REEL WOMEN: November 2021 UK Releases
Welcome back to Reel Women, the monthly column that highlights new releases that are written and/or directed by women. This month we’ve got the latest instalment in the MCU, dramas, a lot of documentaries, and as it’s getting close to the holiday season, a bunch…
REVIEW: Playlist (2021)
Playlist bounces into theatres at a time in which many young women are desperate to get back to having casual sex and discussing their love lives with their colleagues. Perhaps this film will remind them of the fact that life outside of lockdown can be messy…
REVIEW: The Subject (2021)
Documentary filmmakers are often the voice that is never heard; the face that is never seen. They are there – as the genre suggests – to simply document what is going on in front of them. But what if what they capture has a profound…
REVIEW: Playground (LFF 2021)
Written and directed by Laura Wandel, Playground is the kind of film I feel could give parents nightmares, or if you were bullied yourself as a child, give you a vivid reminder of your own experiences. Seven-year-old Nora (Maya Vanderbeque) is nervous about starting a…
REVIEW: Titane (2021)
[slight plot spoilers ahead] Titane is a depraved journey, no doubt. Julia Ducournau is quickly cementing herself as a genre filmmaker with the guts to shock and stimulate viewers no matter how deviant the premise. Ducournau shifts from coming-of-age cannibalism in her debut with Raw,…
REVIEW: El Planeta (2021)
Comedian Joan Rivers famously declared “My daughter and I are very close, we speak every single day and I call her every day and say the same thing, “pick up, I know you’re there.” El Planeta (2021) observes a mother-daughter relationship dynamic that might have…
REVIEW: The Man Who Sold His Skin (2021)
Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania stumbled across the inspiration for her Oscar-nominated film on a trip to Le Louvre in Paris. There, she saw a retrospective dedicated to the Belgian artist, Wim Delvoye. As part of this exhibition, Tim Steiner became a living piece of…
REVIEW: Wildfire (2021)
Wildfire is one of those films that succeeds on a micro-level. From scene to scene, it is packed with raw emotionality and scarily believable hysteria. When you begin to zoom out and look at the bigger picture, everything becomes less acutely focused and slightly more…
REEL WOMEN: September 2021 UK Releases
Welcome back to Reel Women, the monthly column that highlights new releases that are written and/or directed by women. This month we’ve got dramas, comedies, documentaries, and even a couple of musicals! Cinemas are open, so we have a mixture of films getting the big…
REVIEW: Your Color (2021)
Living abroad is an opportunity too good to pass up. Moving away from your childhood home and renting an apartment with your best friend is the stuff so many people fantasise about; the freedom, the boundless choices, and the never-ending party of the rest of…
REVIEW: Wildland (2021)
Denmark is typically thought of as a nation of cultured intellectuals with impeccable liberal credentials and a healthy amount of disposable cash in their bank accounts. This is not to say that Danish cinema isn’t notorious for featuring debauchery, graphic nudity and all sorts of…
REVIEW: The Faithful – The King, The Pope, The Princess
What do Elvis Presley, Diana, Princess of Wales and Pope John Paul II have in common? It sounds like the start of a bad joke but it’s actually the premise of Annie Berman’s documentary, The Faithful: The King, The Pope and The Princess. Berman looks…
REVIEW: What We Left Unfinished (2021)
What happens to art when the political climate of a country is unstable and has an uncertain future? What if that art demands a lot of manpower and collaborative work and, of course, money? What is the life of a movie made under a regime…
