Chadian director, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun offers us a necessary and political insight into asylum, Europe and family ties. From Bangui to Paris, brothers Abbas (Eriq Ebouaney) and Etienne (Bibi Tanga) escape their country where they both worked as teachers to a new life in a country where they must take jobs as grocers and security guards. Abbas struggles to let go of his old life, speaking to the ghosts of his…
Read MoreFilm Review: High Life
An insular tale of life in space, High Life gives Claire Denis’ dark, explorative filmmaking the zero gravity treatment. Abandoned and shunned by society, a group of death row inmates are sent to space, their goal to capture and record a black hole’s rotating energy, essentially, a suicide mission.
Read MoreFilm Review: 30 Miles from Nowhere
A group of friends, a cabin in the middle of nowhere and shit phone reception can only mean one thing; this film is unlikely to end well.
Read MoreFilm Review – Steel Country (A Dark Place)
Post-Fleabag withdrawal will have Andrew Scott admirers chomping at the bit for another heavenly performance, cue Simon Fellows’ new thriller Steel Country set in Pennsylvania’s backwaters, adorned with Trump propaganda, American flags and water towers. There’s no mistaking what country we’re in as sanitation worker Donald Devlin (Scott) begins an obsessive investigation following the death of a local boy.
Read MoreFilm Review: The Spy Who Fell to Earth
When Asraf Marwan fell to his death from a balcony in London in 2007 his secrets died with him too. Hailed as the best spy of the 20th Century, Egypt-born Marwan who after marrying Mona Nasser, daughter of President Nasser eventually moved to London to pursue his Masters in Chemistry. Marwan is considered as a hero and one of the world’s greatest modern spies by both Egypt and Israel, but…
Read MoreFilm Review: A Trip to the Moon
Director Joaquín Cambre’s debut feature A Trip to the Moon (Un Viaje a la Luna) is an otherworldly coming-of-age film that follows Tomas (Ángelo Mutti Spinetta) as he navigates his way through life and ultimately, through space. A unique family drama coupled with nuanced performances is certainly something audiences wouldn’t have seen before, but there might be a reason for that.
Read MoreFilm Review: Girl
Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s debut feature, Girl, although a critical success in the festival circuit, hasn’t been without its controversy. On the run up to the film’s release, Dhont has fought to defend his trans coming-of-age film in which critic, Oliver Whitney described as “the most dangerous movie about a trans character in years.”
Read MoreFilm Review: Children of the Snow Land
Nestled on the outskirts of Nepal’s capital sits Snowland Ranag Light of Education School, a non-profit educational organisation committed to providing education to children of remote Himalayan villages. Founded by Guru Ranag Tulkhu Rinchin Rinpoche in 2001, Snowland has been supporting Nepal’s children from early childhood into their teens. Marcus Stephenson and Zara Balfour’s documentary Children of the Snow Land follows three students as they journey back home to see…
Read MoreFilm Review: Papillon
Reviewed by April McIntyre Adapted from the autobiographical novel of the same name and following Franklin J. Shaffner’s 1973 film, Michael Noer’s remake of Papillon follows the story of safe cracker and thief, Henri “Papillon” Charrière as he serves out his sentence in a penal colony in French Guiana.
Read MoreFilm Review: Reinventing Marvin
A claustrophobic close-up of a body, the light bouncing off the skin of an unidentified figure. This is how the film introduces us to Marvin, an aspiring actor and someone whose work is directly influenced by his upbringing. Anne Fontaine’s coming out film has its feet planted both in Marvin’s past and his present. We’re instantly thrust into his childhood and school-life as he struggles with homophobia, sexual abuse and his…
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