Cop-thrillers have become a bit of a dead horse. Buddy cops in which one is a straight-laced stickler for protocol and the other an unpredictable loose cannon? Four shoot-outs happening before their lunchtime? Walking away from explosions without blinking? And all this while saving and/or seducing a few gorgeous (and/or naked) fashion models? They have Read More
Great Expectations focuses on the story of an orphan, Pip (Jeremy Irvine), who is thrust into the hectic and gritty world of Victorian London by an anonymous benefactor. I doubt I was the only person eager to see Irvine in Mike Newell’s adaptation following his powerful debut in War Horse last year. Before his world Read More
Cedric Kahn’s Une Vie Meilleure (A Better Life) opens with Yann (played by the excellent Guillaume Canet) attending a disastrous job interview; he meets, and subsequently falls madly in love, with Nadia (Leïla Bekhti), a stunningly attractive young mother. The film follows this fairytale romance, with Yann quickly becoming a family man and taking on Read More
Following the success of The White Ribbon (2009), Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or-winning film, it is no great surprise that his recent film Amour was awarded the same honour at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Amour challenges the viewer to step away from mainstream film narratives and instead enter a much more rewarding, albeit demanding, introspective Read More
Based on Matthew Quick’s bestselling novel, Silver Linings Playbook is a romantic comedy that does not shy away from the clichés associated with the genre, but instead twists them in its own quirky, unconventional way. Character as opposed to plot driven, the film is centred on Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper), who, after having found his Read More
Directed by Wayne Blair and based on a true story, The Sapphires is a charming Australian film about a talented Aboriginal girl group, the Cummeraganja Songbirds. Feisty sisters Gail, Cynthia and Julie are spotted at a local talent contest by Dave Lovelace, a chaotic, drunken Irishman whose only passion beyond the bottle is soul music. Read More
On the DCA’s website it is claimed that fans of the TV show Spiral would be the perfect audience for Mains Armées (or Armed Hands), the new film from director Pierre Jolivet. I have never seen this show but, from what I’ve garnered from the reviews spread across the press and on the internet, it Read More
Noémie Lvovsky is the writer, star, and director of Camille Rewinds, a bittersweet French time-travel comedy and a film which sadly may not receive the attention it very much deserves. Lvovsky portrays the titular Camille, a woman who drowns herself in whisky to compensate for her failing acting career and her deteriorating marriage to a Read More
Patrice Leconte’s adaptation of Jean Teulé’s novel The Suicide Shop (2006) evokes a healthy blend of Tim Burton and The Addams Family (1964-1966). Leconte’s film is set in a near apocalyptic version of France where recession is driving suicide rates through the roof and causing an increased workload for the law enforcement bodies. The police, Read More
Le Prénom (What’s in a Name?) is Mathieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière’s oftentimes hilarious adaptation of their farcical, dinner-table comedy from the stage to the big screen. The vast majority of the movie takes place in the apartment of Pierre (Charles Berling) and Élisabeth (Valerie Benguigui) who are desperately attempting to prepare dinner. Read More