Five Easy Pieces (1970)

Bobby Dupea (Jack Nicholson) is an aimless young man without any clear sense of direction in his life. On the surface, he is the archetypal blue-collar working man. He spends his days grafting as an oil-rig worker, and his evenings with his girlfriend, the well-meaning but slightly simple Rayette (Karen Black), who adores Bobby, to…

The Death & Life of John F. Donovan (2019)

Xavier Dolan seems to occupy quite a unique place in the contemporary cinematic landscape. He’s a director who has had some enormous accusations levelled against him, especially in recent years – his penchant for melodrama, often overwrought storylines and his tendency towards excess are all qualities that seem to be used to deride him by…

A Quiet Passion (2016)

“Poems are my solace for the eternity which surrounds us all.” Terence Davies’ A Quiet Passion is a masterful achievement in a number of ways. The story of Emily Dickinson is one that is both profoundly fascinating, but also deeply complex, and any filmmaker who endeavoured to venture into her life was bound to encounter…

Volver (2006)

When it comes to finding the truth of the human condition and all its earnest complexities, few directors are more adept than Pedro Almodóvar – his influence not only in his native Spain but in the entire film industry as a whole, is something that can never be overstated, to the point where his work…

Heal the Living (2016)

Simon (Gabin Verdet) is a young man who meets an unfortunate fate one morning after a surfing expedition, finding himself involved in a fatal car accident that leaves him in a severe coma. The doctors have little doubt that Simon won’t recover, as he is past the point where he can wake up. His parent…

In Fabric (2019)

There aren’t many people who contemporary audiences can implicitly trust to deliver a film about a haunted dress without descending into parody more than revolutionary auteur Peter Strickland. He is a director who has proven himself to be one of the most peculiar directors working today through a set of films that are both incredibly…

A Safe Place (1971)

Come for the promise of a stylish New Hollywood fairytale, stay for a heavily-accented Orson Welles taunting an orangutan in-between magic tricks. This seems to be the premise behind Henry Jaglom’s A Safe Place, a film that is quite remarkable in precisely how misguided it actually finds itself being, despite all the promise it had…

Bananas (1971)

There was a time when Woody Allen wasn’t making incredibly safe, often innocuous films about self-centred romantics hoping to find some meaning in worlds they don’t understand, but rather capable of telling stories that were edgy, subversive and even a bit controversial at times, and indicative of a filmmaker who was intent on satirizing anyone…

The King (2019)

The work of William Shakespeare has the unique distinction of being both extremely resonant, inspiring many of the greatest works of art since their inception centuries ago, as well as being heavily saturated to the point where no other artist can attest to have their work more scrutinized and explored. Thus, it takes a lot…

Doctor Sleep (2019)

I’ve always had a very strong relationship with The Shining. My adolescent years were spent obsessing over the novel and the iconic (if not highly contentious) film adaptation, looking for every crucial detail, trying to discern what it meant in the grander scheme of what Stephen King was trying to convey with this masterful story…