Tag Archives: 4.5/5
The Road (2009): “There were warnings.”
Based on the amazing book by Cormac McCarthy, The Road (2009, dir. John Hillcoat) is a post-apocalyptic drama that follows a man (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) as they attempt to survive after a mysterious cataclysmic event that has killed most plant and animal life. The man and his son are travelling south […]
The Spectacular Now (2013): “The best thing about now, is that there’s another one tomorrow.”
A surprisingly poignant and affecting teenage drama, The Spectacular Now (2013 dir. James Ponsoldt) captures the trials and tribulations of two young lovers who are the same age but at completely different stages in their lives. A synopsis: Sutter Keely lives in the now. It’s a good place for him. A high school senior, charming […]
Two Short Films: This Is It (2014); Odile et Michel (2014).
Recently I had the chance to watch two short films that both played on their use of language in different ways, and thought I might group them together for a post. There’s nothing better than a short film that is entirely surprising in the way it handles its communication of story and ideas, and these […]
Blindspot 2015: Survive Style 5+ (2004)
A strangely surreal, yet somewhat coherent film, Survive Style 5+ (2004, dir. Gen Sekiguchi) is relentlessly watchable as well as being completely ridiculous. Its synopsis is as follows: The film follows five simultaneous, loosely linked plot lines, that intertwine and scramble together. A man (Tadanobu Asano) keeps killing his wife (Reika Hashimoto) and burying her […]
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008): “I set off on a quest to bring a man back to life.”
If you are considering watching Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008, dir. Kurt Kuenne), then prepare for one of the most emotionally destroying films of recent times. Dear Zachary chronicles the true story of director Kurt Kuenne’s best friend Andrew Bagby, who was murdered. Kuenne makes the decision to memorialise […]
Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes (2008): “The closer you get to an enigma, the more explicable it becomes.”
A quirky and interesting short documentary, Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes (2008) is directed and hosted by famed journalist Jon Ronson. A synopsis: A few years after his death, the widow of Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) asks Jon Ronson to look through the contents of about 1,000 boxes of meticulously sorted materials Kubrick left. Ronson finds that most […]
Genre Grandeur: Solaris (1972)
The theme for September’s Genre Grandeur over at MovieRob was space – a theme that has the potential to be fun, exciting and adventurous, but also isolating, poignant and filled to the brim with existential themes. I chose to watch Solaris (1972), a Tarkovsky classic. Check out the rest of the films for September’s Genre […]
Ida (2013): “Who are you?”
Ida (2013, dir. Paweł Pawlikowski) is a truly great film – quietly brilliant, visually stunning, and emotionally powerful. It tells the story of Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska) a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland, who, before taking her vows to become a fully initiated nun, discovers a disturbing family secret recalling the horrors of the Nazi […]
The 1984-A-Thon: The Times of Harvey Milk
Directed by Rob Epstein, and winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1984, The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) tells the story of a man who has become a symbol and an inspiration in the fight for the human rights of marginalised groups, after his untimely death at the hands of a […]
Three Short Films: Circles (2014); Roma (2014); Skin (2014).
I’m back on my short film game y’all! Here are three shorts I watched recently via Dazed Digital. I’ve really been loving the short films section on Dazed because there’s always something interesting and new to watch and learn about. Today I watched one short film about a boy with a lot of thoughts, another […]
FILM GRIMOIRE 