Category: Films
Sessue Hayakawa: cinema’s forgotten sex symbol who was saved from death by his dog
This month, the Cinema Rediscovered festival in Bristol will screen a rarely seen film from 1919 that offers a glimpse of the early career of [more…]
Turn on, tune in … fathom humanity: Pulitzer-winning playwright Annie Baker on her hippy film debut
In the back of Annie Baker’s office at home in New York, a spectral presence is just visible in silhouette against the window. It turns [more…]
Forrest Gump review – Tom Hanks’ chocolate box hero still gets under your skin
Robert Zemeckis’s comedy drama is rereleased for its 30th anniversary, starring Tom Hanks as its savant-patriot hero goof from the fictional town of Greenbow, Alabama. [more…]
Skywalkers: A Love Story review – ‘rooftopping’ couple chase thrills in Netflix documentary
Love is quite literally in the air for Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus. They’re the daredevil Russian couple who make a living “rooftopping”, as in [more…]
Chuck Chuck Baby review – emotionally charged musical drama rules the roost
There is a terrific warmth and emotional generosity to this romantic comedy-drama from the Welsh film-maker Janis Pugh, and if the storytelling in the end [more…]
Janet Planet review – mother-daughter relationship unfolds in dreamy summer haze
The dramatist Annie Baker won a Pulitzer for her stage play The Flick, about listless, bored ushers in an empty cinema auditorium between screenings; now [more…]
Waterloo Sunset review – inside an oasis of affordable living
Tourists drifting out of London’s Tate Modern sometimes find themselves peering through the gates of nearby Hopton’s Almshouses, a collection of 20 pretty cottages built [more…]
Thelma review – June Squibb is marvellous in sweet mobility scooter revenge caper
At 94, June Squibb gives a marvellous performance in this sentimental comedy from writer-director Josh Margolin, inspired by his own grandmother, a video of whom [more…]
Crossing review – search for estranged trans niece becomes emotional Istanbul journey
The title wears its wan and melancholy significance a little heavily, and the trompe l’oeil ending is rather mannered, with the kind of flourish that [more…]
June Squibb on getting her first starring role at 94: ‘I don’t have to prove myself any more’
Park up the rig, Furiosa; ditch the rubber suit, Deadpool: there’s a new action hero in town. In Josh Margolin’s wildly entertaining Thelma, an elderly [more…]
