This is another film free to subscribers of the BFI. The film is important in its own right, but also for the scandal that accompanied it – Ingrid Bergman had written to the director Roberto Rosellini as an admirer of his work, wishing to appear in a film. Their scandalous affair produced the actress Isabella … Continue reading
This film by Joanna Hogg features a very young Tom Hiddleston, probably the first of several they have done together. It’s an unusual take on relationships – 2 families are on summer holiday in Tuscany, when a 40something friend of the mother arrives. There is a lot of drinking, and the friend choses to hang … Continue reading
This is a film by critic Mark Cousins described as a love story about Neneh Cherry’s home city. I am not a fan of Cousins: his ponderous narration of his film on his film on children’s cinema was painful. This film comes free with subscriptions to BFI player, but most people have better uses of … Continue reading
This is the second time Liam Neeson has played a 17th century Jesuit priest, but this is a far cry from his role in The Mission. The film opens with him watching his fellows being tortured for refusing to recant their faith. Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield were his students, inspired to follow him to … Continue reading
This is the third Andrea Arnold directed film I’ve watched, so I think that’s the whole of her output, and this is another intriguing story of a young woman at odds with the world. Mia lives on a council estate in Essex. Her single mum has a boyfriend, an early appearance of Michael Fassbender. The … Continue reading
The opening scene is huge set piece, an explosion of song and dance by a load of young people stuck in a traffic jam on an elevated road in LA. It’s bold, sassy and brilliantly done. Emma Stone is reading her lines and Ryan Gosling is being ridiculously cool listening to jazz. The traffic clears … Continue reading
This is a hard film to review and it’s taken me some time to figure out how to write this. It was nominated for loads of awards and Casey Affleck received best actor at the Oscars, Golden Globes and Baftas. The screenplay was also highly praised, yet it was not an obvious prize winner; yet … Continue reading
I was a huge fan of Jim Jarmusch when he first started out. Down By Law is still one of my favourites, but have been less impressed with his more recent work. Adam Driver stars as a bus driver whose name is the same as the town where he lives, which is almost the most … Continue reading
This film follows 13 year old Aishoplan as she becomes the first female eagle hunter in Kazakh history. We see her with her family, helping with the family farm work, and staying in town where she and her siblings are at school through the week. She comes from a long line of eagle hunters, but … Continue reading
This film starts deceptively slowly. Sasha Lane’s Star is a young woman with 2 young kids hunting through rubbish for free food seems to set the story for a tale of modern poverty, a single mum fallen through the welfare net. But she spots a van load of rowdy young men, and is invited by … Continue reading
