The Disciple – LFF 2020 Review Anna McKibbin October 7, 2020 Reviews Early on in Chaitanaye Tamhane’s The Disciple, someone declares that Indian classical music is “an eternal quest.” Our protagonist, Sharad (Aditya Modak), is on this quest, both wrestling with and...
Fanny Lye Deliver’d – Review Carmen Paddock June 26, 2020 Reviews This film was previously reviewed in October 2019 as part of our London Film Festival coverage. A period drama not focused on the landed gentry is a welcome change. Fanny Lye Deliver’d focuses on its...
Judy & Punch – LFF 2019 Review Carmen Paddock October 16, 2019 Reviews The most striking element of Mirrah Foulkes’ feminist reimaging of the quintessential, quaint British seaside entertainment – this time focusing on the humans behind the puppets – is its unevenness of...
Rare Beasts – LFF 2019 Review Carmen Paddock October 10, 2019 Reviews Billie Piper’s audacious directorial debut follows imperfect – sometimes downright unpleasant – people. Mandy (Piper) makes do in an office full of not-so-passive aggressions, and her seven-year-old...
Premature – LFF 2019 Review Carmen Paddock October 10, 2019 Reviews Like this autumn’s Marriage Story, Premature follows a relationship between two artists whose personal lives blend into their creative endeavours – but in this film the beginning, end, and a possible path...
The Last Black Man in San Francisco – LFF 2019 Review Carmen Paddock October 5, 2019 Reviews The stories we tell ourselves and to others define the way we understand the world, and The Last Black Man in San Francisco uses this ever-changing mythos to expertly evoke an ever-changing city. Based on the...
Colette – Review Tori Brazier January 12, 2019 Reviews This review was originally published as part of our London Film Festival coverage on 13/10/2018. If you’re not a fan of historical costume dramas, this won’t be the film to convert you – but don’t...
Colette – LFF 2018 Review Tori Brazier October 13, 2018 Reviews If you’re not a fan of historical costume dramas, this won’t be the film to convert you – but don’t dismiss it just yet: Colette has the fascinating eponymous French novelist as its subject, a woman...
Miriam Lies – LFF 2018 Review Katy Moon October 12, 2018 Reviews After a chaste online romance in which no photos have been exchanged, biracial Miriam (Rodríguez) is shocked to discover that Jean-Louis (Suarez) – the boy she has been planning on inviting to her...
The Boy Downstairs – Review Tori Brazier June 9, 2018 Reviews The Boy Downstairs, although it may most comfortably sit within the rom-com genre, avoids the common tropes and clichés of many of the poorer (and multitudinous) romantic comedies. Diana (a quirky Zosia...
The Breadwinner – Review Tori Brazier May 26, 2018 Reviews This film was previously reviewed on 15/10/2017 as part of London Film Festival. Although ostensibly a children’s animation, just as its source material was a children’s novel, The Breadwinner confronts...
Sweet Country – Review Jack Blackwell March 10, 2018 Reviews This film was originally reviewed on 10/10/2017 as part of London Film Festival. In the first seconds of Warwick Thornton’s outback Western Sweet Country a screaming brawl happens off screen, the camera...
Dark River – Review Laura Davis February 24, 2018 Reviews This film was previously reviewed on 09/10/17 as part of London Film Festival. Premiering at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes and winning British Film of the Year at the London Critics Circle Film Awards,...
Makala – Review Laura Davis February 4, 2018 Reviews This film was previously reviewed on 21/09/17 as part of London Film Festival. In Swahili, "makala" means "charcoal". Emmanuel Gras’s observational documentary follows Kabwita Kasongo as he journeys 50...
Strangled – Review Matt Whittle November 17, 2017 Reviews Wholly unrelenting and uncensored, Hungarian writer-director Arpad Sopsits’ Strangled (A Martfüi Rém, in its native translation) is a true crime neo-noir that rarely lets up. Strangled effectively...