Studio Ghibli is perhaps Japan’s best known animation studio with accolades and awards (including an Oscar) heaped upon Hayao Mayazaki and his team. I’m not ashamed to admit that I am a hardcore Ghibli fan, having seen most of their films (some even obsessively). Ghibli’s narratives use children or young adults as main characters who, Read More
Only God Forgives is a fascinating film. That being said, it is definitely not for everybody. It takes some time to warm to director Nicolas Winding Refn’s style but once you have adjusted to the disorientating cinematography, it is incredibly intense and moving. Central to the plot are the emotional and psychological issues that Julian Read More
Inspired by an incident at SeaWorld Orlando in which an Orca Whale attacked and killed its trainer, Blackfish originated from director Gabriella Copperthwaite’s desire to understand what might cause a highly intelligent animal to “bite the hand that feeds”. The result is a fascinating and tragic documentary that explores the intimate yet uneasy relationship between Read More
Alienation seems to be the prevailing theme throughout director Edgar Wright’s Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy. After the everyman saviour of the world in Shaun of the Dead (2004) (the “Strawberry” Cornetto) and the exceptional cop thrown into a village of corruption represented in Hot Fuzz (2007) (the “Original” blue), Wright and co-writer Simon Pegg tackle Read More
Wadjda is a film by Saudi Arabia’s first female director, Haifaa Al-Mansour. The plot revolves around a young Saudi girl called Wadjda who is trying to discover herself, questioning her place in society as a result. Wadjda is the first film to have been made by a woman within Saudi Arabia, and as such, proved Read More
If one could distill films into particular formulas, the equation in this case might read: (Woody Allen x Jean-Luc Godard) – existentialism = the contemporary New York bourgeois comedy, Frances Ha. Noah Baumbach’saesthetically appealing film is at once a homage to, and a film inspired by,the style of French independent filmmakers and, by allowing audiences Read More
The love triangle is a familiar trope in the movie industry, yet Summer in February (2013), a true love-triangle story, retains a significant amount of substance thanks to its authenticity. Jonathan Smith, a teacher of lead actor Dan Stevens, wrote the book and subsequent screenplay, providing a fascinating route from page to screen. The film centres on Read More
In her documentary Stories We Tell director Sarah Polley offers a revealing insight into her own life as she presents the story of her mother’s extra-marital affair and her own uncertainties as to the true identity of her biological father. I must admit, I was unsure what to expect when I took my seat for this film. Read More
My mother, in my youth, always advised against going to the cinema on days where the weather was hot and fine. I do feel, however, that she would surely view an outing to enjoy Gilles Bourdos’ Renoir as the kind of film for which exceptions must be made. Visually beautiful, wonderfully paced, and acted with the kind Read More
Paradise: Love is the first instalment of Austrian director Ulrich Seidl’s Love, Faith, Hope trilogy which features a mother, her daughter and sister, each in search of happiness. In this opening film, the mother, 50 year-old Austrian divorcee Teresa (Margarete Tiesel) leaves adolescent daughter Meli (Melanie Lenz) with her sister (Maria Hofstatter) to holiday at a Kenyan beach Read More