I had a few concerns about Martin McDonagh’s follow up to In Bruges. Both the title and trailer (and poster) suggest one of those soul-deadening black comedies that sprung up in the wake of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction back in the mid-90s. Tarantino’s extraordinary success had a corrosive effect on the US indie scene, spawning dozens of rancid, unfunny movies with guys in suits shooting from the hip and… Read More »
Browsing All Posts By
LFF 2012 Review: Laurence Anyways
No-one shoots beautiful, ‘troubled’ people with great hair (in slow-motion, to electronica) quite like Xavier Dolan. For this and other affectations, the young Quebec auteur inspires devotion and derision in equal measure. Incredibly he’s only 23 years old, yet Laurence Anyways is his third feature and another Cannes prize-winner. The most exciting young filmmaker in the world today? Possibly. A great director? No, not yet, but this is a major… Read More »
Festival round-up: Doha Tribeca Film Festival 2012
Now in its fourth year, the Doha Tribeca Film Festival is both an eight-day international movie event and a celebration of the year-round work of the region’s film institute, which is engaged in an ambitious mission to build a sustainable industry through nurturing local talent. Fortunate enough to attend this year and, having already seen many of the festivals glossier, high-profile US and other world cinema entries, I set about… Read More »
Review: Silver Linings Playbook
Silly, sometimes sappy and with a (seemingly) cavalier attitude towards its central themes of bipolarity and depression (Bradley Cooper’s damaged lead appears to have all but forgotten he actually has an illness in the film’s frothy finale), Silver Linings Playbook is nevertheless easily one of my favourite films of the year. David O’ Russell, channelling Hal Ashby vibes, has delivered another of his unlikely romcoms in the vein of Flirting… Read More »
Review: The Master
Having thrown off the baby Altman-Scorsese tag with the rapturously received There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson returns with another grandiose American epic. Again, strong familial connections (particularly those of surrogate father/son relationships) are evident through its 143 minute running time. But for all the frenzied pre-release chatter concerning scientology, The Master isn’t really about old father Hubbard’s cult collective. Shadow boxing around a lot of potential themes (the birth… Read More »
LFF 2012 Review: Robot and Frank
![636x393-0-0-n2Br5McM-Robot&Frank_Special[1]](http://www.eatsleeplivefilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/636x393-0-0-n2Br5McM-RobotFrank_Special1.jpg "LFF 2012 Review: Robot and Frank")
The cutesy concept of Robot and Frank – a retired jewel thief teams up with a domestic robot who he uses to help him make one last heist – sounds like a pilot episode for an unmade Glen A. Larson TV show circa 1985 but this neat, elegantly played comedy drama is actually a delightful, astute and surprisingly moving comedy. Set in a near-future that looks very much like now… Read More »
LFF 2012 Review: Celeste and Jesse Forever
![Celeste and Jesse Forever1[1]](http://www.eatsleeplivefilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Celeste-and-Jesse-Forever11-e1350380048914.jpeg "LFF 2012 Review: Celeste and Jesse Forever")
The best bit of Celeste and Jesse Forever is the opening credits, a tightly edited series of still images set to Lily Allen’s Littlest Things. It’s sweet, funny and affecting. Unfortunately the actual film is mostly none of these. Rashida Jones is a luminous screen presence and can definitely carry a film but she has written (with Will McCormack) a pretty but superficial, mostly unfunny comedy-drama. In a year where… Read More »
LFF 2012 Review: Beasts Of The Southern Wild
![beasts-of-the-southern-wild-6701[1]](http://www.eatsleeplivefilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/beasts-of-the-southern-wild-67011-e1350379328687.jpg "LFF 2012 Review: Beasts Of The Southern Wild")
If there is an unofficial award for most simultaneously brilliant and annoying film of the year this is the runaway winner. Arriving on a tidal wave of critical love, this highly unusual and idiosyncratic film is probably the most distinctive US indie debut since Harmony Korine’s Gummo (1997). It has flashes of absolute genius and a sensational opening. It’s also unfocused, stagey and powered by a relentless (often brilliant) soundtrack… Read More »
LFF 2012 Review: Rust and Bone
![rustbone[1]](http://www.eatsleeplivefilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/rustbone1.png "LFF 2012 Review: Rust and Bone")
Now six films into what is already an extraordinary career, Jacques Audiard must be recognised as one of the true poets of modern cinema. His is a visceral type of filmmaking that manages to be both cerebral and heartfelt. His films are slaps in the face, punches to the gut and the cinematic equivalent of a kiss so strong and ferocious it bleeds. Rust and Bone cements this reputation further… Read More »
LFF 2012 Review: The Hunt
Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt (Jagten) is his strongest since the breakthrough Dogme feature Festen (1998), and shares some of its unsettling themes. Bolstered by a genuinely outstanding lead performance from Mads Mikkelsen, this is a button-pushing psychological drama that plays out like Miller’s The Crucible shot through the prism of paedophile panic; the kind of which peaked in the feral UK tabloids over two decades ago. With laser-like intensity it highlights the… Read More »
