This year marks 100 years since the end of – ahem – the War To End All Wars. It’s estimated 10 million military personnel died during World War 1, which ran from 1914-1918. My grandad Bill was injured by shrapnel during the Battle of the Somme on the Western Front, and eventually they had to… They Shall Not Grow Old (London Film Festival) Read More
The Favourite (London Film Festival) 4.5 stars
You had to make your own fun in 18th century England, and if you were rich this might involve taking a pet duck for a walk, throwing fruit at a naked man in a long pink wig, or being the naked man in the long pink wig (who seems to be delighted with his involvement)…. The Favourite (London Film Festival) Read More
The Front Runner (London Film Festival) 4 stars
“Six points, four if it’s windy”. That’s the opinion poll boost the Democrats jokingly expect from the hair of handsome democratic would-be presidential candidate Gary Hart. It is a marvel, thick and brown, and considerably wider than his head, the odd strand tipped with silver. It shouldn’t matter but it does, and Jason Reitman’s film… The Front Runner (London Film Festival) Read More
Suspiria (2018) (London Film Festival) 3.5 stars
*** Read my review of the 1977 Suspiria *** Suspiria is a feminist film, if you use the 1970s definition that it’s a movement dedicated to the liberation of women – a dance academy, run entirely by women (the often ignored older women, to boot), with only female students, its roots going back to prehistory. Though… Suspiria (2018) (London Film Festival) Read More
Colette (London Film Festival) 3.5 stars
I am the real Claudine, the young women of Paris all cry, as Colette’s series of novels about a young French woman hit a nerve. Born Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (she shortens her name later as she starts to create a new identity for herself as the author of her books), she is a woman ahead of… Colette (London Film Festival) Read More
Border (London Film Festival) 4 stars
Border is a grown-up fairytale and a love story, and while it’s certainly not for children it has that mix of light and the darkness that traditional fairy tales used to have, making them both beautiful and unnerving. Myths and legends – those stories we really want to be true – entwine with an age-old… Border (London Film Festival) Read More
Mandy (London Film Festival) 4 stars
“Weird shit” says Caruthers, who lives in an isolated forest caravan, of the activities of a terrifying near-demonic biker gang that his friend Red is planning to track down and kill. It’s a good description of both the gang and gleefully bloodthirsty action-horror Mandy, though it doesn’t go far enough. To be honest I had no… Mandy (London Film Festival) Read More
The Guilty (London Film Festival) 4.5 stars
*** Check out my interview Jakob Cedergren, star of The Guilty *** “I have blood on my hands” says a character in the taut and dread-filled Danish thriller The Guilty over the phone, and it’s a chilling moment. We don’t see any of the fear or horrors that unfold in the movie, as all the dialogue –… The Guilty (London Film Festival) Read More
Assassination Nation (London Film Festival) 3.5 stars
Assassination Nation – a noisy, bloody allegory for modern society – may feel like being whacked over the head by a righteously raging My Little Pony, but it’s also hugely entertaining. One of the problems with fighting back against a resurgence like Trump’s is that eventually people just get bored. They know he’s awful already. You… Assassination Nation (London Film Festival) Read More