By Mina Radovic. Richard Billingham’s debut as a director is an unjudgmental, observational, frequently difficult, and highly internalized portrait of his family. Composed to the brim, glacial but consistent in its movement of the camera, with a beautifully decaying pastel colour texture, the film follows a series of interconnected vignettes […]
All in the Method – Remembering British Television: Audience and Industry by Kristyn Gorton and Joanne Garde Hansen
July 9, 2019
A Book Review by Tony Williams. This recent monograph (Bloomsbury/BFI, 2019) aims to debate the importance of everyday TV memories involving academics, audiences, and fans, in terms of recent theoretical developments in the field of British television studies. It is an academic study in the full-sense of the term, one […]
Alone on New Adventures: Lara and Patrick (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)
Ali Moosavi
July 8, 2019
By Ali Moosavi. Two films competing for the main prizes at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Both having a person’s name as their title. Lara (Jan Ole Gerster) from Germany and Patrick (Tim Mielants) from Belgium. Lara opens with a shot of the eponymous character, alone in her bedroom, […]
A Tricky Tonal Arc: Greg Kinnear’s Phil
Michael Sandlin
July 5, 2019
By Michael Sandlin. Greg Kinnear has come a long way since his early 1990s career phase sniggering at daytime talk show freaks for E! Network’s Talk Soup. Rising through the ranks of the late-night TV circuit, he finally gained some artistic cred with a series of marquee film roles playing […]
Dreaming on, Despite Brexit: A Conversation with Sean McAllister
N. Buket Cengiz
July 3, 2019
By N. Buket Cengiz. Documentarist, an independent documentary film festival held in Istanbul since 2007, had the acclaimed British documentary filmmaker Sean McAllister as its honorary guest this year. The festival audience found the opportunity to watch five feature films of the director: A Northern Soul (2018), shot in Hull […]
Exposing the Filmmaker: An Interview with Ewa Banaszkiewicz and Mateusz Dymek About My Friend the Polish Girl
July 2, 2019
By Alex Ramon. As the place that produced the likes of Wajda, Polański, Kieślowski and Skolimowski, and that, under the current Rectorship of Mariusz Grzegorzek, continues to nurture new talents in cinema and theatre, Łódź Film School remains the most storied and prestigious of such institutions in Poland. It’s the […]
From Iran to Mexico: Fireflies (Luciérnagas)
Ali Moosavi
July 1, 2019
By Ali Moosavi. After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, a number of national filmmakers, who were well-established in their homeland, such as Dariush Mehrjui (The Cow; The Cycle), Amir Naderi (The Runner; Water, Wind, Dust), Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Gabbeh; A Moment of Innocence), moved abroad. In the late director Sohrab Shahid […]
Manipulative Artistry: Ari Aster’s Midsommar
June 28, 2019
By Gary M. Kramer. Heredity filmmaker Ari Aster’s eagerly awaited sophomore feature, Midsommar, is impressive when one looks at the craft that went into it. There are elaborate dinner table scenes for dozens of guests, as well as intricate tapestries, costumes, and wall decorations. Aster’s camerawork is showy – some […]
Beyond Reason: Diamantino
Jeremy Carr
June 28, 2019
By Jeremy Carr. “Love has reasons that even reason can’t understand.” This is what the father of soccer star Diamantino Matamouros once told his son, as recalled by the sporting prodigy in a benign, resigned voiceover. A resonant sentiment for anyone who has experienced the uncertainties of an unforeseen and […]
A True Cinematic Challenge – Moseby Confidential: Arthur Penn’s Night Moves and the Rise of Neo-Noir by Matthew Asprey Gear
Tony Williams
June 27, 2019
A Book Review by Tony Williams. Moseby Confidential: Night Moves and the Rise of Neo-Noir (Jorvik Press, 2019) is an interesting monograph of a hybrid nature. Written by Matthew Asprey Gear, author of the distinctive study At The End of the Street in the Shadow: Orson Welles and the City (Wallflower Press, […]