INTERVIEW: ‘The Power Of The Dog’ Production Designer Grant Major
The Power of the Dog is set on a cattle ranch in 1920s Montana, but was actually shot in New Zealand. The story centres around George Burbank getting married to widow Rose, who has a college-age son, Peter. George brings Rose to the Burbank ranch,…
REVIEW: The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
After around thirty-five years of making films together, the Coen brothers have now branched off into their own solo projects. With The Tragedy of Macbeth, Joel Coen’s first venture as a solo director is a surprising one. A Shakespeare adaptation, filmed in stark, expressionistic black…
INTERVIEW: ‘The Power Of The Dog’ Editor Peter Sciberras
After a decade away from filmmaking, New Zealand’s Jane Campion has returned with Netflix’s Western The Power of the Dog. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Phil and examines his relationships with his brother George (Jesse Plemons), George’s new wife Rose (Kirsten Dunst) and Rose’s son…
REVIEW: The Witcher (Season 2)
[This review contains spoilers] While many of us entered into the first season of The Witcher with trepidation, based on how successful an adaptation it could be of the Sapkowski book series and/or the beloved computer games, most of us were won over by the…
REVIEW: Shepherd (2021)
It’s amazing how different two films based on the same source material can be. After watching Shepherd, from British writer-director Russell Owen, you may be surprised to learn that it’s inspired by the same real events that became transmuted into a folk ghost tale as Robert…
INTERVIEW: ‘Shepherd’ Director Russell Owen
New British horror Shepherd is about a grief-stricken widow (played by Tom Hughes) who applies for a job as a shepherd on an isolated Scottish island. Once there, he experiences nightmares, visions and loses touch with reality. We spoke to director Russell Owen about filming…
REVIEW: Licorice Pizza (2021)
Returning to the 70s for a third time, Paul Thomas Anderson makes one of his smaller, slighter and more intimate films in Licorice Pizza while still leaving room for the occasional flight of fancy. It is also – by my estimation, at least – Anderson’s…
INTERVIEW: Oscar-winning Composer Rachel Portman on ‘Julia’ and her Career
British composer Rachel Portman has been producing scores for film and TV for four decades. She worked on the classic 80s TV show Jim Henson’s The Storyteller (1987-1989) starring John Hurt and Oranges are Not the Only Fruit (1990) starring Charlotte Coleman. She collaborated with…
Daniel Kaluuya & LaKeith Stanfield: The Revolutionaries
[This piece was originally published in Issue #4 of JumpCut: The Magazine in April 2021] Londoner Daniel Kaluuya and Californian LaKeith Stanfield are two of the most exciting actors of their generation. They’ve both just been nominated (somewhat controversially) in the supporting actor category for…
INTERVIEW: ‘The Green Knight’ Composer Daniel Hart
The visuals and the sounds of David Lowery’s The Green Knight combine to make an overwhelming experience. The stunning cinematography and use of colour are a huge reason why it’s so good, but so is the aural landscape – the sound design and score. We…
REVIEW: Bergman Island (2021)
Ingmar Bergman has the kind of iconic status reserved for a rarefied few – he is perhaps regarded as chief among the European masters which includes names such as Godard, Fellini, Antonioni, Truffaut, Renoir and Cocteau. A kind of cult has grown up amongst Bergman’s…
REVIEW: Venom – Let There Be Carnage (2021)
While Venom certainly had its defenders in 2018, it was definitely divisive. In the few intervening years since then and over the course of the tumultuous time we’ve all been through, Venom has become a much more beloved figure, leading to the hype for the…
INTERVIEW: Director Joanna Hogg discusses ‘The Souvenir Part II’
Joanna Hogg is known for her films exploring upper-middle class English families, depicting at times excruciating social awkwardness and the complicated dynamics of relationships through her meticulous blocking, exquisite framing and astute writing. Hogg works in a loose, improvisational style, similar to Mike Leigh; instead…
