Cinema
A fight to the Finnish
When I went into the Sisu screening I knew only that it was a Finnish film, so was expecting an…
Girl’s world
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is an adaptation of Judy Blume’s seminal young adult novel (1970) about an…
The end is in sight
Plan 75 is a dystopian Japanese drama about a government-sponsored euthanasia programme introduced to address Japan’s ageing society. Aged 75…
To be a pilgrim
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is an excellent adaptation of Rachel Joyce’s bestselling novel (2012) about a retired old…
Second worst person in the world
Sick of Myself is a satire from Norway that skewers the ‘look at me, look at me’ generation addicted to…
A grievous and murderous hatred
I first discovered writer Patricia Highsmith (Strangers on a Train, Carol, the five Ripley novels) as a young teenager working…
From the sublime to the ridiculous
Godland is a film to see on the big screen: not just for its awesome, immersive cinematography, but because it…
Mummy’s curse
There are some films that you know will be quality simply by the actors who have agreed to be in…
Domino effect
The Beasts is a rural psychological thriller from Spain that has won many awards across Europe and even though we…
Alan key
Allelujah, based on the stage play by Alan Bennett, is set in a geriatric ward in a Yorkshire hospital and…
I’ll never trust the Spanish again
Champions is an underdog sports movie starring Woody Harrelson as a baseball coach forced to take on a team with…
The boys of summer
The Belgian film Close, written and directed by Lukas Dhont, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes and is up…
Man and boy
For my money – and lots of other people’s – Florian Zeller’s 2020 film The Father was pretty much a…
Eight angry women
Women Talking, which has received Oscar nominations for best picture and adapted screenplay, is one of those films that, on…
Weight watchers
I can’t work out if Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, which stars Brendan Fraser as a man weighing 600lb – that’s…
Cheesy feat
There can’t be anyone anywhere who hasn’t somehow been touched by a Steven Spielberg film. Some of us, for example,…
The power and the glory
Todd Field’s Tár stars an insanely glorious Cate Blanchett – if she doesn’t win an Oscar I’ll eat my hat…
Write and wrong
Sam Mendes’s Empire of Light, which he wrote as well as directed, is billed as a ‘love letter to cinema’…
The lady vanishes
Corsage is a biopic of Empress Elisabeth of Austria who was prized for her beauty and fashion sense and may…
Back to the future
These days, everyone who was knocking around a few decades ago predicted the internet. Marshall McLuhan famously predicted the internet…
Love me tender
If you’re of my generation, I expect your first encounter with D.H Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover was the (well-thumbed) book…
Measured in love
If you’re planning on seeing The Last Flight Home at the cinema, don’t make any plans for afterwards as you’ll…
Dine with the Devil
The Menu is a comedy-horror-thriller set in an exclusive restaurant on a private island and it gives the rich a…
Hide and seek
Jafar Panahi’s No Bears is, first and foremost, a wonderful film. More than this, you don’t need to know but…
A matter of life and death
Living is a remake of one of the great existential masterpieces of the 20th century, Kurosawa’s Ikiru (1952), which didn’t…
