The ancient samurai ritual of hara-kiri, also known as seppuku, is a symbolic suicide performed in an attempt to regain honour when all hope is otherwise lost. It is a grisly fate, involving plunging a short sword, known as a tantō into one’s stomach, and slicing left to right. An appointed “attendant” would then finish the job by relieving you of your head. Harry Hunt reviews Takashi Miike’s HARA-KIRI: DEATH OF A SAMURAI
“I take photos to show another world,” explains Steve Pyke, opening up his long awaited documentary MOONBUG, and with a subject of astronomy, you’d expect this to be quite fitting. Unfortunately, a documentary about space exploration it is not; it’s an astronomically claustrophobic look into the world of Steve Pyke.
This month saw Aesthetica magazine’s first short film festival take place in some of York’s historic venues. Steve Williams reviews one of his favourite films from the arts, experimental and documentary categories.
In 1889 Friedrich Nietzsche left his house in Turin and witnessed a man violently whipping his horse, which would not move. This image caused a mental breakdown in the philosopher, who threw himself at the neck of the creature to protect it, and afterwards fell ill until his death in 1900. What happened to the horse remains unknown, the narrator informs us at the beginning of what is allegedly Hungarian director Béla Tarr’s last film.
Roman Kogler (Thomas Schubert) is a bit lost. Four years in the Austrian juvenile detention system have left him numb and passionless, but he still yearns for resolution. BREATHING follows him as he seeks this resolution out. Harry Hunt reviews this directorial debut from Austrian actor Karl Markovics.
In the wake of the Great War, England was shrouded in a time of recovery, melancholy and ghosts. The bereaved searched for their lost sons, brothers and lovers in the lies of con artists who claimed they could contact the afterlife in spiritual séances and readings. This is the setting in which we find our … Continue reading The Awakening
DANCE TOWN brings a snowy rallentando to Jeon’s trilogy which began with ANIMAL TOWN and MOZART TOWN. Each film looks at Korean life through the eyes of urban misfits who have been excluded from, or simply ignored by the rest of society.
Even though Lynne Ramsay has layered WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN with colours and striking vision, it resides firmly in shades of morally ambiguous grey.
BLOOD IN THE MOBILE is currently screening at Cambridge Arts Picturehouse. Loreta Gandolfi takes a look at the documentary which journeys into the underworld of Congo’s minerals trading.
The vampire saga returns for a fourth outing, and once again the old gang are all present. Arriving on the back of ECLIPSE, certainly the best of the series so far, Bill Condon’s project had much to live up to, and as the first few scenes stumble past it will seem as though the undertaking has fallen well short.
