Movies

In the UK since 1981, over 2.8 million social housing properties have been lost through privatisation and demolition. Every election cycle a swath of candidates make vows about investment in the most deprived areas of the country, providing jobs and homes for those who need them most, yet many of these promises fail to materialise. Birmingham-raised…

Despite her relative youth, 29-year-old Maja (Marie Ulven) has lived a lot of life. After high school she pursued a music career; for a while she was successful, racking up a fanbase and touring the world, but after frittering away her record deal advance on parties and shopping, she’s gone to ground in her childhood home, hiding bagged wine…

In Noah Baumbach’s debut feature film Kicking and Screaming, an aimless recent college grad played by Chris Eigeman laments himself for his fading potential and tendency to maudlin reverie: ​“I’m nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday. I’ve begun reminiscing events before they even occur.” To make Rewind Barcelona, young French filmmaker Paul Nouhet called up three of his best…

Rye bread cocooned in clingfilm and a jar of monstrous pickles are the gifts Brandenburg exchange student Franny bestows upon her host family as she arrives at the stagnant town of Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 2001. The items are as much a present as they are a reminder of the cultural differences between America and, well, pretty…

Kiyoshi Kurosawa has made murder mysteries before – many, in fact. In his films, violence shivers randomly across the placid surface of life, like a lake troubled by the leap of a fish that’s already disappeared back below the surface by the time you see the ripples. But the mystery is less about whodunnit than why, and…

A T&M Cannes Film Festival Special #1 On Truth & Movies this week, David Jenkins and Hannah Strong report live from the Cannes film festival, playing a special game of Cannes tombola and discussing new films from James Gray, Nicolas Winding Refn, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Jordan Firstman and more… On Truth & Movies this week, David Jenkins…

Andrey Zvyagintsev makes domestic epics, staging scenes from collapsing marriages in confident single-take master shots, his widescreen frame enlarging homely and monied interiors alike so that the conjugal entropy at the center of his films seems to stand in for the spiritual malaise of Russia at large. His frequent use of Western classical music and…

Mason’s interpretation of Paddle to the Sea cleverly twists this simple lesson to incorporate modern concerns about water pollution and forest fires, resulting in an ominous narrated statement unique to the short film. The biggest distinction between the two is that Holling’s work, published in the 1940s, doesn’t have the modern insights to address these dangers….

One of the quintessential experiences of Cannes is having the lights go down, then having a director from whom you thought you knew what you were getting make a complete left turn. It happened for me watching Arthur Harari’s “The Unknown.” This is Harari’s first feature in competition as a director. His “Onoda,” a chronicle…