When WWII ended, Poland was thrown into another brutal fight, this time not against Nazis, but against communism, which took over the country from 1947 until 1989. While the 1950s, 60s, and 70s were unsettling, it was the 1980s that many consider to be the most significant time in the lives of Poles. Martial Law…
Category: BFI London Film Festival
Nomadland Review
Nomadland is a curious beast; a sobering look at the ramifications of an ageing, expanding workforce in the gig economy following the 2008 recession, critical of the corporations who have forced people into this position, while also feeling at first glance like it’s pulling some of its punches. At least, that’s how this writer interpreted…
I am Samuel Review
The criminalisation of same-sex relationships in Africa is commonplace. In 2013, 38 African countries made homosexuality a crime under the law. Opposition to people of different sexual orientation has become more and more visible, with Kenya being one of those countries where homosexuality is criminalised and socially unacceptable; if convicted, a person could face up…
64th BFI London Film Festival: ‘Relic’ Review
When Kay (Emily Mortimer), along with her daughter Sam (Bella Heathcote), visits her mother Edna (Robyn Nevin), a wave of bizarre incidents begins to occur. Upon arrival in Edna’s house, the woman is nowhere to be seen and she is reported as a missing person. Three days later, Edna comes home, dirty, disoriented, without shoes…
64th BFI London Film Festival: ‘The Painter and the Thief’ Review
We’re first introduced to Karl-Bertil, the thief of this story, through grainy CCTV footage. The painter, Barbora, watches the footage in shock as she watches him and another unnamed accomplice steal two of her oil paintings from a gallery. Confused as to why anyone would be interested in stealing two paintings from an artist unknown…
64th BFI London Film Festival: ‘Shirley’ Review
Not to be confused with a faithful statement of reality, Josephine Decker’s Shirley is based on the semi-biographical novel of the same title by Susan Scarf Merrell. Blending fact and fiction, Shirley draws from the real-life accounts of famed American Gothic writer, Shirley Jackson (Elisabeth Moss) writing her sophomore novel Hangsaman in the early fifties…
64th BFI London Film Festival – ‘Supernova’ Review
The term ‘supernova’ is used to describe the powerful and monumental explosion that occurs at the end of a star’s life cycle; accompanying a supernova is often a large and shrouding black hole encapsulating everything in its perimeter. In more earthly terms, Harry Macqueen uses the phrase in his latest venture Supernova to liken the…
63rd BFI London Film Festival: Wet Season Review
Ling (Yeo Yann Yann) is a Malaysian woman working as a Chinese school teacher in Singapore. Almost reaching 40, Ling and her husband Andrew (Christopher Lee) have been trying for a child for the past eight years without success. Their marriage is frayed to say the least. Desperate for a child, Ling sits in her…
63rd BFI London Film Festival: Moffie Review
Tucked up in their dorm beds, sandwiched between lumpy mattresses and itchy blankets, South African soldiers are swapping stories. One of them starts to tell the story of two soldiers found kissing in a bathroom stall – ‘Moffies’ they’re derogatorily named. After being caught the pair are dragged out and thrown in front of their…
In Conversation with Steven Yeun of ‘Burning’
Steven Yeun greets me with a big smile and a warm handshake as we meet at the Mayfair hotel in London on a cold October morning. We sit down and chat about what it means to be a Korean-American, his latest production Burning, and working with Lee Chang-dong. Born in Seoul, South Korea and raised…
VIEW OF THE ARTS 