Movies

Regrouting blackened bathroom tiles; filling out a commercial tax return; cleaning the mouldering leaves out of a clogged storm drain; grudgingly buying a birthday gift for a racist aunt; reviewing The Super Mario Galaxy Movie… All things that slumber in the dismal depths of your personal To Do list that you try your very best to avoid until time eventually…

At the time of her ascent as a Hollywood screen siren, actor Kim Novak had something that neither directors or audiences could quite put their finger on. She somehow mixed an air of confident sexual defiance with an undertow of vulnerability and melancholy, and whatever it was that she had exactly, she’s definitely still got it…

European cinema breeds provocateurs, from Pasolini to Haneke to Noé, Österlund and Radu Jude. Although separated by generations, nationalities and genres, these filmmakers never shy away from confronting their audience with the crass, controversial and/​or achingly contemporary. Norwegian filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli is the latest in a long line of such raconteurs – his feature debut Sick of…

Since its inception in Los Angeles in 2013, Beyond Fest has gone on to establish itself as the largest film festival in the United States focusing primarily on horror, science fiction, fantasy and related genres, presenting a consistently strong program of new releases (including a number of premieres), retrospective screenings, shorts programs, special guests and…

Not many sexual awakenings begin with the cawing of a crow. But in director Chloé Robichaud’s Two Women, the cries of this portentous bird trigger a shift that forces two suburban women to re-evaluate their lives and discover their true desires. When Violette (Laurence Leboeuf) hears the incessant bird sounds at night, she is convinced that it is her…

Few filmmakers have loved their country as deeply or as tenderly, as Bahram Beyzaie loved Iran. A founding father of the Iranian New Wave, Beyzaie emerged, alongside Dariush Mehrjui and Masoud Kimiai, as one of the most culturally significant directors of his generation. His films – a pick-and-mix of Persian folklore, symbolism and allegory – favoured stories…

Although 15 years have passed since the British filmmaker Chris Petit released a film, D Is for Distance sheds light on the reason: In his early teens, Petit’s son, Louis, began to suffer from a severe form of epilepsy that wiped out the memory of his childhood. This led to Petit and his wife, the film’s co-director Emma Matthews,…

In 1971, French filmmaker Jacques Rivette made a 13-hour opus called Out 1. Its extended runtime was necessary to encompass the full sweep of an unstable political era, where the hope and energy from the 1968 student revolution gradually dissipated into something resembling paranoia and melancholy. The breathtaking new feature documentary from the Russian-American filmmaker Julia…

10 NEW TO NETFLIX “Anatomy of a Fall““The Bad Guys 2““Blackberry““The Bling Ring““The Creator““Night Catches Us““Nobody 2““Nuremberg““Sisu: Road to Revenge““The Unknown Country“ 10 NEW TO BLU-RAY/DVD “Anaconda“ It’s almost impressive how much this movie devolves into something that’s ultimately significantly less fun or funny than the Ice Cube & Jennifer Lopez original. It starts promisingly…

Since its inception in Los Angeles in 2013, Beyond Fest has gone on to establish itself as the largest film festival in the United States focusing primarily on horror, science fiction, fantasy and related genres, presenting a consistently strong program of new releases (including a number of premieres), retrospective screenings, shorts programs, special guests and…