SINCE YESTERDAY joyously celebrates the work of groups that, by all rights, should be better known today, and paints a vibrant picture of their artistry but also a damning picture of sexism, classism, and London-centrism that still plagues the UK’s arts scene today.
THE CRITIC approaches a dynamic historical era whose high stakes parallel today’s with a dearth of imagination and humanity. It looks handsome, but its heart is hollow.
JERICHO RIDGE understands the pure thrill of a well-executed standoff, and never once lets the pace drop.
THE DEAD DON’T HURT is a clear labour of love and a throwback to an earlier era of Western, for better and worse. Carmen Paddock reviews.
Audacious in the extreme, THE BEAST delivers nothing new on each of its premises, but its combination is bold and stylish. The film does not rise above its shock value in commenting on society, but Seydoux and Mackay are in magnificent form.
A frog-in-a-kettle study of a societal microcosm under pressure, THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE leaves audiences turning over possible truths and futures for its characters long after the credits roll.
Despite its title and the in-your-face delivery of some of its most fevered sections, DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD is not all apathy and ironic resignation. There may not be hope, as such, at its heart, but there is an unending belief in human ingenuity and creativity.
Carmen Paddock’s review of Disco Boy directed by Giacomo Abbruzzese: “While there might not be especially new ground covered in a narrative capturing the fragmenting psyches of the colonisers and the colonised […] DISCO BOY is a stunning new entry into the canon.”
With its scope, restraint of style, and honesty of content, OCCUPIED CITY is a tremendous achievement in documentary storytelling. Letting the audience form their own connections with past, present, and probable future events avoids pitfalls of over-interpretation.
Even if THE ZONE OF INTEREST does not add nuance or a new perspective to the conversation, its unflinching contrast of the everyday and unspeakable – and, in the final minutes, how we rationalise both in historical memory – lingers long in the mind.
