Benediction
Simon Bowie reviews Terence Davies’ BENEDICTION, a biopic of poet Siegfried Sassoon that wrestles gamely with the idea of how to depict the effervescence of poetry on film.
All content tagged Glasgow Film Festival
Vortex
Simon Bowie reviews Gaspar Noé’s VORTEX, a relentlessly heartbreaking but thoroughly entrancing experiment of a film.
The Gravedigger’s Wife
Simon Bowie reviews THE GRAVEDIGGER’S WIFE, a well told story that brings to life a profound portrait of life in Djibouti.
A Banquet
Simon Bowie reviews Ruth Paxton’s A BANQUET, a stylish women-led horror film tackling fears around disordered eating.
Ashgrove
ASHGROVE boldly takes on heady questions and deftly intertwines the personal with the global in an intensely relatable way for anyone living through the ongoing global pandemic and slow destruction of Earth through climate change.
The Dissident
Bryan Fogel’s new documentary feature, THE DISSIDENT, dives into the timeline of Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination, looking behind the curtain at the political powers at play in Saudi Arabia. Much like Fogel’s Oscar-winning documentary ICARUS, he goes to dangerous levels to expose the political grit under the surface.
Back to the Wharf
Taking a decidedly more casual approach to its noirish stylings than Diao Yi’nan’s THE WILD GOOSE LAKE (or even the second chapter of Jia Zhang-ke’s ASH IS PUREST WHITE), Li Xiaofeng’s BACK TO THE WHARF has a quality that could trip a viewer up on occasion.
Dreams on Fire
DREAMS ON FIRE is a film about graft, inspiration, camaraderie and the struggles of flourishing in the real world; in all its awful and wonderful surrealness. Clara Strachan reviews at Glasgow Film Festival.
Creation Stories
CREATION STORIES occasionally hits a good note, but after the cacophonous entropy it generates getting tuned up, it struggles to recover anything harmonious from its orchestra of creative talents.
Black Bear
In the end, BLACK BEAR is a bit of a Penrose triangle of a film. Viewed from certain angles, it may make little sense, but when considered from a new vantage point or spun around, it paradoxically comes together elegantly and beautifully.