When it comes to making controversial, transgressive cinema, John Waters reigns supreme – throughout his career, especially in the earlier stages, he relished in shocking viewers and leaving the audience shocked. His films are still twisted and perverse by today’s standards, and we look at them through the rose-tinted glasses of cult nostalgia. Imagining audiences…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
Providence (1977)
Claud Langham (Dirk Bogarde) is an extremely unlikable man – a ferocious prosecution lawyer, his latest case is that of Kevin Woodford (David Warner), a young ex-soldier discharged and put on trial for a mercy killing of an older man, asserting that it was an act of compassion. Claud’s personal life seems to be just…
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
The Hills Have Eyes is one of the bleakest films I have ever seen, and also one of the most audacious. Wes Craven ascended to incredible acclaim for his reinvention of the horror genre with films such as The Last House on the Left, the Scream franchise and A Nightmare on Elm Street, amongst others….
Woman on the Run (1950)
Frank Johnson (Ross Elliott) is an ordinary man who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time when he inadvertently witnesses a murder. The police want Frank to serve as a key witness to the trial of who they believe the perpetrator to be (a man heavily involved in organized crime). Not wanting…
T2 Trainspotting (2017)
In 1996, Danny Boyle established himself as a filmmaker to watch with his sophomore film, the dark comedy Trainspotting, which would go on to become a cult classic, and an iconic piece of renegade filmmaking. Something about Trainspotting (both the film and the novel it is based on) just made it a sensation – whether…
Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019)
In all honesty, Pokémon Detective Pikachu is exactly what you’d expect from a modern live-action Pokémon film, and will certainly divide audiences – it isn’t going to win any new admirers to the franchise (except for maybe very young audiences, who may have this film serve as their introduction to the iconic Japanese creation) and…
I Am Easy To Find (2019)
Somewhere towards the end of I Am Easy To Find, we are presented with a stark image, accompanied by the following words: “She wondered how she became this person, not others” It is a deeply complex question, and one that isn’t offered any answer, or at least not one that can be readily indicated. There…
Her Smell (2019)
Alex Ross Perry makes films that linger with you long after they’ve ended. Whether it be his quasi-Pynchon adaptation Impolex, the gloriously minimalistic The Color Wheel, the gorgeous Upper West Side epic Golden Exits the hilarious Listen Up Phillip or the Cassavetes-inspired psychological thriller Queen of Earth, he has always been a filmmaker capable of…
Wine Country (2019)
Any wine country is commonly known as a place of a few defining features, regardless of where you are in the world – beautiful scenery, serene surroundings and a lot of drunken people often causing a ruckus. This was the primary leaping point for Wine Country, the debut feature film by comedic iconoclast Amy Poehler….
Killer of Sheep (1978)
Charles Burnett, for lack of a better word, changed cinema. It is rare that a cinematic movement can be traced back to a single source, but it is evident that despite being relatively unknown outside of cinephile circles, Burnett revolutionized cinema in his own way by making Killer of Sheep. Along with John Cassavetes, who…
The Postmodern Pelican 