Off the Rails
OFF THE RAILS is a breathless narrative that may have benefited from reflection and structure, but the spark and spirit are captivating throughout.
Category Archives: Festival Coverage
After Yang
AFTER YANG is a film steeped in humanity despite its gently dystopian subject: an android sibling of an adopted child. Koganada’s feature includes many thought-provoking strands focused on family privacy, technological dependence, and what makes someone – or something – belong to a family unit. Still, its imagination and sincerity when dealing with memory and … Continue reading After Yang
Holy Spider
HOLY SPIDER is a radical rage-filled polemic on a culture that Ali Abbasi believes fuelled and then excused a serial killer who slaughtered sixteen prostitutes in the Iranian sacred city of Mashhad.
Funny Pages
A grimy lo-fi celebration of the outsider, FUNNY PAGES sees first-time feature filmmaker Owen Kline draw comic influence from cult indie favourites AMERICAN SPLENDOR and GHOST WORLD.
Metronom
Writer and director Alexandru Belc’s feature debut is a slow, repetitive, but contemplative film. Despite being pitched as a love story, the film doesn’t fall into the stereotypical young love tropes; if anything, a romance is far from what the film aims to show. Starring Mara Bugarin as Ana, Belc’s film relates a narrative set … Continue reading Metronom
Les Amandiers
From complex relationships to sudden death, LES AMANDIERS grows into an honest and compassionate coming of age narrative, showing the dwindling naivety beyond youth.
Enys Men
Mark Jenkin’s eagerly awaited feature-length follow-up to critically acclaimed debut BAIT swaps out his previous effort’s black and white 16mm film for a more colourful aesthetic to unsettle and isolate its audience.
Wildhood
April McIntyre reviews WILDHOOD: even in the heavily explored road movie trope, Bretten Hannam is able to breathe fresh life into it, offering it up as a story of queerness, nature and homecoming.
The Novice
April McIntyre reviews THE NOVICE: the evocative cinematography and Isabelle Fuhrman’s masterful capture of the character makes Hadaway’s sensory and visceral debut a success, even if at times it’s challenging to watch.
Camila Comes Out Tonight
April McIntyre reviews CAMILA COMES OUT TONIGHT: through Camila’s eyes we discover the ways in which queerness can cross boundaries, and how a new generation are standing up for their rights and working to squash misogyny and outdated traditionalism.