Appropriately for a sombre story set after the First World War and adapted from Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932 melodrama BROKEN LULLABY, Francois Ozon shoots most of FRANTZ in a glowing monochrome, except for the plentiful moments of high emotion, when the film blossoms into colour (rather like Gary Ross’s 1998 film PLEASANTVILLE, where colour represents sexual … Continue reading Frantz
Takashi Miike’s samurai bloodbath is an exhilarating, bloody action thrill ride that will live long in the memory, writes Harry Jones at the Cannes Film Festival.
The waterlogged fields and blighted farmland of Somerset provide The Levelling’s director, Hope Dickson Leach with the perfect setting for her debut feature. An unsettling, realist drama with the Somerset levels as its backdrop. The story follows Clover (Ellie Kendrick) who returns to the family dairy farm following the sudden suicide of her brother Harry … Continue reading The Levelling
RAW is an intense and undefinable blend of skilled shotmaking, ramping discomfort and disturbing juxtapositions that mixes carnivores with the carnal to enormous effect. Jim Ross reviews.
Continuing his recent string of genre defying hits, director Ben Wheatley takes a scenario usually reserved for the finale – the tense firefight – and stretches it out into ninety minutes of famous actors crawling around on a dusty warehouse floor, yelling insults and firing off potshots at each other. The biggest surprise that emerges … Continue reading Free Fire
FENCES is a powerful and engaging family drama, but it always seems a little fenced in cinematically by its theatrical origin. Jim Ross reviews.
Jordan Peele’s first feature as director is a confident step away from his previous television exploits: Mad TV (2002) and Key & Peele (2012), throwing off his sketch-show jacket and donning a more provocative and thoughtful attire. While still holding on to his satirical voice, Peele allows the film to linger within the fringes of … Continue reading Get Out
MOONLIGHT is not a portrait painted in broad brushstrokes, but a tapestry – any one strand can be admired for its own technique and qualities, but standing back to observe the whole is where the power lies. Jim Ross reviews.
LOGAN tells an involving and impactful story, with Hugh Jackman’s send off the best use of a superhero property in years. Jim Ross reviews.
Johnson’s personal memoir, made up of other people’s stories, offers an incredibly insightful look into the reality of documentary filmmaking.
