La Mélodie – Venice 2017 Review Jack Blackwell September 3, 2017 Reviews Generally the first exposure to foreign film for a British child is in a French lesson towards the end of term. Over the last decade or so, 2004’s The Chorus and the 2008 Palme d’Or winner The...
Brawl in Cell Block 99 – Venice 2017 Review Jack Blackwell September 2, 2017 Reviews S. Craig Zahler’s follow up to the hallucinatory Bone Tomahawk was always going to be something unique, but very little can prepare you for Brawl in Cell Block 99. By a wide margin the strangest thing at...
Lean On Pete – Venice 2017 Review Jack Blackwell September 1, 2017 Reviews Full of wide, near-barren vistas and trying to fit three different films into one, Andrew Haigh’s Lean on Pete has all the hallmarks of a Brit director’s first foray to America. It gets lost in the...
Our Souls At Night – Venice 2017 Review Jack Blackwell September 1, 2017 Reviews Jane Fonda and Robert Redford already have previous experience working on Netflix projects, with Grace & Frankie and The Discovery respectively bringing these legendary faces to the small screen....
Human Flow – Venice 2017 Review Jack Blackwell September 1, 2017 Reviews Mass migration is one of the biggest international crises of the last decade, with more people displaced now than at any point since the end of World War 2. As artist and activist Ai Weiwei's documentary...
The Insult – Venice 2017 Jack Blackwell August 31, 2017 Reviews A courtroom drama, a study of masculinity in crisis, and a treatise on the geopolitical state of modern Lebanon, Ziad Doueiri’s The Insult has tonnes of ambition, but lacks the focus and intensity needed...
The Shape of Water – Venice 2017 Review Jack Blackwell August 31, 2017 Reviews Anticipation for Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water has been sky high, thanks to its prestigious cast and a beautiful trailer. Amazingly, it completely surpasses these expectations to conjure up a...
Zama – Venice 2017 Review Jack Blackwell August 30, 2017 Reviews "White guys go crazy in the South American jungle" is a well-worn genre at this point. From Werner Herzog’s one-two of Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo, to more modern spins Embrace of the Serpent and The Lost City...
The Devil and Father Amorth – Venice 2017 Review Jack Blackwell August 30, 2017 Reviews 1 Comment Legendary director William Friedkin steps behind the camera for another exorcism – this time a purportedly real one that he gained exclusive access to the Vatican to film. It should be a knockout, but...
Downsizing – Venice 2017 Review Jack Blackwell August 30, 2017 Reviews Alexander Payne kicks off the 2017 Venice Film Festival with a strange, ambitious, and often pummellingly downbeat story. After Norwegian scientists make the miraculous breakthrough of cellular miniaturisation...