In fact as in fiction, when bad things happen to women, unfortunately many reactions disproportionately focus on the actions or choices made by the victim. Alex Garland’s Men refreshingly and definitively pushes that focus back onto the perpetrators and enablers of violence and intimidation.
Director: Joe Kosinski Starring: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connolly, Glen Powell Running Time: 121 minutes The original Top Gun is the kind of capital-A Action Movie that ruled the 80s and early 90s, a kind of visual hair metal and a perfect fit both for its director Tony Scott and for star…
Director: Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert Starring: Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quen, Stephanie Hsu, Jamie Lee Curtis, James Hong Running Time: 139 minutes Who knows what possibilities the multiverse holds? Expand the imagination beyond fan-casting cameos for a moment, and consider the many paths not taken, the decisions that you’ve agonised over, the hindsight that…
Director: Colm Bairéad Starring: Catherine Clinch, Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett Running Time: 95 minutes In an Irish film industry that is marching ever further forwards it can be easy to scoff at stories that look back to the past. Our touchy subject tetchiness to the ‘diddly idle’ at times causes a wariness in exploring our…
Director: Paul Verhoeven Starring: Virginie Elfira, Charlotte Rampling, Daphne Patakia Running Time: 132 minutes “Lesbian nuns!” “A wooden Virgin Mary sex toy!” The press packet for Benedetta speaks loudly for itself, an eye-catching and/or hand wringing series of headlines from festival first impressions all the way to Liveline. It might seem like one of those…
Director: Christopher Makoto Yogi Starring: Steve Iwamoto, Constance Wu Runtime: 100 mins Having premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, I Was a Simple Man follows the slow and impending demise of an elderly Japanese American man living in Hawaii and pieces together the parts of his life that have made him who he is.…
Jess is away so the boys play in the latest of our increasingly loopy recaps of the films we’ve watched recently. Néil gives his thoughts on Ti West’s X, Ethan goes over Escape from Mogadishu and Luke takes a look at The Worst Person in the World. Commando is recommended! Pierce Brosnan is celebrated! Some…
Director: Yu Chieh Cheng Starring: Mo Tzu Yi, Chen Shu Fang, Run Yin Bai Runtime: 106mins Taiwanese director Yu Chieh Cheng is a near veteran when it comes to issues surrounding identity. 2009 saw the release of Yang Yang, a film that probed the complicated journey of a French-Taiwanese woman and how this shaped her…
Director: Kavich Neang Starring: Piseth Chhun, Hout Sithourn, Jany Min Runtime: 130 mins For filmmaker Kavich Neang, White Building is deeply personal. Already in his youthful but promising career, he has cut his directorial teeth by chronicling the painful destruction of the apartment block where he and his peers were raised. In 2019, he documented…
Director: Joachim Trier Starring: Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert Nordrum Running Time: 128 minutes In a central scene of Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, our heroine Julie runs through streets frozen in time, leaving the boyfriend with whom she has no real future to pursue Eivand, the fun free-spirit who she’s…
