British film
Sorry We Missed You review – Ken Loach's unapologetic assault on the gig economyThursday, 31 October 2019
If the recent period of British history that has involved recession, austerity, the hostile environment and Brexit is to have chroniclers, who better than Ken Loach and his trusty screenwriter Paul Laverty. Their blend of carefully researched social... Read more... |
The Last Tree review - young, angry, and black in '90s UKTuesday, 01 October 2019
Putting a radical spin on a fish-out-of-water story, The Last Tree explores troubling aspects of the African diaspora experience in an England riddled with xenophobia and black-on-black racism. Shola Amoo’s semi-autobiographical second feature is... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: A Kid for Two FarthingsTuesday, 03 September 2019
Seeing post-war London in vibrant colour is a delicious surprise, and the opening seconds of A Kid for Two Farthings follow a pigeon flying east from Trafalgar Square, eventually settling on a pub sign in Petticoat Lane. The location footage in... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: Don't Look NowMonday, 05 August 2019
Don’t Look Now is beautiful in its dankness – an eldritch psychological thriller that follows a grieving father’s stream-of-consciousness as it flows into deadly waters. Time Out 's critics have been magnanimous in twice voting Nicolas Roeg's... Read more... |
Gwen review - gothic horror set in north WalesThursday, 18 July 2019
This gothic yarn set in 1850s Snowdonia stars Maxine Peake as Elen. She’s left alone with two young daughters to manage an isolated farm when her husband goes off to war. Mysterious omens – a sheep’s heart filled with nails festoons the farm... Read more... |
Ewa Banaszkiewicz and Mateusz Dymek: 'Is our film porny?'Wednesday, 17 July 2019
Spoiler alert: About sixty-four minutes into our debut feature film, one of the main female characters undresses for the camera. Alicja is being filmed by the other protagonist, a young American documentarian named Katie. As the sexually charged... Read more... |
Yesterday review - Beatlemania in a parallel universeThursday, 27 June 2019
The price of fame and the value of artistic truth are among the topics probed in Danny Boyle’s irresistible comedy, a beguiling magical mystery tour of an upside-down world where The Beatles suddenly never existed. Richard Curtis’s screenplay... Read more... |
Mari review - bittersweet drama with flairTuesday, 25 June 2019
Mari is one part kitchen sink drama, one part dance performance, bringing a refreshing take on bereavement and family. Dancer Charlotte joins her mother and sister at her dying grandmother’s bedside, and tensions rise as cabin fever sets in.Director... Read more... |
Dirty God review - an important piece of filmmakingSaturday, 08 June 2019
With the continued prevalence of acid attacks in the UK, it was only a matter of time before they became the subject of a film. Thank goodness, then, it's handled with such unflinching care as it is in Dirty God. Director and writer Sacha Polak... Read more... |
DVD: SinkSaturday, 08 June 2019
This debut feature from Mark Gillis is a film of real anger and considerable tenderness. The anger is both at the general situation it depicts, and reveals itself in the particular when his protagonist Micky Mason (Martin Herdman) repeatedly has to... Read more... |
Freedom Fields review - Libya’s next freedom fightersSaturday, 01 June 2019
Set in the months and years after the Libyan revolution, Freedom Fields follows several women aiming to compete in international football. The documentary finds the players excitedly preparing for their first overseas tournament. However, it soon... Read more... |
Tucked review - dispiriting British drag queen dramaSunday, 19 May 2019
It would be great to herald this low-budget drama about an elderly drag queen and his friendship with a young gay singer-songwriter as a little gem of British indie cinema. But Tucked, which aims to be an odd-couple tale of heart-warming... Read more... |
