You’re not a true film fan until you have endured The Room. The ‘Citizen Kane of bad movies’, directed, produced, written by and starring Tommy Wiseau, The Room has gained infamy among cult movie enthusiasts since its 2003 release, steadily growing in feverish popularity and playing continuously to sold-out screenings across the world. Its achieved
Félicité is many things. On the one hand, it’s a story about female power. On the other, it’s a love story, although not overtly so. You could also go and watch this film and enjoy it solely for the musical performances, which are exquisite. Félicité has a transcendent quality, the kind of film that resists easy
Who hasn’t been looking forward to watching the next production from Sean Baker after the demented brilliance of 2015’s Tangerine? The film that was shot entirely on an iPhone and was completely frenzied and weird but also jam-packed with sweetness and humanity? It was one of those ‘breath of fresh air’ viewings, so bold and
When it comes to wrapping your head around the enigma that is David Lynch, and the artefacts spawned by his creative output, the less you try to apply logic, the better. Lynch himself is renowned for his refusal to ‘explain’ his work, and is (like any great artist) content to let the film/painting/song/photograph speak for
Good things come to those who wait. And quite often, good ideas are made better by being left alone, so that they can evolve and expand and eventually bubble their way to the surface when the time is right. For proof of this look to Baby Driver; an idea that has been festering away in
In the hands of anyone other than director Mike Nichols, The Graduate would have flopped. At first glance, its premise is relatively unremarkable – a college graduate escapes his feelings of boredom and alienation by having an affair with an older woman. It was Nichols (and producer Lawrence Turman, who purchased the book rights for
The ‘man shipwrecked on a desert island’ scenario has been explored in manifold forms across film, TV and literature, and continues to fascinate human beings because it is a situation that we can easily picture ourselves in. Empathy for the stranded man is induced before we even learn his name, or find out anything about
Let’s start with the base. In a large bowl combine the plots of Galaxy Quest and the ‘Single Female Lawyer’ episode of Futurama. Then, add to this a concentrated mix of two parts Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and one part The Mighty Boosh, and finally, stir in a couple of undiluted lashings of Alan Partridge and
From the way The Handmaiden has been marketed and written about following its 2016 release, and the amount of times I have noted the words ‘erotic’ and ‘thriller’ bandied around within the opening paragraphs of synopses and reviews of the film, I went into this screening expecting a 50 Shades of Grey-meets-Basic Instinct kind of
“Not everything that is faced can be changed…but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Running through the veins of Raoul Peck’s documentary-essay is this vital and impassioned message, written by the American novelist James Baldwin in the pages of an unfinished manuscript entitled Remember This House, on which this film is based. The
