Settled amongst soothing music, plastic vegetation, and steamed dumplings in the corner of a dated Chinese restaurant sits 50-year-old Steve (played by Steve Rodgers). He’s just quit his 9 to 5 to pursue his life-long dream of being a punk-rock drummer and is waiting to spill the joyous news with his rockstar son, Jobe (James…
Category: Film
What Walaa Wants Review
‘Be careful what you wish for’ is the ominous phrase told to children all over the world when they are desperately grasping for something they don’t quite understand. In this case, young Walaa Khaled Fawzy Tanji wants nothing more than to gain a firm grasp of power in a world she has absolutely no authority…
Netflix’s Kingdom Review
Where does the fascination with the undead come from? Is it the love of horror, the repellent zombies’ behaviour or the taste of adrenaline-filled adventure? Hard to say, as the zombie-loving audience varies as much as the character of zombies themselves. Zombies have been present in cinema for quite some time, but they only found…
69th Berlin Film Festival: Hellhole Review
Hellhole, Bas Devos’ second feature, is a draining and frank look at the trauma inflicted upon Brussels residents following the March 2016 bombings. It delivers an episodic and fragmented depiction of a hollow, sceptical and disconnected city – filled with individuals struggling in their own way with grief and isolation. Hellhole follows the story of…
69th Berlin Film Festival: In Conversation with Matija Strniša, a Film Music Composer
The competitive Generation 14plus section of this year’s Berlinale featured international gems with a focus on young adult themes, and the Grand Prix Award for Best Film was awarded to Kim Bora‘s House of Hummingbird, which finally got its European premiere after wowing the audience with its world premiere at the 2018 Busan International Film…
69th Berlin Film Festival: Vice Review
Adam McKay, with great stubbornness, taste and exceptional layers of humour, has been known to show the bright and dark sides of the USA through his filmmaking. Although he has many films under his belt, it was his 2015 feature The Big Short about the 2008 US financial crisis that got everyone talking; McKay superbly…
69th Berlin Film Festival: A Colony Review
‘If you were in the wild, you’d be eaten!’ is a line spat at pre-teen Mylia by her younger sister, Camille, referring to Mylia’s meek and unopinionated existence. Geneviève Dulude-De Celles’ latest piece A Colony is a thoughtful and perceptive look into teenage anxiety and how, in high school, invisibility and diffidence can be a…
Green Book Review
Peter Farrelly has been known best for making ridiculous comedies, such as Dumb and Dumber – and its sequel – and There’s Something About Mary. Howbeit, with his latest work Green Book, the filmmaker skillfully showed a completely different narrative. Inspired by real events and set against the background of the 1960’s USA, Green Book tells the…
Velvet Buzzsaw Review
Netflix’s latest release Velvet Buzzsaw is a half-hearted and muddled swing at the art world, proposing to critique the tricky relationship of art and money with the likes of satire and horror. Instead, we find a vague, sparse, and mild-mannered take on contemporary art, either too polite to pack a full punch or too farcical…
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 