When one sets out to become an artist (regardless of medium), they are confronted with a choice – they can either pursue the mainstream or march to the beat of their drum. Each brings with it a range of advantages and challenges, and it is difficult to fault anyone who chooses to pursue one over…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
Tiny Furniture (2010)
Before she filtered all of her creativity into the wonderfully quirky and oddly engaging television show Girls, as well as becoming someone who courted controversy just as much as she garnered acclaim, Lena Dunham was a young writer and director intent on making her mark in an industry that was decidedly hostile to female filmmakers,…
White Zombie (1932)
The majority of contemporary horror filmmakers may be consistently trying to overtake one another to create the most terrifying, unhinged works imaginable and earn the title of being the modern master of the genre, but there is very little doubt that the best horror films are those that were produced much earlier, when intrepid directors…
The Gathering Storm (2002)
By the time The Gathering Storm went into production, it seemed like we had seen every possible story of Winston Churchill told in some way or another, whether in biographical dramas centred on the great British leader who led his country through the challenges of the Second World War, or where he is a supporting…
Passages (2023)
Despite having made several well-received films over a few decades (with only Frankie being a complete misfire), Ira Sachs remains relatively underpraised as a filmmaker. He’s developed enough of a reputation to be seen as someone who makes films of a certain quality but has yet to receive much due outside of those who are…
A Haunting in Venice (2023)
Much like quite a sizeable portion of the filmgoing audience, I was also somewhat cynical of the idea of Kenneth Branagh venturing into the world of Agatha Christie a few years ago, since he is not a director who inspires too much confidence based on his tendency to resort to conventions far too regularly, which…
Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
I am not in the habit of using individual films as an opportunity to lament the loss of a great artist – a work should be viewed on its terms and judged appropriately based on what we see on screen, rather than any outside influences since the passing of a cherished member of the film…
The Creator (2023)
Few directors working within science fiction over the past decade have had more misfortune than Gareth Edwards – after his radically inventive debut in Monsters, which blended horror with science fiction, he seemed primed to be taking the reigns as a potential master of the genre. Yet, his genuinely great Rogue One: A Star Wars…
Something for Everyone (1970)
The era of New Hollywood brought so many exciting and revolutionary changes to the film industry, and one of my personal favourite developments of this more laissez-faire approach to filmmaking was the ability for stories to be a lot darker than they ever were before. There were still standards, and directors and writers were still…
Afire (2023)
While it has received its fair share of acclaim and admiration, German cinema remains quite contentious in terms of a lot of contemporary filmmaking, primarily because it is usually occupied by filmmakers who intend to push boundaries further than ever before, and the storied history of the country, coupled with the fact that its reunification…
