Gwendolyn Leick is many things: a writer, an anthropologist and a mother. A woman in her mid-sixties who moved to the UK forty years ago, lured here by the British Museum and cosmopolitan way of life. A cancer patient who, at the age of 52, took up weightlifting, and has since become a European and … Continue reading Gwendolyn→
There’s no denying this raucous road movie has its moments, with effective comic interplay between the slatternly Olga (Kierston Wareing) and her equally feckless and foul-mouthed son Ron (Tommy French, both of them EastEnders alumni). During one of the film’s many slap-fights while Olga and Ron are on a late-night hunt for cheese, the car … Continue reading I Love My Mum→
A collection of love stories spanning two continents and three generations, LIFE ITSELF proves not only desperately maudlin and judderingly contrived, but also a masterclass in how not to write a screenplay or how to play on the emotions of your audience in anything except the most cynical fashion. There’s an accusation sometimes levelled at … Continue reading Life Itself→
Directors Grace Winter and Luc Plantier’s first feature length documentary, THE MARQUIS DE WAVRIN: FROM THE MANOR TO THE JUNGLE, is an atmospheric leap into the life of Marquis Robert de Wavrin, the first white man to encounter the infamous “head-shrinking” Shuar Indians. Despite occasional pacing issues and a tendency to veer on the side … Continue reading The Marquis De Wavrin: From The Manor To The Jungle→
SHORTFUSION presents SHORTS TO CONTEMPLATE, a collection of short films that will leave you thinking long after you have left the cinema. Director, Oliver Riley-Smith’s THE RIOT ACT focuses on the emergence of a race war, questioning the possible reaction of the media. The short follows the story of a YouTuber and amateur journalist as … Continue reading CFF: Shorts to…Contemplate→
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s newest film, MANBIKI KAZOKU (SHOPLIFTERS), is his and most real film to date. Taking the Palme d’Or at the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival, it is a touching story about poverty, family, and new beginnings. Though each character demonstrates a clear disregard for the law and lives by their own rules, they show … Continue reading Manbiki Kazoku (Shoplifters)→
The race for the 91st Academy Awards’ Foreign Film category has long started, and this week the Cambridge Film Festival had the pleasure of screening the Swedish submission, Ali Abbasi’s fantasy film BORDER (GRÄNS). The tale featured in BORDER is a classic one: a protagonist, very much different to its entourage, possesses an unexplained power. … Continue reading Border (Gräns)→