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.…

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.…

REVIEW: The Devil All The Time & Enola Holmes [Netflix]

The Devil All The Time and Enola Holmes are perfect examples of high-quality, immediately disposable Netflix Originals.

Both have promising “indie” directors (Antonio Campos’ last feature was 2016’s Rebecca; Harry Bradbeer broke out directing Fleabag), at least a couple of stars (Devil’s ensemble includes the current Spider-Man and future Batman; Enola Holmes lead is Stranger Things’ Eleven with Superman himself in support as older brother Sherlock), and maybe some literary pedigree (both are based on best-selling novels.)…

REVIEW: i’m thinking of ending things

For a filmmaker whose first script, Being John Malkovich, plunged us, literally, into the head of a revered character actor and whose most recent, Anomalisa, was a stop-motion meditation on individuality, a couple’s car journey to visit the boyfriend’s parents might seem a bit… prosaic?…

REVIEW: An American Pickle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBC0pTh6GDM

From the guy who brought you that movie about organised religion via the medium of foul-mouthed groceries comes an understated, oddly dignified tale of what it means to be a Jewish immigrant in America. More specifically, an early-20th Century Jewish immigrant preserved in brine for 100 years before being released on modern-day Brooklyn.…

PODCAST: The Vast of Night (feat. Tessa Scott) [Movie Robcast]

Episode 93 of The Movie Robcast sees our intrepid Robs looking to the skies to discuss The Vast of Night, now streaming on Amazon Prime.

On this quest they are joined once again by Tessa Scott, back after a triumphant appearance on the Whiplash episode.…

REVIEW: Days of the Bagnold Summer

Director Simon Bird brings his own childhood growing up in Guildford to bear in a charming, low-key encapsulation of a long summer in the suburbs.

Based on the 2012 graphic novel by Joff Winterhart, Days of the Bagnold Summer follows teenage metalhead Daniel (Earl Cave), frustrated to discover that he won’t be spending the holiday in Florida with dad and dad’s pregnant partner, and his mum Sue (Monica Dolan).…