Tag: Festival
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Memoir of a Snail Review- A Beautifully Twisted Journey through the Doldrums of Human Despair and Out the Other Side.
Memoir of a Snail, the winner of the official competition at this year’s London Film Festival, is a stop-motion animation set in its writer-director Adam Elliot’s native Australia. However, this is not the Australia of sun-dappled coastlines and beach-ready bodies, as Elliot blends Aardman-style animation with a Burtonesque aesthetic in a tale of tragedy, comedy… Read more
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Blitz Review- Steve McQueen’s new WWII drama makes for truly epic British filmmaking.
Blitz, Steve McQueen’s latest directorial venture set during the height of German bombing raids over London, is a visceral and never-shattering cinematic experience. The film perfectly blends McQueen’s early career as a visual artist- who has created commissioned works on the Iraq War– into the popular framework of a mainstream movie. It opens with searing… Read more
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The Substance Review- Let the ‘Demissance’ in a bonkers new body horror which ironically lacks substance.
Let the ‘Demissance’ begin! In Coralie Fargeat’s bonkers new body horror which, ironically, lacks substance. Producing a great satire is a true highwire act. It needs to be somehow both bold, direct, and meaningful but without feeling obvious, smug, or preachy. At the same time, it still needs to be enjoyable on its own terms and… Read more
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Why are there so many Blockbuster Films at Major Film Festivals?
This is a re-edited essay I wrote as part of my UCL Film Studies Masters’. At first thought the words Film Festival and Hollywood Blockbuster fit together as well as Michael Bay and arthouse production. However, the relationship between the two is very close. Cannes has premiered many Pixar releases, including Inside Out (2015) and UP (2010), and the… Read more
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Unicorns Review
Unicorns feels like the perfect title for the new film from James Floyd and Sally El Hossaini (this is the former’s directorial debut and the latter’s follow up to the Bafta winning The Swimmers ) as they have reared a rare mythical beast of a film. They have created a love story which feels truly unweighted by prejudice,… Read more
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Anora Review
I’m beginning my Cannes reviews with my favourite film from the festival, and the Palme D’or winner, Sean Baker’s wonderfully raucous and fantastically sweary Anora. The film marks another arrow in Baker’s mission to destigmatize sex work, and it continues his trend of breathing vibrancy and colour into subject matter so often treated as seedy,… Read more
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Riley Review
Riley marks the directorial debut of Benjamin Howard who delivers an oftentimes conventional film which is elevated in parts by his personal investment in its subject matter and a strong acting debut from lead Jake Holley. The film follows a closeted high-school football star Dakota Riley (Jake Holley) as he struggles with his own sexuality while… Read more
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Close to You Review
Close to You marks Elliot Page’s first cinematic role since transitioning, and the film tells a clearly personal story for the actor. However, it is in its more universal themes surrounding the trying and uplifting nature of family where the film really finds its stride. The story, which Page worked closely on, follows Sam a recently… Read more
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Lesvia + Old Lesbians Review
Lesvia and Old Lesbians were two documentaries exploring queer female relationships screened at this year’s BFI flare. After the screening of Lesvia, a documentary exploring history of a Lesbian community in the village of Eresos on the island of Lesbos, its director Tzeli Hadjidimitriouproudly dedicated the film to us the audience who had helped make the community… Read more
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An Interview with Riley (2023) director Benjamin Howard and star Jake Holley
[This article first appeared in the UCL Film Journal ] Riley was screened at this year’s BFI Flare Festival to sold out audiences and I got the opportunity to sit down with its director Benjamin Howard and star Jake Holley. The film tells the story of a young high school American Football star who is… Read more