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.
The Scala cinema, which closed in 1993, was an eventful place. This documentary tells us tales of drugs, sex, suicide and, of course, movies.
AMERICAN FICTION never feels as cutting as it could be with its commentary, but Cord Jefferson’s debut feature is witty, with sharp characters, and engaging performances from Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown are the best vehicles for the script’s funnier and more keenly observed moments
A beautifully touching central performance from Andrew Scott elevates ALL OF US STRANGERS to stirring levels, and Andrew Haigh’s directorial gift for eliciting emotional sincerity remains undimmed.
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.
THE HOLDOVERS is cosy because it is bittersweet, and in the same way, it is a comedy because it is sad. David Hemingson’s script, which draws from his own life, understands the close proximity of these seemingly conflicting emotions.
Scepticism can be left at the door; with its spark, originality, and excellent performances, MEAN GIRLS (2024) is heartily enjoyable on its own merits.
Never meet your heroes, the saying goes. Sofia Coppola’s PRISCILLA would posit that neither should you marry them, have a kid with them, or agree to live in their gilded cage.
Leave it to Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek purveyor of oddities, to attempt the supposedly unadaptable POOR THINGS, Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel of conflicting points of view, paratextual playfulness, and his trademark commentary on Glaswegian goings-on. The film follows Emma Stone’s Bella Baxter, a woman reanimated after her death with the brain of an unborn baby, … Continue reading Poor Things
TCHAIKOVSKY’S WIFE becomes stranger and richer on reflection, and with other quasi-historical biopics having recently made waves, it feels well-timed to enter the canon and reexamine a doomed relationship.
