Film Review: Seven Days

By Jim Mackney Like all good folk songs, there is darkness at the heart of Rolando Colla's new film" Seven Days" (Sette Giorni). It is set on an idyllic Sicilian island and a pair of middle-aged dreamers act like a couple of horny teenagers, with predictable complications. Throughout the film the lead characters, Ivan (Bruno Todeschini) and Chiara (Alessia Barela), attempt to figure out their feelings with a quiet determinism that remains throughout the film. Although only 97 minutes long,...

Film Review: mother!

Darren Aronofsky is angry; in fact, he’s furious! Those worried that one of contemporary cinema’s foremost provoc-auteurs would be forced to temper his uncompromising artistic vision following the vitriolic outrage many levelled at his previous feature – 2014’s unfairly maligned biblical blockbuster, Noah - had nothing to fear. Indeed, if the initial reactions from the press corps in Venice are any indication, mother! may well be Aronofsky’s most divisive film to date. It’s certainly, in this critic’s eyes, one of...

London Film Festival 2017: The Watchlist

It may not have the glitz or sun-kissed glamour of Cannes or Venice, but there is arguably no other major film festival with a programme that’s as comprehensive as that presented to audiences in London each October. For British film fans, this is undoubtedly the highlight of the cinematic calendar – a chance to wholly immerse themselves in the magic of the movies. Trying to navigate the programme, however, can be an arduous task. With over 240 feature films playing,...

Film Review: My Pure Land

By Michael McNulty A beat up car barrels down a dusty road in the remote bad-lands of rural Pakistan, a group of sweaty men, armed to the teeth, sneer as they approach an isolated house. Standing tall, proud and brandishing a Kalashnikov of her own is the young, beautiful Noza (Suhaee Abro). The men pull up and pile out, weapons drawn. They’ve come to take the home. But, Noza won’t go easy; this is her family home, her land and...

Queen Victoria’s Last Love – the true story of the servant who introduced the monarch to curry and the Koran

A descendant of an Indian servant who inspired the new Stephen Frears movie with Judi Dench 'Victoria and Abdul' has told how his great-uncle introduced the monarch to curry and the Koran. Abdul Karim was an Indian Muslim who was handpicked to help Queen Victoria learn about her Asian territories in the late 19th century. He served her for 15 years and their extraordinary friendship is the subject of a new film, 'Victoria and Abdul', starring Dame Judi Dench as...

Film Review: Kills on Wheels

By Michael McNulty Attila Till blends fantasy and reality in his Hungarian comedy-cum-action thriller, Kills on Wheels, about a trio of wheelchair bound hit men. Zoli (Zoltán Fenyvesi) and Barba (Ádám Feteke) are best mates, both with disabilities, who live in a rehabilitation centre and who have a passion for comic books. Zoli is in urgent need of spinal corrective surgery, but his pride prevents him from accepting money from his estranged father to cover the costs. Marginalized and resigned...

Forgotten Film Friday: Branded to Kill

By Michael McNulty Seijun Suzuki’s Branded to Kill was produced by Nikkatsu Studios, one of Japan’s major production companies who specialized in making programme pictures of the urban youth and Mukokuseki Akushon (borderless action) variety. The film exists in a cultural and cinematic middle ground, distinctly Japanese, but dressed in a noir-gangster film jacket that could have been stitched together by the French New Wave. It is a warped, exhilarating genre piece and a seminal work. Nikkatsu’s extremely busy production...

Film Review: Dennis Skinner: Nature of the Beast

Aristotle once said that “Man is a political animal”, and in British politics, few are as ferocious as Dennis Skinner. Dubbed the ‘Beast of Bolsover’, referring to the constituency that he has represented in Parliament since 1970, Skinner is a renowned socialist, trade unionist, and Labour politician; a man both loved and loathed by members of the House. This absorbing documentary from first-time filmmaker Daniel Draper may not be a particularly comprehensive study of Skinner’s political ideology, but it is...

Film Review: The Lure (2017)

It’s a story so strange that surely it must be a work of fiction. Back in 2010, former art dealer and eccentric millionaire Forrest Fenn purported to hide a cache filled with gold and jewels worth over a million dollars somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, offering those who wished to find the treasure a series of cryptic clues that he claimed would lead them to its location. Seven years on, and still no one has succeeded in finding the loot....

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