Film

About 25 minutes into Revenge, a close up of an ant heralds one of my favourite sequences in a 2018 film to date. For a second it’s just there, large and still in the middle of the screen. Then, in slow motion, with a sound effect like a crashing wave, a drop of blood falls on it. One, two, three, and more drops fall until the film returns to normal speed and the blood becomes a small lake, swallowing the...

Fans of Andrew Niccol will be all too than familiar with the director’s particular brand of Philip K Dick inspired output. From the timeless cult classic Gattaca which is set in a future where people are judged on the strength of their genetic make-up rather than on merit, to the slightly less well received In Time, in which time has replaced money as currency, creating a two-tier society in which only the rich can hope to live beyond the age...

The poster for the 71st Cannes Film Festival features a shot of Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina locking lips in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 film, Pierrot le Fou. Inspired by the work of French stills photographer Georges Pierre, it’s a handsomely mounted image of idyllic romance, emblazoned against a backdrop of sandy yellow and sun-kissed sea blue. It’s also, in the eyes of this somewhat seasoned Cannes attendee – this year marks my third consecutive year visiting the Croisette – strikingly...

Time is strange. To me, 1993 doesn’t feel like it was that long ago. The films I’m watching for this series are often clearly from an era that has passed, but they don’t feel old to me. Until today. In many ways, Dave is the quaintest film I’ve seen for this project, the one most redolent of a bygone era, specifically because of how precisely certain details of it mirror what is happening in the world as I type this....

The Young Karl Marx is directed by Haitian film-maker, Raoul Peck, whose previous work, I Am Not Your Negro - a documentary focusing on James Baldwin - earned him an Oscar nomination. His latest effort is an intense period drama of the early life and work of Karl Marx. The film does not make any concessions to the audience in presenting the subject matter from an intellectual point of view rather than an emotional one. This does not mean the film...

What do you come to horror cinema for? For me it’s generally to be scared, to be unnerved, to be thrilled. For that to happen there have to be certain ingredients in place. Most importantly I have to care. The ability to be truly concerned about what happens to a character - whether it be that I want them want them to escape, or that I’m rooting for them to meet an especially gruesome end - means that I’m invested....

Following the critical acclaim of Weekend and 45 Years, director Andrew Haigh returns with a naturalistic and tender tale of a boy’s connection with an ageing race horse. It is a revealing character study that is full of heartfelt and melancholic moments. Lean on Pete follows Charley (Charlie Plummer), a teenager living with his father Ray (Travis Fimmel) in a small dilapidated home. Ray may at times be carless but his love and affection for his son is clear to...

Ever since Juno blew me away at the cinema I've been fascinated by Diablo Cody's work as a screenwriter. She's always worked best delving into the dramas playing out in suburban homes across America, transforming what may be mundane into the witty and heartfelt. While Juno dealt with the impact of pregnancy, Tully focuses on the immediacy of raising an infant. Marlo (Charlize Theron) already has two kids with her husband Drew (Ron Livingston), and her hands full with 'quirky'...

The shadow of Studio Ghibli stalwart Hayao Miyazaki looms over Mary And The Witch’s Flower, the debut feature from the newly established Studio Ponoc – founded by leading film producer Yoshiaki Nishimura, in the wake of Ghibli’s decision to halt production following Miyazaki’s retirement back in 2014. Adapted from Mary Stewart’s beloved novel, ‘The Little Broomstick’, the film introduces us to the titular Mary (Ruby Barnhill), a curious & independent youngster struggling to overcome the boredom of living with her...