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A Prophet: The shining star of a dying constellation
25th January | 0 comments | 3 people like this
Dir: Jacques Audiard Cast: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif
Jacques Audiard is perhaps the only filmmaker working today whose cannon of films can be uttered in the same breath as those of Melville and Chabrol. Like those giants of the Nouvelle Vague, Audiard is a master of the thriller/ crime genre and has spent the best part of his career unpicking its tightly knit conventions and tropes to create some... -
The Father of my Children: A languid and stunning film about the cinema
21st January | 0 comments | 0 votes yet, click here to agree or disagree
Dir: Mia Hansen-Løve Cast: Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Chiara Caselli, Alice de Lencquesaing, Eric Elmosnino
Hansen-Løve was inspired to create The Father of My Children following the tragic suicide of Humbert Balsan in 2005. Balsan was a prolific producer and one of the most respected figures in French cinema, and his suicide sent shock waves through the industry, but the fact that one of those waves resulted in this beautiful and touching... -
Saadiyat Island: a shimmering vision of the future
8th January | 1 comments | 2 people like this
On January 1st - with an insufferable hangover and a throat-clenching realisation that another year was sitting before me, just waiting to be got through - I headed for Abu Dhabi to revitalise my weary skin and rekindle my passion for the Arabic world.
Abu Dhabi is not currently the most inspiring of destinations, and when I wasn't eating or reading I was searching for some crumbling remnants of pre-oil Arabian... -
The Top Ten ‘Top Ten of the Decade Lists’ of the Decade… List
18th December 2009 | 3 comments | 2 people like this
There are two things that upset me about the ‘09’ year of each decade. Firstly, I am confused by the global conviction that this constitutes the end of a decade. As far as I am concerned, a decade begins in year ‘1’, not year ‘0’. Of course, either option is equally viable; but surely this impenetrable ambiguity should completely remove the need to celebrate the death of one decade and... -
Where The Wild Things Are: a testament to the power of childhood
9th December 2009 | 0 comments | 4 people like this
Dir: Spike Jonze Cast: Max Records, Catherine Keener, James Gandolfini, Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, Paul Dano, Forest Whitaker
Maurice Sendak’s 1965 children’s classic ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ is one of those primal, infallible texts that have been around for long enough to inform the world-view of parents and children alike. Like Lewis Carroll’s poems and Aesop’s fables, it is a brutally simple tale reminding us of the Dionysian chaos and... -
Who’s got short shorts? I’ve got short shorts
4th December 2009 | 0 comments | 2 people like this
Disclaimer: please forgive my deplorable, albeit thoroughly intended, misquotation from The Royal Teens seminal 1958 release, 'Short Shorts'.
A while back I promised you another special selection from the mystical and capricious world of short films. I'm quite sure you have all been logging in every evening, with twitching fingers, in the hope that I have finally provided another volume of filmic vignettes and music videos; and crashing backwards with a... -
Up In The Air: the American Comedy of the Year?
3rd December 2009 | 1 comments | 2 people like this
Dir: Jason Reitman Cast: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman
Ryan Bingham (Clooney) is a suave and sophisticated nomad. He lives 10,000 feet ‘up in the air’ and he is as uncomfortable on the ground, staying in one place, as most other people are during take-off. Ryan’s job (he fires people for a living) means that he is travels for around 362 days every year. He has a lavish... -
A Single Man: An extraordinary debut feature
23rd November 2009 | 1 comments | 1 person likes this
Dir: Tom Ford Cast: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode
Los Angeles, 1962. George (Firth)– a gay English university professor living in Santa Monica – has just been informed that his lover of 16 years, Jim (Goode), has been killed in a car accident. George is not allowed to attend the funeral because Jim’s family disapproves of their “abominable” relationship. What follows is a fascinating and melancholy character study of a... -
London Film Festival Closing Gala: Nowhere Boy
6th November 2009 | 0 comments | 1 person likes this
Dir: Sam Taylor Wood Cast: Aaron Johnson, Kristen Scott Thomas, Anne Marie Duff, David Morrisey, David Threlfall, Thomas Brodie Sangster
It must be said that British cinema did not promote itself especially well at this year’s London Film Festival. ‘Don’t Worry About Me’ and ‘Kicks’ failed to make any positive mark on the critics and audiences that turned out to see them; and while ’44 Inch Chest’ and ‘The Disappearance of... -
A Christmas Carol: 3D motion-capture has arrived in time for Christmas
5th November 2009 | 1 comments | 2 people like this
Dir: Robert Zemeckis Cast: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins
Last night saw the breaking of a few festive world records in a decidedly Dickensian Leicester Square. Firstly, opera singer Andrea Bocelli lead the largest Christmas Carol ‘sing-along’ from the Square, as revellers across London joined in after the official ‘turning on’ of the Christmas lights. Then Disney, in collaboration with Sky Movies HD, hosted the largest ever ‘3D...
CONTRIBUTOR
Nicholas Deigman
Nicholas graduated in 2008 after three carefree years reading Film Studies. He has since been eking out a living as a script reader, runner, and intern around various production companies and film magazines in London. He will be tapping into the film industry that he has attached himself to like an aphid in order to bring you up-to-date news on interesting film projects.
