REVIEW: Shirley [LFF 2020]


After 2018’s disassociative coming-of-age story Madeline’s Madeline, Josephine Decker returns with another twist on a conventional narrative – the biopic as psychological thriller.

We first see our subject in soft focus, extreme close-up: bare skin, tangled hair, the hint of a face.…

REVIEW: Mangrove [LFF 2020]

In what has become something of an LFF tradition, Steve McQueen’s latest gets the festival off to a strong, socially-aware start.

It’s 1968 and things are changing in west London. Kids play beneath a towering overpass under construction and in Notting Hill a new restaurant, the Mangrove, provides a hub for the West Indian community.…

PODCAST: London Film Festival 2020 Preview [Movie RobCast]

In episode 101, Robs Wallis & Daniel take a look at the films getting them fired up for the 64th London Film Festival.

Predictably. this year the festival is split between showing films on the BFI Player and certain films screening in cinemas across the country.…

REVIEW: Say Your Prayers

British indie comedy Say Your Prayers locates itself comfortably in the tradition of inept Brits making a mess of rural idylls – in this case, violently.

The idyll here is the rugged landscape of West Yorkshire. The blokes in question are Tim (Harry Melling), permanently ensconced in a Tibetan earflap, and Vic (Tom Brooke), hatchet-faced and angry.…