Recently, filmmakers have been attracted to making disaster films more than ever. Whether they show that we would be swallowed by a tsunami, a whirlwind or fires, blown away by a comet, burnt by an erupting volcano or perished by inhaling poisonous gases, the productions have become bold, filled with endless CGI, harrowing action, but…
Category: Film
22nd Udine Far East Film Festival: Dance with Me Review
Shizuka Suzuki (Ayaka Miyoshi) hates musicals, or at least that’s what she claims after a traumatic incident from her childhood leads her to despise the stage. So, when she decides to take her niece to visit a fair in the park and magician Machin Ueda (Akira Takarada) hypnotises her into turning all life situations into…
22nd Udine Far East Film Festival: Exit Review
Up amongst Seoul’s rollercoaster of a skyline, Yong-nam (Jo Jung-suk) and Eui-Ju (Lim Yoona) are hurdling from building to building desperately trying to outrun and outsmart the toxic fog slowly following them across the city. Opening up this year’s London East Asia Film Festival, Lee Sang-geun’s feature debut Exit is a joyful, lively but somewhat…
22nd Udine Far East Film Festival: Vertigo Review
Life can often throw you curveballs, but a person can only endure so much while also trying to reach deeper into oneself to find what gives them a reason to live. Vertigo, written and directed by Jeon Gye-soo, depicts one of these emotional and complex life stories. Seo-young (Chun Woo-hee: The Wailing, Han Gong-ju) struggles with her existence;…
We Are One: A Global Film Festival – Wake Up: Stories from the Frontlines of Suicide Prevention Review
In America, there is one death by suicide every 12 minutes – equating to over 44,965 deaths a year. For every successful suicide attempt, there are 24 failed ones. In an effort to gain a better comprehension of the causes of suicide, Wake Up: Stories from the Frontlines of Suicide Prevention poses a question as…
A Syrian Woman: Human Stories from Jordan Review
When Syria plunged into a civil war in 2011, no one could have predicted that the conflict between its own people would turn into a multi-sided battle, in which mostly civilians had suffered. Brutal slaughter, acts of terror, political and social consequences of military operations led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis: almost half a million…
Finky Review
Flooded in neon lights and paired with a booming, brash synthwave-inspired soundtrack – Finky is an atmospheric, drug-fuelled, cynical hurricane. Inspired to infuse Finky with as much colour, absurdity and oddity as possible, director Dathaí Keane strives to mix fantasy and trauma with Cirque du Soleil aesthetics. Filled with notions of pirates, puppets, and carnivals…
Time to Hunt Review
South Korean cinema is well-known for its perturbing thrillers such as Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, I Saw the Devil, Memories of Murder as well as the latest hit, Parasite. Although those films broke into the mainstream film market, South Korean productions are still not ‘in fashion’ like French, Scandinavian or American cinema. However, with the new…
Off the Rails: ‘Snowpiercer’ and the Best Train-Round Action Movies
Fast-moving trains have been supplying cinematic shocks to audiences since the earliest days of film. Legend has it in 1896 when the Lumiere brothers first screened 50-seconds of a train approaching a station to show off their miraculous new invention, the assembled patrons panicked and fled, believing the train was hurtling towards them! We may…
Hanxiong Bo’s Drifting Review
Since the late ‘70s, China has implemented a strict policy enforcing that each family is only allowed to have one child in order to control China’s growing population. Although this policy was reformed in 2016, the controversial ‘one-child’ policy has had devastating and traumatic effects on families for generations. Growing up during the height of…
VIEW OF THE ARTS 