Originality is such a valuable commodity in contemporary cinema, particularly because it seems so elusive – it has always seemed slightly unnerving the degree to which the industry relies on existing properties rather than embracing the potential of discovering some new, untrodden artistic concept or style. Yet, there are still some filmmakers who are firm…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
Presence (2025)
There was some discourse recently about the best filmmakers who don’t have a single masterpiece to their name, a sign of someone being technically gifted and a solid authorial voice but who has struggled to establish themselves as having at least one work that carries their legacy. One of the names that came up in…
Harper (1966)
Detective fiction has been one of the most popular sub-genres of literature and cinema for over a century – going from the days of the penny dreadful to the era of pulp fiction and television procedurals, audiences have always responded with incredible vigour to stories of resourceful investigators set out to solve cases that seem…
Better Man (2024)
You could go back to any point in the past where celebrity culture has existed and find public figures who say that being famous is akin to living as a circus animal, being the subject of constant gawking and attention to the point where having a single moment of one’s own is beyond impossible. Few…
The 4:30 Movie (2024)
One of the most common recurring trends in contemporary cinema is the tendency of any director of even the slightest stature to make a film later in their career that is either marketed as a love letter to the cinema or a distinctly personal work based on their formative years, crafting stories about their younger…
Seven Chances (1925)
There are some artists whose work is singularly impossible to describe since even attempting to condense the impact they made on their medium into a single coherent sentence is a challenge, primarily because understanding their brilliance requires us to address several different elements that went into the creation of their work. There is a reason…
Hard Labour (1973)
Mike Leigh is quite simply one of the greatest filmmakers of his (or any) generation, and for over half a century, he has been at the forefront of politically charged, socially resonant storytelling that has shattered boundaries and positioned him as arguably the greatest social critic to ever work in the medium. Yet, much like…
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Horror is a genre that is constantly changing. If we arrange its development in as much of a linear form as we can, it is possible to see the ebb and flow of certain concepts and styles in terms of popularity and how artistic innovation influenced so many different phases of a genre that has…
The Second Act (2024)
While his work is divisive to the point where calling them an acquired taste would be enormously generous, it’s impossible to deny that Quentin Dupieux (otherwise known as Mr Oizo in some circles) is a filmmaker who has grown into one of the unique artistic visionaries of his generation and has continuously worked to redefine…
Handling the Undead (2024)
Saying goodbye to a loved one is never easy, and we often find that it is made more difficult when we feel that sense of deep regret for all that we didn’t say and do when they were alive, knowing that we are going to be burdened with that remorse for the rest of our…
The Postmodern Pelican 