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Guilty – LFF Review

Overlong and dangerously reliant on cliché, Guilty wastes a solid performance from Khan as it never entirely escapes the feeling of a cheap-and-cheerful TV drama. The score is intrusive and overwrought,...
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The End of the Tour – LFF Review

With a pair of perfectly calibrated performances from Segel and Eisenberg, End of the Tour both entertains and inspires introspection as it combines a cerebral thoughtfulness with rich character chemistry and...
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Dheepan – LFF Review

Dheepan feels timely with its story of the immigrant experience, but Audiard is never one for simple morality tales, and complicates his immigrants’ pasts with violence and rebellion. Despite that we’re...
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Necktie Youth – LFF Review

With its Pulp Fiction-esque sprawl and community of Johannesburg teens, writer and director Mer’s Necktie Youth bears all the hallmarks of a precociously talented young filmmaker – for better or...
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Jacked (Short) – LFF Review

Featuring a pair of performances that wouldn't be out of place in a feature, Rene Pannevis' Jacked nicely showcases the continued growth of a promising director. The constant utilisation of  narrow...
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Closet Monster – LFF Review

Despite Closet Monster dealing with a ‘standard-fare’ topic – teenage angst and sexuality – it manages to prevent itself from seeming derivative.  Unafraid to reveal the still-lurking nastier...
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My Scientology Movie – LFF Review

Hamstrung by the Church of Scientology’s understandable lack of cooperation, Louis Theroux borrows meta recreation techniques from the likes of The Act of Killing to ingenious effect. Actors’...
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Light Years – LFF Review

Light Years has the kitchen-sink stylistic trappings of an Andrea Arnold film, yet the conflict that drives the narrative is far less apparent. As a result it is at times laboriously low-key, but there are...
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The Lady in the Van – LFF Review

Maggie Smith dominates The Lady in the Van, revisiting a theatre role that earned her great accolades. The quieter Alex Jennings as Alan Bennett is a solid choice for her exasperated sparring partner, in...
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Mr Gaga – LFF Review

Somewhat understandably, Mr Gaga is overly reliant on enchanting and hypnotic footage of Naharin’s shows, and the film is bolstered by frank interview input from its subject. Rather than answer the...
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My Golden Days – LFF Review

In blending Jean-Pierre Jeunet-esque whimsical adventure with a sentimentalised recollection of past love Desplechin straddles and ultimately crosses the line between charm and irksomeness. Stylistically...
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Sunset Song – LFF Review

Sunset Song’s chronicling of rural wartime hardship is nothing we haven’t seen before. Abusive patriarchs, repressed women and traumatised soldiers are unoriginal ingredients, but Davies turns them into...
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My Skinny Sister – LFF Review

This painfully intimate family drama depicts the intense bond between sisters with uncanny power. Together Josephson and Deasismont embody both the joy and rivalry of siblinghood so recognisably that it’s...