An octogenarian goes undercover in a nursing home in The Mole Agent, Chilean director Maite Alberdi’s enjoyably odd Oscar-nominated documentary. While attempting to unearth evidence of abuse, he discovers something different altogether. Within the first few seconds of The Mole Agent, a large, framed photo of Scarface villain Tony Montana is shown hanging from a […]Read More
Laddie: The Man Behind The Movies is a deeply personal love letter from director Amanda Ladd-Jones, both to movies and to her father, film industry executive and producer Alan Ladd Jr. Whilst not always inventive in its structure, Ladd-Jones’ directorial debut manages to breath new life into the ‘talking heads’ format and provide a whirlwind […]Read More
With the closing of entertainment venues due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the longing for theatre productions and performances has never been so strong. Simon Godwin’s Romeo & Juliet was due to perform in July 2020, as noted at the beginning of the television film, but due to the pandemic the run was cancelled. This alternative, […]Read More
Darius Marder’s debut feature Sound of Metal begins with, well, just that: the sound of a metal guitar, reverberating eerily over a black screen. Eventually we see the bare torso of a man, framed by his drum kit with stage lights beating down on his bowed head. Nameless and placeless, we are presented only with […]Read More
Run opens with a flashback scene, something this film makes use of frequently. We see an upset Diane Sherman (Sarah Paulson) after giving birth to a premature baby. Then we are propelled into the present day, seeing Diane and her 17-year-old daughter, Chloe (Kiera Allen). From the offset, a fast and jarring pace is set. […]Read More
Savvas D. Michael’s Red Rage is as crazy as it sounds. A vigilante couple tear through their town’s drug underworld in a spell of murderous lust; the husband, Oscar (Jack Turner), claims the killings were inspired by a vision from God, while the wife, Ella (Fernanda Diniz), is uncontrollably aroused by her husband’s homicidal obsession. […]Read More
Too restrained to be fun and too superficial to be chilling, The Banishing is a dull film that feels much longer than its 97 minutes. Elisabetta Pulcini reviews. The Banishing follows a young family formed by Marianne (Jessica Brown Findlay), her daughter Adelaide (Anya McKenna-Bruce) and her husband Linus (John Heffernan), a vicar, as they […]Read More
The latest entry in Legendary Entertainment’s MonsterVerse is the massive mutant clash we’ve all been waiting for. The last time these two behemoths of the screen exchanged fists (and claws) was in 1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla. Waiting nearly 60 years for a rematch, the atomic-powered lizard and the larger-than-life primate deliver a memorable showdown that will satisfy […]Read More
Sequin in a Blue Room, opens with a game of glances between two people. Finding themselves in a seemingly empty library, their glances confirm they’re there for the same reason. They move closer, until a cough interrupts them—It may as well be a gunshot in its volume and the weight it carries. The moment is […]Read More
My First Summer was just one of many excellent productions on offer at this year’s BFI Flare festival. Yet writer-director Katie Found’s debut feature really stands out from the crowd, mainly because of just how beautiful the Australian production is. This film is (almost) everything a teen romance should be: sweet, wholesome, grounded in the reality […]Read More
Based on a novel by the director himself, Donato Carrisi’s Into the Labyrinth is a twisty thriller that misses the mark. After mysteriously reappearing 15 years after her abduction, Samantha Andretti (Valentina Bellè) consults with a laid-back psychiatrist named Dr. Green (Dustin Hoffman) to find the person responsible for her kidnapping. Samantha recalls being trapped […]Read More
Valentina, the debut feature from Brazilian filmmaker Cássio Pereira dos Santos, ends with an alarming statistic. In his native land, an estimated 82% of transgender students drop out of school. When you consider the country has a population of just under 214 million, and gender-diverse individuals—that being, all those who don’t identify as cisgender—make up […]Read More
Though dealing with a multitude of complicated themes, Sensation—the second film from director Martin Grof—lacks clarity in the way it communicates its substantive subject matter. Sensation, from its kaleidoscopic opening credits to its unnerving exploration of human sensory experience, is designed to be a disorienting experience. Ultimately, however, it feels more confusing than complex. Andrew […]Read More
A relationship between a teenage girl and an adult man is always going to be an uncomfortable subject to portray in film. But writer, director and lead actress Suzanne Lindon treats the central relationship in Spring Blossom with sensitivity and uncomfortable awe. The fact that Lindon was a teenager when she wrote the script is […]Read More
Directed by Shana Myara, Well Rounded is easily one of the most colourful entries at 2021’s BFI Flare Festival. The documentary’s mission: to tell as many plus-sized people as possible that their bodies are beautiful, and that—as Kimmortal’s ‘Sad Femme Club’ repeatedly tells us—“Baby, you are enough”. Trigger Warning: this review contains mentions of r*pe. […]Read More
