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23 Oct
2020 |
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| Rose: A Love Story |
| Text and subtext are in sublime balance in Jennifer Sheridan's assured and compelling Rose: A Love Story, in which a couple have chosen to live in isolation to protect a secret whose exposure could destroy their relationship. Slarek is captivated by another fine social horror-themed debut features at this year's BFI London Film Festival. |
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23 Oct
2020 |
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| [Rec], Park Chan-wook, Southland Tales and Gamera from Arrow in January |
| Arrow looks set to give Indicator a run for its money with its January releases, which include Spanish viral horror [Rec], Park Chan-wook's debut feature JSA - Joint Security Area, two whole box sets of Gamera features, Richard Kelly's Southland Tales and a 4K UHD edition of Oldboy. |
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22 Oct
2020 |
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21 Oct
2020 |
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| Another Round [Druk] |
| Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round takes life in the round, steering a middle course between mischievous exuberance and contemplative sobriety. Jerry Whyte appreciates the balance struck and delights in one of the wonders of the London Film Festival. |
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21 Oct
2020 |
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21 Oct
2020 |
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19 Oct
2020 |
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18 Oct
2020 |
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| I, Monster |
| Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde get a name change and a dollop of Freud in this otherwise largely faithful 1971 adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novella from writer Milton Subotsky and director Stephen Weeks. Slarek takes time out from the London Film Festival to appreciate Indicator's excellent Blu-ray. |
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16 Oct
2020 |
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| Wolfwalkers |
| Cartoon Saloon’s latest feature, Wolfwalkers, which recently screened at this year's BFI London Film Festival, is a bewitching, beguiling and ethereally beautiful tour de force. Jerry Whyte is astonished by its complexity and depth. |
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15 Oct
2020 |
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| The Social Dilemma |
| Four years after the stupefying election victory of a man preposterously ill-suited for the highest calling of the US, a documentary airs on Netflix with a significantly important message for us all. Movies don’t or rarely change people. The Social Dilemma needs to, ventures Camus. |
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12 Oct
2020 |
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| BFI London Film Festival review roundup #1 |
| In his first roundup of capsule reviews from this year's BFI London Film Festival, Slarek looks at Koreeda's A Day-Off of Kasumi Arimuya, Ekwa Msangi's Farewell Amor, Farnoosh Samadi's 180º Rule and the Ross Brothers' Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets. |
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10 Oct
2020 |
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| Siberia |
| Likely to be one of the most divisive films in this year's London Film Festival, maverick director Abel Ferrara's hallucinatory head-scratcher stars Willem Dafoe as a recluse trying to come to terms with his past, his present and his inner self. Slarek is confused, but strangely compelled by Siberia. |
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10 Oct
2020 |
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| Mangrove |
| Steve McQueen’s Mangrove challenges the official, expurgated version of British history by reclaiming a vital moment in the ongoing struggle against police brutality and institutional racism. Jerry Whyte is impressed with the film’s political passion and cinematic mastery. |
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8 Oct
2020 |
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| You've Been Trumped / You've Been Trumped Too |
| In a blend of review and political analysis, Jerry Whyte considers Anthony Baxter’s You’ve Been Trumped and You’ve Been Trumped Too and wonders how the forthcoming US presidential election might shake down. |
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7 Oct
2020 |
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| Play for Today, Volume 1 on 4-Disc BFI Blu-ray in October |
| One of the BBC's most influential achievements, the long-running series Play for Today was a showcase for up-and-coming writers, directors and actors, and in the first of what looks like a planned series, the BFI are releasing seven of them remastered on Blu-ray this month. |
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7 Oct
2020 |
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| Relic |
| When an elderly woman disappears, her daughter and adult granddaughter investigate and begin to suspect that her house has become host to dark forces in the unnerving and emotionally affecting debut feature from Natalie Erika James. A nervous Slarek takes a personal hit from the film's powerful allegorical subtext. |
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6 Oct
2020 |
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| Tenet |
| With the second Corona wave upon us, something inevitable given public irresponsibility and governmental mismanagement, it’s not the best time to release a potential blockbuster. Camus braved a near empty cinema six weeks later… |
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3 Oct
2020 |
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| The Painter and the Thief |
| In the first of a series of reviews from this year's BFI London Film Festival, Slarek is captivated by The Painter and the Thief, Benjamin Ree's winningly understated and compassionate documentary portrait of the ups and downs of a seemingly unlikely friendship between a talented painter and the man who stole her work. |
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29 Sep
2020 |
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| Enola Holmes |
| Few multi-hyphenate film and TV careers are launched as early and as brightly as wunderkind, Millie Bobby Brown’s. From a terrific ensemble cast, her ‘Eleven’, the buzz cut telepath of Stranger Things, was her breakout role. Camus detects her first production, Enola Holmes… |
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27 Sep
2020 |
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| Late September, early October |
| In his latest blog, site editor Slarek gives a shout out to two modern biographical documentaries that recently also became posthumous tributes, frets over the loss of an American Supreme Court Justice, and looks forward to the upcoming London Film Festival. |
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17 Sep
2020 |
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| When Forever Dies |
| After re-cutting Brian DePalma’s Raising Cain much to the director’s satisfaction, Dutch filmmaker Peet Gelderblom has gone further back into cinema history to create what might be one of the screen’s most revealing peeks into an artist’s mind. Camus is mesmerised by When Forever Dies… |
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15 Sep
2020 |
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| This Gun for Hire |
| Alan Ladd is arresting as a cold-hearted killer seeking vengeance on those who have crossed him in the role that first projected him to stardom. A re-energised Slarek gets back in the review saddle with Eureka's newly released Blu-ray of the terrific early noir, This Gun for Hire. |
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11 Sep
2020 |
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| From the pandemic ashes |
| Following another period of site inactivity, Slarek faces up to the unexpected impact that Covid-enforced isolation has had on him and his productivity, gets pissed off at government incompetence and makes a plea on behalf of those for whom normality shows no sign of returning. |
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19 Aug
2020 |
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| Tenderness [Neha] |
| The nature of relationships in post-Communist Slovakia is explored when a directionless young man becomes drawn into the lives of a troubled older couple in Martin Šulik's coolly but compellingly observed debut feature. An impressed Slarek is reminded that some films need a second viewing to really score, and gives thanks for this new Second Run Blu-ray. |
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10 Aug
2020 |
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| Five Graves to Cairo |
| Billy Wilder's second American feature as director is deserving of more recognition than it sometimes gets, a superbly written and performed character-driven war story on a typically fine Masters of Cinema Blu-ray. Slarek braves the summer heat and spends time with the Desert Rats. |
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5 Aug
2020 |
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| Pandemonium |
| The Long Read. Jerry Whyte reflects on the pandemic, policing and racism in the UK and US with reference to two pivotal years, 1940 and 1968, and with the unlikely assistance of J.B. Priestley’s Postcripts and Peter Whitehead’s The Fall. |
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