Stardust – Review George Howarth January 14, 2021 Reviews This film was previously reviewed in November 2020 as part of our Raindance 2020 coverage. Feathers were unquestionably ruffled when it was announced last year by Duncan Jones that the upcoming biopic of...
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Review Anahit Behrooz December 21, 2020 Reviews Midway through Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, the eponymous singer – played by Viola Davis – sits with one of her band members in their studio. She has, until now, been portrayed as a diva: refusing to sing...
David Byrne’s American Utopia – Review Tom Bond December 12, 2020 Reviews This film was previously reviewed in October 2020 as part of our London Film Festival coverage. David Byrne’s American Utopia begins with what is almost a caricature of the man himself. Infamously awkward...
The 10 Best Fictional Bands in Film Jess Goodman September 14, 2020 Analysis, Features, Top 10 You and I have witnessed many things, but nothing as bodacious as Wyld Stallyns. Yes, that's right, it's time to face the music. The long awaited sequel to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and their...
The Go-Go’s – Sheffield Doc/Fest 2020 Review Nick Davie June 21, 2020 Reviews From the punk scene in L.A. to Broadway musical, this documentary is a deserved and welcomed portrait chronicling seminal all-female band The Go-Go’s rise, fall, and eventual reunion. America’s first, and...
Streetlight Harmonies – Review Alysha Prasad April 11, 2020 Reviews From the inner-city street corners to stages around the nation, Streetlight Harmonies from director Brent Wilson tells the history of doo-wop, a musical movement that began in the post-war era that is seen not...
Yesterday – Review Tom Bond June 27, 2019 Reviews Imagine if you woke up tomorrow and the world had forgotten The Beatles. If you were an aspiring musician at the end of their tether you couldn’t wish for a better gift. This is the genius concept of...
The ORWAV Playlist – 2018’s Music Moments Bertie Archer December 4, 2018 Features, One Off As the end of the year draws near and the nights draw in, what better time to catch up on the films you missed in 2018 or revisit the best of the vintage. A great music cue, where the soundtrack, score, or...
Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami – Review Cristina Radulescu October 27, 2017 Reviews The essence of such an imposing presence as Grace Jones may be difficult to appropriately capture on screen without inadvertently reducing her to a stereotype (be it that of a Jamaican woman, a Disco-era...
England Is Mine – Review Louise Burrell August 5, 2017 Reviews An unauthorised yet very affectionate biopic, England is Mine offers a glimpse into Morrissey’s pre-Smiths years in 1970s Manchester. Surrounded by arguing parents, uninteresting people and dead-end jobs,...
Whitney: Can I Be Me – Review Calum Baker June 16, 2017 Reviews Whitney: Can I Be Me sees Nick Broomfield take on the iconic spectre of Asif Kapadia's Amy, and largely fail. His brief, of course, is to take on the iconic spectre of Whitney Houston, but again, we've seen...
It Was Fifty Years Ago Today! – Review Louise Burrell June 5, 2017 Reviews This month marks fifty years since the release of one of the most iconic albums of all time, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, changing the face of modern day music forever. The album marked a pivotal...
Kill Your Friends – Review Thom Denson November 9, 2015 Reviews In 2008, after working in the shark-infested British music scene, John Niven penned the seminal Kill Your Friends, with a lead character equal parts Bateman and Belfort and here brought to life by that...
Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll – Review Andrew Daley November 2, 2015 Reviews "Cambodia is deeply routed in music", proudly states one interviewee; and it shows true as locals in the streets dance freely, expressing their love for music. This glimpse into the forgotten past of...
Short of the Week – Agoraphobic Stephen O'Nion September 21, 2015 Features, Independent, Short of the Week https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAsiyqgehL8 Mondays, right? Garfield knows what I’m talking about. A timid fella takes transport, bustled along in the crowds he seeks to avoid. Unable to escape, he...