STEALING PULP FICTION has an ironic postmodern sensibility combining a reverence for cinema and the cinema-going experience – midnight screenings, overflowing tubs of popcorn, the smell of 35mm prints – with an ironic appreciation of Quentin Tarantino’s own postmodern work.
While it’s visually striking and Crispin Glover gives a wonderful performance as the main character, MR. K’s web of allusions to other works grows a little thin and leaves you wondering what the film says on its own.
ON FALLING achieves the difficult credit of being both a deeply affecting character story and a compelling indictment of how precarious labour markets undermine our communities.
WOKEN is a sci-fi thriller that packs a punch disproportionate to its small scale and short length. Despite some unfortunately clumsy tropes deployed in the third act, WOKEN still has enough twists and turns and enough contemporary relevance to be a thriller worth checking out.
FALLING INTO PLACE echoes Sally Rooney’s Normal People: it follows two young lovers who come in and out of each other’s lives while trying to come to terms with the heartbreaking hands they have been dealt.
While THE VOURDALAK may not entirely succeed as a film, there is something fascinating about how this early vampire story emphasises the queerness that has always been part and parcel of vampire stories in folklore.
TUMMY MONSTER, Ciaran Lyons’ directorial debut feature, is UNCUT GEMS by way of Glasgow, using its sense of confinement to build to a peak of anxiety and tense release that will stick with you long after the end.
Despite its title and the in-your-face delivery of some of its most fevered sections, DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD is not all apathy and ironic resignation. There may not be hope, as such, at its heart, but there is an unending belief in human ingenuity and creativity.
SMOKING CAUSES COUGHING has thin characters, subplots that are never followed up on, and a main plot where the heroes’ actions make no difference: none of that matters because the film is so wildly absurd and entertaining.
Nicolas Giraud directs and stars in THE ASTRONAUT (L’ASTRONAUTE), a gentle and beautifully shot film with some ambitious ideas around opening up space exploration and connecting with people on Earth. Although slow, the drama of the climax makes the journey worthwhile. Simon Bowie reviews.
