The Hour, created and written by Abi Morgan, is a television drama set in the 1960s about an investigative news programme called ‘The Hour’ and the team behind it. Whilst the first season dealt with the birth of ‘The Hour’ alongside the threat of spies and double agents during the cold war era, the second…
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Review
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first of three parts, adapted from The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein and directed by Peter Jackson who previously brought the ‘Lord of The Rings’ trilogy to our screens ten years ago. The Hobbit is the story of Bilbo Baggins, uncle to Lord of the Rings protagonist Frodo Baggins, and his…
Skyfall Review
James Bond, we all know the name, Ian Fleming’s well-loved character has entertained us in many forms for more than half a century and now, in coordination with the 50th anniversary of the first film, comes Skyfall. After a failed mission to retrieve a hardrive containing the identity of all spys embedded in terrorist organisations…
The 50th Anniversary of Lawrence of Arabia
After the huge commercial and artistic success of ‘ The Bridge on the River Kwai ‘, director David Lean began his extraordinary journey towards making another epic feature film. This time the Brit moved from the Indochina jungle to the Saudi Arabian desert and the Second World War turned into the First World War….
Imagine Review
“A blind person should always walk using a white stick”. This phrase appears several times in the latest film by Andrzej Jakimowski (Tricks) ’Imagine’. Ian (Edward Hogg: Anonymous), a blind English teacher, comes to Lisbon. He wishes to teach visually impaired children and young people. At the clinic, which is located in the building of…
56th BFI London Film Festival: Horses Of God ( Les Chevaux de Dieu) Review
Nabil Ayouch’s ‘Les Chevaux De Dieu’ (Horses of God) was described by The Hollywood Reporter as an ‘intimate portrait of boys growing up in a toxic environment’. Written by Jamal Belmahi, Horses of God is based on a book about the five simultaneous explosions in Casablanca in 2003, and “uses current events — the…
56th BFI London Film Festival: The Hunt Review
Thomas Vinterberg’s (Festen) latest film The Hunt, starring Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale, A Royal Affair), is set in a small community during the period of three months. In this town we see the full extent one lie has in destroying an innocent man’s life. Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen), a nursery teacher who is just getting back…
56th BFI London Film Festival: Zaytoun Review
After directing Lemon Tree and The Syrian Bride, Eran Riklis decided on making another film, setting its action in the Middle East again. Zaytoun is a story of an unlikely road trip and, against all odds, friendship between an Israeli pilot and a Palestinian boy. 1982 Lebanon, as the tension between Israel and Lebanon grows (6 June 1982 Israeli Defense Forces invaded, already…
Untouchable Review
Untouchable, the new French comedy to hit our screens, is a beautiful homage to French cinema. Directed and written by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, the film, which is based on a true story, tells the tale of the unlikely friendship between tetraplegic aristocrat Phillipe and Driss, a young man from the ghetto, who becomes…
56th BFI London Film Festival: West of Memphis Review
West of Memphis is a new documentary from American filmmaker Amy J. Berg and produced by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Damien Echols. The film focuses on three men – Damien Echols (sentenced to death), Jessie Misskelley, Jr. (sentenced to life imprisonment plus two 20- year sentences), and Jason Baldwin (sentenced to life imprisonment) who were wrongly…
