Nous – Review Carmen Paddock June 29, 2022 Reviews This film was previously reviewed in March 2021 as part of our Berlinale coverage. Alice Diop’s latest documentary captures life in the Paris suburbs, meandering between characters, vignettes, and...
Really Good Rejects – SXSW Review Carmen Paddock April 7, 2022 Reviews The luthier’s craft can seem one from another age, the archaic title passed down despite evolving instruments and musical styles. In today’s music industry, Reuben Cox is one of the most respected makers...
On the Divide – Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2022 Review Sophie Maxwell March 29, 2022 Reviews In the small city of McAllen, Texas, a human rights battle is waged in close quarters. On the Divide follows Denisse, Rey, and Mercedes, three people whose lives have been touched deeply by the politics of...
Silence Heard Loud – Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2022 Review Sophie Maxwell March 17, 2022 Reviews Premiering at London's Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2022 is Anna Konik's self-described 'art documentary', Silence Heard Loud. Konik's film gives voice to seven people living in the UK as asylum seekers....
Wake Up Punk – Glasgow Film Festival 2022 Review Carmen Paddock March 17, 2022 Reviews In 2016, 40 years after London’s punk scene took off, John Corré burned £5 million worth of memorabilia - largely from the collections of his parents Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, who owned the...
The Real Charlie Chaplin – Review Louise Burrell February 9, 2022 Reviews Directors Peter Middleton and James Spinney take on the unenviable task of trying to dissect the life of a man who was once one of the most famous people on the planet. While Chaplin carved out his own style...
Infinity According to Florian – IFFR 2022 Review Carmen Paddock February 8, 2022 Reviews Florìan Jur’jev’s work across several decades has led to him inventing his own language for colour, art, and creation. As an architect, musician, filmmaker, and painter, his Renaissance qualities are...
What Beat You Nothing – IFFR 2022 Review Carmen Paddock February 4, 2022 Reviews Alla Sergeyevna Demidova is a seminal name on the Russian stage. Renowned for her tragic heroines, she forged a close relationship with directors Yuri Lyubimov and Anatoly Efros and their often troubled...
Invisible: Gay Women in Southern Music – IFFR 2022 Review Carmen Paddock February 3, 2022 Reviews With Nashville’s iconic music industry still largely devoid of LGBTQ+ household names, it is easy to spend a lifetime listening to country western music without realising gay women are behind many words and...
The Velvet Underground – Review Scott Wilson October 15, 2021 Reviews Almost fifty years since The Velvet Underground went their separate ways, their legacy only grows. Now understood as pivotal in pushing the boundaries of music at the time, Todd Haynes’ documentary tells the...
Oasis: Knebworth 1996 – Review Scott Wilson September 22, 2021 Reviews Some might say Oasis performing to 250,000 people across a weekend in the summer of ‘96 was the definitive musical moment of the decade. Oasis: Knebworth 1996 makes it hard to disagree. At the heart of the...
Futura – TIFF 2021 Review Lydia Rostant September 12, 2021 Reviews "I think that the future is a series of tomorrows", "this creed is both religious and individualistic", "fear is not what it used to be. It has turned into anxiety". Believe it or not, these are not the words...
Ostrov – Lost Island – Locarno Film Festival 2021 Review Carmen Paddock August 14, 2021 Reviews The unlicensed fisherman of Ostrov, an island in the Caspian Sea, often see themselves against the world. Left to their own devices after the breakup of the Soviet Union, local patriarch Ivan cannot help but...
Rastorguev – Locarno Film Festival 2021 Review Carmen Paddock August 11, 2021 Reviews By trade, a documentarian deals in records. Aleksandr Rastorguev was no exception. A prolific documentary filmmaker known for works critical of Russia’s political regime and business interests, he was found...
From the Planet of the Humans – Locarno Film Festival 2021 Review Carmen Paddock August 8, 2021 Reviews From the Planet of the Humans (Dal pianeta degli umani) defies easy categorisation. It is a dreamlike documentary, fictionalising a border checkpoint at Ventimiglia where migrants often make perilous crossings...