The Disaster Artist Review

Los Angeles is a multi-layered city. It is the cradle and the capital of the American cinema, and thus the birthplace of the world’s greatest stars, but also… a place where many delusional ‘artists’ try their luck. When Tommy Wiseau, a mysterious man, in 1998 befriended Greg Sestero in an acting class in San Francisco,…

The 12th London Korean Film Festival: The Outlaws Review

Gangster themes have been featured in South Korean cinema since the 1970’s, but they only became popular in the early 1990’s. Various productions ‘promoted’ the image of an ‘honourable’ mobster; however, in the past decade or so, films took on a more vicious approach to the subject matter; they became more brutal, with homicides and…

The 74th Venice International Film Festival: Strange Colours Review

Born in Russia and based in Australia, Alena Lodkina has started her filmmaking odyssey by directing documentaries and short productions which were screened at festivals around the globe, including at Melbourne International Film Festival, Antenna Documentary Festival and Belo Horizonte International Short Film Festival. Her feature debut project Strange Colours, alongside with Mazen Khaled’s Martyr, premiered in Biennale…

Dunkirk Review

The topic of the Second World War has been depicted mainly in two ways so far, which can be represented by Steven Spielberg’s exactness and the poetic parlance of Terrence Malick; other films flicker in between these two directors’ styles. Christopher Nolan, meanwhile, with his new production – Dunkirk – took a different approach to the…

Wonder Woman Review

When it comes to feminism and the power of the female, the world of superheroes is much too starved for comfort, especially so when it comes to the film renditions of the popular comic book material. But in 1941, William Moulton Marston introduced a completely different character to the budding world of comics – Wonder…

Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant

The Alien saga is among the most engaging and well-remembered films of horror genre, largely because every feature, at least until recently, has been in the hands of various directors. There were several hits and misses, but it was the work of Ridley Scott that began the career of the entire film series. How did Alien: Covenant,…

A Hundred Streets Review

In 1777, an English writer Samuel Johnson wrote: “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” And surely he was right. The UK’s capital has always been full of life as well as diverse in every aspect of its existence. Jim O’Hanlon set his debut feature – A Hundred Streets – against London’s…

The 21st Busan International Film Festival: The Age of Shadows

Kim Jee-woon is a natural-born filmmaker who, with his alluring script-writing, has never been afraid to tackle a new film genre. With eight feature films and six shorts under his belt, he has already gone down in film history as one of the most influential Korean directors. Kim Jee-woon had no formal training in filmmaking; he…

If I Could Tell You (Short Film) Review

According to WHO, infertility is a global public heath issue and affects a significant proportion of people. However, the innovation of IVF has brought hope to those who struggle to conceive; some are lucky, while some are sadly forced to give up as the treatment doesn’t work. To those affected, infertility might be seen as…

The 10th London Korean Film Festival: In Conversation with Jang Kun- jae

South Korean filmmaker Jang Kun- jae is one of the emerging filmmakers in Korea, who is known for his naturalistic films such as Eighteen (2010), Sleepless Night (2013) and A Midsummer Fantasia (2015). Kun- jae is a handy man when it comes to filmmaking; he edits, produces and directs his own films. His debut feature Eighteen…