Christian Frei’s latest documentary explores the redefined frontiers of space from two very perspectives. In the first, we’re shown how wealth can purchase an exalted individual passage into space for the ultimate in fantasy fulfilment. In the second, the impoverished masses scour the broken landscape for space junk, grasping for buckled pieces that rockets have […]
An aimless young woman, Martha (Elisabeth Olsen) falls into the arms of a cult, led by the unassuming, quietly charismatic leader, Patrick (John Hawkes). Though we’re denied the exact context of how this young woman initially strayed into the belly of the beast, Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) is an impressive achievement; a well-honed, slow-burn
Buck Brannaman is the kind of unassuming guy you might consider too bland or benign to warrant a feature length documentary. Initial assumptions couldn’t be more false, for in Cindy Meehl’s warm, endearing portrait of this laid-back character we’re allowed a glimpse beyond the home-spun wisdom and iconic potential to understand what inspired Nicholas Evans’s
Director Phil Grabsky’s latest project has been arduously assembled, spanning a decade in the life of a boy and his troubled country. Afghanistan became a sudden fascination for the British filmmaker and rather than ponder its plight and compelling his landscapes from afar he decided, armed with a camera, to journey into the fray, to
The Dardenne Brothers has produced another remarkable slice of social realism with their latest, The Kid with a Bike (2011). The visual aesthetic so familiar from their past successes like The Promise (1996) and The Child (2005) is present. Hand-held cameras offer a typically gritty perspective on a modest but often devastating story. When we
Opening with ethereal shots of a veil-draped deceased beauty ruminating on life, Nobody Else But You immediately conjures a distinct Lynchian vibe. As it idiosyncratically evolves that impression only strengthens. A crime writer, David Rosseau (Jean-Paul Rouve) returning to the sleepy, snowy French town of Mouthe in search of an inheritance that manifests as a
Based on real events in an American town in 2008, Delphine and Muriel Coulin’s 17 Girls (17 filles) settles its languid gaze on the waywardness of a group of headstrong school friends who engage in a strange pact that will either doom or enlighten them in their final years before adulthood. Camille (Louise Grinberg) is
For the love of anarchy, debauchery and hedonism comes Nima Nourizadeh’s Project X, a video project undertaken by the friends of a nerdish teen upon the occasion of his 17th birthday. When the parents of Thomas (Thomas Mann) vacate the home for the weekend, it’s open slather for his garrulous, obnoxious best friend Costa (Oliver
When a nurse’s aide, Samuel Pierret (Gilles Lellouche) notices a suspicious man departing the bedside of a seriously wounded John Doe (Roschdy Zem), he unwittingly sets in motion a chain of events that will turn his humble life upside down. Emulating a common Hitchcockian scenario of placing an ordinary man in peril to see how
As an actor Peter Mullan has rarely been afraid to delve deeply into primal emotions to qualify his dedication to a role. Paddy Considine’s recent Tyrannosaur was a prime example of this magnificent actor’s talents. Twice before as a director Mullan has proved himself unequally unafraid to tackle uncompromising subject matter, especially with his indictment
