Falling in love with someone unexpectedly can already be quite a challenge, and it only becomes more excruciatingly difficult when the person who grows into the object of your affections proves to have manufactured the entire situation as part of some scheme to bamboozle and bewilder. This is the core narrative foundation of Magic in…
I’ll Do Anything (1994)
By the time it reached the mid-1990s, James L. Brooks was in a good place in Hollywood – he had directed some of the most notable films of the 1980s in the form of Terms of Endearment and Broadcast News, had radical successes with shows such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Simpsons…
The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)
There are few storylines as cliched as that of making a deal with the devil – from the earliest examples in the infancy of the Medieval era to the present day, we often find stories centering around a character abandoning all logic and choosing to make the ultimate religious pact with the most sinister entity…
Blitz (2024)
War is a subject that has always had a very peculiar relationship with art – it’s an experience that is both personal and sprawling, and which has constantly been viewed differently through the wide array of lenses and perspectives that have attempted to examine the conditions and circumstances surrounding armed conflict, whether looking at the…
Solo Mio (2026)
Marriage is one of the most sacred institutions known to us, and even those who may not believe in it cannot deny its importance as a cultural artefact, even if its symbolic meaning far overtakes its practicality. However, we often find that the term “till death us do part” has lost a lot of its…
Circus Angel (1965)
We live in a world where having hope seems to be a luxury. Optimism is something that only those who are privileged enough to have a sunny disposition get to exercise, since everyone else is forced to live in a state of anxiety and despair. Yet, every now and then, a work of art comes…
Let’s Get Lost (2022)
Who of us haven’t had the fantasy of just standing up, abandoning whatever work or scholarly pursuit we have been forced into following in order to feel like a valuable member of society, and simply walking away into the distance, escaping the everyday hassle that comes with modern life? For the main character in Let’s…
eXistenZ (1999)
There are few artists whose minds I’d love to enter and just explore for a couple of horrors more than David Cronenberg, who has built an entire career out of being a beloved menace to the art of filmmaking, a medium that he has both celebrated and dismantled with his unique and offbeat approach to…
The Royal Hotel (2023)
Her name may not be widely known, but you can be certain that eventually Kitty Green will break through as one of the essential filmmakers of her generation. Her bold debut, The Assistant proved to be quite popular amongst audiences aligned with contemporary independent cinema, and proved to be an exceptional starring vehicle for lead…
Wasteman (2026)
There are certain genres that, despite tackling more intimidating or questionable subject matter, remain wildly popular for reasons that can sometimes be inexplicable at the best of times. However, once we unpack the psychology behind why we’re drawn to specific stories, it can become much easier to comprehend their popularity. Prison films are a dime…
The Postmodern Pelican 