Open City Documentary Festival 2021
Though the big tent film festivals are the ones that hoover up the most attention, discussion, and coverage, it’s the specialist festivals that harbour the best surprises. Marc Nelson on Open City Docs 2021.
Category Archives: Features
Why mumblecore’s intimate style is a unique fit for today’s Netflix
Matt Farr looks at why mumblecore is the ideal genre for Netflix, and how the streaming giant’s understanding of what best suits their platform is evolving.
Why You Watched Contagion and the Virtues of Happy-Sad Movies
Ewan Shand mulls over why so many people flocked to CONTAGION at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, potential reasons for these anti-escapist viewing urges, and the simple respite that movies can offer us.
Shirley and the Taste of Madness
Shirley Jackson’s fiction permits us to try a taste of madness. Her stories, published from the late 40s until her death in 1965, are fixated on the Gothic and the macabre. Her writing is frequently concerned with not only what is taboo or strange, but also the prying eyes of curious bystanders who can never … Continue reading Shirley and the Taste of Madness
Focus On: On the Nature of Daylight
When directors need to amplify an emotional moment, On the Nature of Daylight is fast becoming their go-to track. Further, its success has utterly transformed the fortunes of its creator. Nancy Epton discusses Max Richter’s piece.
Grey Matters: Black and White Re-releases
As PARASITE returns to cinemas in black and white, Simon Bowie looks at the growing trend and some of the motivations for presenting different entertainment forms without the full colour spectrum.
Revisiting The Watermelon Woman and Cheryl Dunye’s stamp on New Queer Cinema
Cheryl Dunye turned 54 in May, and in further celebration it’s time to reflect on her status as a pioneer and a revolutionary figure in progressive cinema for the most marginalised, writes Steph Brown.
Focus On: It’s Always Fair Weather
IT’S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER, the last of the Stanley Donen-Gene Kelly collaborations, has the temerity to admit something we all know to be true: namely, that life can be a bit shit.
Daniel Isn’t Real
DANIEL ISN’T REAL is the story of a college freshman whose imaginary childhood friend makes a comeback – it’s an accessible and attractive story, but the film’s true strength lies in the subjective experience it offers. Rosy Hunt reviews.
Thoughtful Violence in Drive & You Were Never Really Here
Thoughtful violence is created in both DRIVE and YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE through each director’s meticulous attention to detail through music, visual symbolism and tight editing. Nancy Epton on the approach of Lynne Ramsay and Nicolas Winding Refn.