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The Rider: Extraordinary Drama Set in the World of Rodeo
Posted by Roberto in FILM REVIEW, FILM REVIEW on September 12, 2018
Blurring the line between documentary and fiction, Chloé Zhao won the best picture prize at Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight last year with ‘The Rider,’ a hard-hitting look at the world of rodeo exploring its tough realities free of stereotypes. The Chinese born, California based filmmaker has crafted one of the films of the year mirroring the real life experience of young cowboy Brady Jandreau in a work which boast both moving intimacy and stunning beauty. Read the rest of this entry »
Cold War: The Classic Taste of an Impossible Romance
Posted by Roberto in FILM REVIEW, FILM REVIEW on August 27, 2018
Pawel Pawlikowski’s follow-up to his Academy Award winner Ida is a masterful, impossible love story, inspired by the relationship of the director’s own parents, which blends the tropes of film noir, romance and musical in an astonishingly well crafted work that leaves the genuine aftertaste of classic cinema. Cold War took Cannes by storm earning the Polish auteur the best director prize and, judging by the record numbers it has already earned in a series of preview screenings, is ready to become one of the year’s biggest arthouse successes.
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The Guardians: Women During Wartime
Posted by Roberto in FILM REVIEW, FILM REVIEW on August 13, 2018
After becoming the toast of the art house world with his 2010 feature ‘Of Gods And Men,’ and his not so acclaimed follow-up ‘The Price Of Fame’, Xavier Beauvois returns in peak form with this elegant, leisurely paced drama set over five years during World War I, telling the story of the women in a family forced to take over the running of their farm, while their sons and husbands have departed to the battle front. Read the rest of this entry »
Apostasy: The Human Cost Of Dogma
Posted by Roberto in FILM REVIEW, FILM REVIEW on July 26, 2018
In one of the most powerful British debuts in recent memory, Daniel Kokotajlo delivers with ‘Apostasy’ a hard-hitting, rare look at Jehovah’s witnesses dogma, as well as the cruel sacrifices their organization can demand from its fellows.
Filmed in Greater Manchester, ‘Apostasy’ takes the viewer right into the everyday life of a family of devoted followers, a mother and her two young daughters, contrasting the individual stories of the teenagers, which represent the virtuous and the reprehensible sides in the witnesses’ beliefs, both leading to their respective, harrowing personal dramas. Read the rest of this entry »
Path of Blood: Gripping Assemblage of Al Qaeda’s Own Footage
Posted by Roberto in FILM REVIEW, FILM REVIEW on July 8, 2018
Based on his book of the same title, BBC veteran filmmaker Jonathan Hacker rebuilds the timeline of Al Qaeda’s terrorist attacks in Saudi territory in this documentary made from 500 hours of their own footage seized by the Arab government, completed with some other recordings provided by their security services; shaping up a gripping piece of work that impresses for its craft, but less so for its intentions.
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The End Of Independence? Millennials and the Arthouse
Posted by Roberto in FILM REVIEW, FILM REVIEW on May 29, 2018
As another summer began among blockbuster flops, a growing number of voices raised the alarm blaming Millennials’ fading interest in movies for disappointing box-office returns. Derek Thompson in his article “Hollywood has a huge millennial problem” maintains the movie industry has over-learned the lesson that sequels perform well and trying to made a sequel of every single movie it has lost its grip on young people. However, recent studies in the States confirm Millennials remain Tinseltown’s biggest customers. Arthouse theatres and small independent films are the ones they have deserted instead. As Thompson puts it, the problem for Hollywood isn’t that Millennials are ignoring sequels, it is that they ignore everything that isn’t a sequel, adaptation, or reboot. These sort of stories exist but young consumers are looking for them outside the theatres. Read the rest of this entry »
Zama: Lucrecia Martel Screen Talk
Posted by Roberto in FILM REVIEW, FILM REVIEW on May 25, 2018
Lucrecia Martel’s ‘Zama’ was named as one of our 10 essential films of 2017. To celebrate its UK release, we revisit the revealing masterclass the acclaimed Argentinean filmmaker gave during last year’s London Film Festival, where ‘Zama’ also had its UK premiere. Her long-awaited fourth feature, which took almost a decade to get made, is the first literary adaptation in Martel’s career, based on the 1956 Antonio Di Benedetto’s novel, which is set In the late 18th century and tells the story of Spanish official Don Diego De Zama, whom after years of dedicated service to the Spanish crown in a remote position somewhere in the South American, he believes he’s entitled to a promotion for a place in a better destination. His increasingly delusional longings serve as a reflection on the trappings of personal and social identity as well as taking an incisive, critical look at the ways of colonialism.
Interviewed by professor Maria Delgado and boasting both a healthily sarcastic sense of humour and an endless capability for amazing digression, among other things, Martel talked about her career, the themes and preoccupations’ on her body of work, some of her philosophical theories and what kept her so long from making another film after her masterpiece ‘The Headless Woman’. Read the rest of this entry »
Frames Of Representation 2018: Our Preview
Posted by Roberto in FILM REVIEW, FILM REVIEW on April 16, 2018
BLACK MOTHER Khalik Allah
The Frames Of Representation Film Festival is ready to raise its curtains featuring once again an unique selection of films which push aesthetic and political boundaries. In only three editions, FoR has consolidated itself as an unmissable forum for those who like cinema at its most ground-breaking, challenging in both form and content. The annual event celebrated at London’s ICA is described by its curator, Nico Marzano, as “a laboratory conceived to engage with new visions of cinema through supporting the presentation, production and distribution of innovative and politically challenging cinematic languages”.
Last year it was dedicated to ideas about “Working” and boasted the UK premieres of two of our favourite films of 2017, Jorge Thielen Armand’s ‘La Soledad’ and Eduardo Williams’ ‘The Human Surge.’ This year’s main concept is “Landscape.” and standout works from the programme such as Salomé Lamas’ ‘Extinction’ or Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias’ Cocote’ are also likely to be among 2018’s most thought-provoking and best.
Frames Of Representation will take place from April the 20th until the 28th and will showcase thirteen features and six short films from 16 countries linked together by a strong sense of place, instrumental in the depiction of the issues they reflect upon, blending the poetic with the factual; documentary with fiction and the personal essay with their wider social and political contexts. All of them are UK or European premieres for which the ICA will host Q&As with their respective directors, presented alongside a diverse series of workshops, symposiums and other related activities. Here’s a small preview featuring our picks from this year’s edition: Read the rest of this entry »
A Gente Creature: Journey to the centre of a dehumanised society.
Posted by Roberto in FILM REVIEW, FILM REVIEW on April 11, 2018
Based in the Dostoevsky’s short story of the same title, Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa portraits contemporary Russia as a corrupted and dehumanised society on his third feature, ‘A Gentle Creature,’ telling the ordeal of an ordinary woman living in a small village whom, after a parcel sent to her jailed husband gets returned for no apparent reason and failing to gather any further information, embarks on a journey to the prison where her partner is held.
Her allegorical journey, a labyrinthine descent into social and bureaucratic hell in which she will experience a cycle of abuse and degradation from the shady characters she encounters in her way, paint a grim picture of the moral decay of the country. Lead star Vasilina Mokovtseva gives a remarkably restrained performance focused on the stoicism of her character, who impassibly endures the humiliations thrown at every step of her search for the whereabouts of her husband, passively letting herself being pushed around. Read the rest of this entry »
Open Agenda: Solidarity In The Films Of Ken Loach
Posted by Roberto in FILM REVIEW, FILM REVIEW on April 2, 2018
2016 marked the 50th anniversary of Ken Loach’s BBC drama Cathy Come Home (1966). Its innovative mix of documentary and fiction had enormous social impact and helped to create awareness on homelessness in Britain, using a medium which had rarely seen before such a controversial matter brought to its audience. In turn, the upheaval it caused led to government debate and the creation of the charity Shelter. At an early stage of Loach’s career, the play transcended the realm of entertainment and already showcased most of the qualities his films are renowned for.
The director is considered the pre-eminent contemporary representative of a long standing British tradition of social realism in cinema, which has its roots in the documentary film movement of the 1930s and 1940s, led by John Grierson, and the wartime work of Humphrey Jennings. Read the rest of this entry »
The Third Murder: Powerful Anti-Death Penalty Courtroom Drama
Posted by Roberto in FILM REVIEW, FILM REVIEW on March 20, 2018
Before ‘The Third Murder’ was premiered at the Venice Film Festival, early rumours trumpeted Hirokazu Kore-eda had gone all noir. Perhaps Today’s most acclaimed Japanese auteur, the filmmaker’s trademark has always been his humane and intimate look at family relationships, often with an emphasis on children and the elderly. This interest for the family has earned him comparisons to Ozu, despite seeing himself closer to more contemporary directors such as Ken Loach. That’s why this sudden turn to darker territories came as a surprise. ‘The Third Murder’ may not confirm those first impressions, but nonetheless is a significant change of register for the director who, this time, delivers a powerful anti death penalty indictment through a legal drama that explores its core murder mystery as much as its moral repercussions for everyone involved. Read the rest of this entry »
Top 60 Best Films of 2017
Posted by Roberto in FILM REVIEW, FILM REVIEW on March 4, 2018
AND OUR FAVOURITE FILMS OF 2017 ARE…
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2017: The Year In Film
Posted by Roberto in FILM REVIEW, FILM REVIEW on March 4, 2018
As Oscars’ night punctuates the end of the year in film for the industry, our blog traditionally releases its annual recap of the surprises and trends that have shaped the last twelve months of cinema, as well as our list of favourites.
2017 has been a good year for films; yet rather than for its cinematic crop it will certainly be remembered for the seismic shifts it brought in cultural and social forces, prompting a significant change across all areas in our industry. The choir of voices calling for more diversity, equality and inclusiveness had been growing for a few years, but perhaps triggered by that ice storm of ultra conservative policies in Trump’s America; feminist movements, ethnic minorities and LGBT communities have joined their efforts, as they did during the 1960’s, in order to facilitate those changes.
From the beginning of the year, films such as Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out,’ a horror film inspired in the black community’s anxieties about the way they are being used by their white counterparts, or Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, which broke the usual tropes depicting homosexuality as a guilt-ridden source of personal drama, to portray instead a luminous and enjoyable summer romance, were the toast of Sundance, set the tone going all the way to become favourites of the Awards Season. In the second half, the controversial #MeToo movement stole the show and its narratives, creating shock waves around the world when stars who had been victim of sexual abuse began making their stories public. The consequences have been enormous, and there are more still to come. It put an end to Harvey Weinstein’s sleazy empire and has affected a rapidly growing number of professionals from all the corners of the industry. Its impact on this year’s awards season has been unprecedented, from perennial Academy favourites such as Woody Allen forced to cancel the red carpet for the premiere his latest work, ‘Wonder Wheel’, to Ridley Scott’s dramatic reshoot of ‘All The Money In The World’ replacing Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer. Now consolidated as Time’s Up, a platform to help victims of all sort of harassment, the #Metoo initiative was dismissed by the few who dared questioning it as a witch hunt which was at risk of hurting the reputations of many without allowing them their right to a fair legal procedure. Read the rest of this entry »
The 2017 Rober Awards Film Poll’s Spotify Playlist
Posted by Roberto in FILM REVIEW, FILM REVIEW on February 4, 2018
The 2017 Rober Awards Film Poll is up and running, open for everyone to cast their votes. Sean Baker’s extraordinary look at the lives of the American underclass in The Florida Project leads the list of nominees with eight, followed by gay romances Call Me By Your Name and God’s Own Country and Lynne Ramsay’s psychological thriller You Were Never Really Here with six each.
Christopher Nolan’s recreation of the Dunkirk evacuation; Greta Gerwig’s personal account of her teenage years in Lady Bird; French AIDS drama BPM (Beats Per Minute); Paul Thomas Anderson’s superbly crafted Phantom Thread and Lucrecia Martel’s big screen adaptation of Zama are among the other films with multiple nominations.
To refresh our memories recalling the best films of the year and help with your deliberations, here’s a Spotify playlist with excerpts from the soundtracks of most of this year’s nominated films. Read the rest of this entry »
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