Film Features

BFI Southbank Preview: Made in Britain

Emma Simmonds Saturday, 31 March 2012

If you’re game for a galling statistic, here’s one that’s guaranteed to stun: at present, only 14 per cent of British films released in the UK are directed by women. If that seems oddly as well as infuriatingly low, it’s probably because so many of the brightest and boldest British film-makers of recent years, from Lynne Ramsay to Lucy Walker, are women – women who it seems are exceptions as well as being exceptional.

The Devils: A Masterpiece Resurrected

Kieron Tyler Saturday, 17 March 2012

“The film is a series of very curious, strange and macabre unbelievable incidents,” said director Ken Russell of The Devils in 1971. "The point of the film really is the sinner who becomes a saint." The tribulations surrounding its release, still fresh in Russell's mind, could easily have been described as curious and strange too. The long-overdue arrival on DVD of his career landmark is important. The Devils is one of the most astonishing and powerful British films.

Opinion: Comedy should be taken more seriously

Norma Burke Monday, 05 March 2012

The first ever work of literary theory was Aristotle's Poetics, which was written on two separate papyruses - one on tragedy and the other on comedy. However, at some point the second was lost and along with it our most ancient understanding of the comedy genre.

Peter Cook Season, British Film Institute

Bruce Dessau Sunday, 04 March 2012

The death of Peter Cook on 9 January 1995 was my JFK moment. I'll never forget what I was doing when I heard the news. I was driving from London to Granada Studios in Manchester to interview comedian Caroline Aherne. At the time she was married to the New Order bass guitarist Peter Hook, so when the radio announced that Peter Cook was dead my ears did a double take.

Comment

Oscars 2012: Meryl wins election in a landslide for the silent age

Matt Wolf Monday, 27 February 2012

Maybe it was host Billy Crystal at far from peak form. Or a surfeit of cringe-making shtick by too many presenters, including the distaff principals of Bridesmaids. Or the desperation that clung to the multiple on-air tributes to an art form whose very being was celebrated in the evening’s two major winners, Hugo and The Artist.

Oscars 2012: Who Will, Who Should, Who Won't

theartsdesk Sunday, 26 February 2012

Every year before the Academy Awards speeches are tacitly composed, flowing gowns and priceless necklaces booked and no doubt small blameless animals slaughtered in the Roman style for good luck.

Comment

Oscars 2012: Meryl and Woody - Gongs and Noms

theartsdesk Saturday, 25 February 2012

They have been racking up the Oscar nominations since 1978, and this year they were back.

theASHtray: Homeland, Kings of Leon, and we need to talk about Aïda

ASH Smyth Saturday, 25 February 2012

So Homeland is here, and mid-ranking-CIA-operative Claire Danes is chasing Marine-Sergeant-and-possible-al-Qaeda-double-agent Damian Lewis all over the shop (but really only in their heads, so far), and neither of them is getting anywhere fast, so Claire goes home for a kip and sticks on some relaxing music, and would you Adam ‘n’ Eve it? – another bloody jazz nerd!

theartsdesk in Berlin: The 62nd Berlinale

james Woodall Sunday, 19 February 2012

In a major festival upset last night, the Taviani brothers Paolo and Vittorio won the 2012 Berlinale’s best-film award, the Golden Bear. Their film, Cesare deve morire (Caesar Must Die), defies categories. Set in Rome’s Rebibbia maximum security jail, this extraordinary hour and a quarter charts the making by inmates of a production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

theASHtray: Whitney, bin men, and the NPG's 'incautious' acquisitions

ASH Smyth Saturday, 18 February 2012

Right, out with it: who else had their Valentine’s dinner-out ruined by 36 consecutive requests for Whitney Houston? Not even the entire back-catalogue, either: just “(And I-ee-I-ee-) I…”, over and over.

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Interview: Director Pawel Pawlikowski

Nick Hasted Friday, 17 February 2012

Pawel Pawlikowski was named BAFTA’s Most Promising Newcomer for his feature debut Last Resort (2000), then the follow-up, 2004’s My Summer of Love, won Outstanding British Film of the Year. But neither felt obviously British, reflecting border-zone existences in a sometimes beautiful, sometimes horrific country.

theartsdesk in Papa Westray: Art at the End of the World

Amy Liptrot Sunday, 12 February 2012

In the same way that some chase the thrills of extreme sport, extreme art fans can now take the challenge of visiting this small art festival, which is uncompromising in terms of location, climate and content. Orkney as a whole has natural beauty, a rich history and a thriving cultural life, with a disproportionate number of artists compared to the size of the population.

theASHtray: Janáček, Carnage, and Seth MacFarlane v George Clooney

ASH Smyth Saturday, 11 February 2012

Mea culpa. I take it all back. Christoph Waltz can act, and like a dream. You know, that dream you have where Tarantino's favourite pantomime Nazi demonstrates his apparently incurable fixation on apple-based desserts, and then Kate Winslet yakks all over his shoes.

Crooked Houses: Homes from Hell

Emma Simmonds Monday, 06 February 2012

This Friday sees the release of James Watkins’ bloodcurdling adaptation of The Woman in Black, produced by the recently resurrected Hammer Films, who have risen like one of their macabre creations to torment us once more.

theASHtray: Beyoncé, 'Bond', and Eddie Redmayne's lips

ASH Smyth Saturday, 04 February 2012

So, Birdsong is over, and for all the arts-crit ink spilled upon it I am still none the wiser vis-à-vis my three main points of concern. First: it is a truth universally acknowledged (I asked around) that the most memorable episode in the Faulks novel was the one about the blowjob. This scene was not so much absent from the TV version as, er... cunningly re-gendered. Why?!

theartsdesk in Paris: The Oldest Film Star of All

Ronald Bergan Sunday, 29 January 2012

The news that work is to begin in February on a major renovation of the 122-year-old Eiffel Tower reminds us that no other monument in the world, including the Statue of Liberty, the Houses of Parliament or the Coliseum, conjures up a city with such immediacy, and none with so much romance. According to Roland Barthes, “the Eiffel Tower is nothing but a place to visit.