In this economy? May as well resign yourself to renting forever and raising your own Chernobyl of a nuclear family from a cupboard under the stairs. Vivarium...
Under the Silver Lake – Review Tom Bond March 16, 2019 Reviews This review was originally published as part of our Cannes coverage on 18/05/2018. “Ever get the feeling you fucked up somewhere a long time ago and you’re living a bad version of the life you were...