Contemporary Germany is rightly celebrated for the healthy way that it continues to deal with its dark past of tyranny and genocide under the Nazis. Conspicuous public memorials and museums throughout Germany demonstrate the nation’s commitment to ensuring that the history of The Holocaust is not glossed over or forgotten. While the Third Reich and Read More
A Liar’s Autobiography is based on the autobiography of Graham Chapman, the most enigmatic member of the Monty Python team. Reflecting Chapman’s inimitable style, the film visually displays the random, disparate nonsense that inhabited the comedian’s consciousness. These wild, surreal fabrications come together to form some semblance of an autobiography; the commentary is provided by Chapman Read More
No archetype of recent Hollywood cinema is quite as insufferable as the idealised child, usually portrayed as unblemished, heavenly little bundles of perfection, too flawless, precocious and squeaky-clean to be genuine or sympathetic. So when a film arrives that paints children in a totally unsentimental light, thanks in large part to a young ensemble cast Read More
Bruno Dumont’s third feature film, Hors Satan, [trans.Outside Satan] (2011) sees the director dispense with the familiar elements of narrative and character development, making this his most radical and uncompromising work since his debut, la Vie de Jesus(1996). Dumont’s writing process is unique in that each story he brings to the screen is essentially an adaptation of Read More
Adapted from David Mitchell’s novel of the same name, Cloud Atlas is certainly one of the most ambitious films of recent years. The film was directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski, who brought us The Matrix, and Tom Tykwer, and has had previous experience interpreting novels for film, for example, Patrick Süskind’sPerfume: The Story of a Murderer. Nevertheless, Cloud Read More
Caesar Must Die is a film loosely based on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, performed by a mixture of actors and inmates from the high-security wing of Rome’s Rebibbia prison. The men are serving lengthy sentences, for crimes such as drug trafficking, involvement in the mafia, and murder. The film is shot in the style of a documentary, using Read More
An intriguingly insidious concoction of sci-fi, thriller and horror, Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral exudes discomfort from its first extreme close-up of a hypodermic needle to its last. The film’s disturbingly sterile production design and stark technical details render it worthy of much attention, especially considering its status as a debut feature. However, the real jewel in Read More
Zero Dark Thirty offers a unique approach to some of the most shocking historical events of the last decade. Written and directed by The Hurt Locker’s Mark Boal and Kathryn Bigelow, the film offers a behind the scenes look at the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Based on first-hand accounts from CIA agents, the film Read More
Wreck-It Ralph is the latest release from Walt Disney Animation Studios, and it definitely feels fresh. The film’s focus on the world of arcade games is a marked departure from the worlds of princesses and magic of recent Disney films such as 2010’s Tangled. Although Disney has deviated from the traditional fairy tale before, this Read More
What Richard Did is a striking and emotionally daunting movie revealing the ease with which a single act can completely alter the course of a life. Set among the rich upper class of Dublin, the film follows the story of Richard (Jack Reynor), an extremely popular rugby player whose life is all planned out until Read More